When Mike McDaniel was hired as the Miami Dolphins’ new head coach in 2022, he brought a new energy to the franchise.
McDaniel was quirky but it worked. He got the best out of Tua Tagovailoa. Miami’s offense was so hot that for a moment there were several (very regrettable) comparisons to the Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” era. McDaniel was an innovator. The Dolphins were on the rise.
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None of that energy remains. All that is left is a Dolphins team that looks worse each week. On Sunday they were blown out 31-6 by a 1-5 Cleveland Browns team. The Browns hadn’t scored 17 points in any game this season before Sunday.
Tagovailoa had another bad game and was benched in the fourth quarter. At this point, it seems like a foregone conclusion that McDaniel will be fired. It might just be a matter of whether the Dolphins want to do it during the season or wait.
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The big story from the Dolphins over the past week was the widespread shaming of Tagovailoa for calling out his teammates for showing up late or not showing up at all to voluntary players meetings. Lost in the blame for Tagovailoa going public with his frustration was that the Dolphins might have needed someone to call them out. It’s a horrible team and there’s no accountability. Tagovailoa tried to provide some and was guilted into an apology, instead of there being any examination over why Tagovailoa said what he did. That’s a good snapshot of the Dolphins these days.
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The problem with Tagovailoa being the one to speak up is he has been awful this season, too.
Tagovailoa might be entering his final couple months as the Dolphins’ starting quarterback. To start the second half Sunday he threw high to De’Von Achane, and the ball went off the running back’s hands and right to Browns cornerback Tyson Campbell, who returned the interception 34 yards for a touchdown.
In the fourth quarter Tagovailoa threw a terrible interception from his own end zone that led to Quinshon Judkins’ third touchdown of the game. He’d throw a third interception on Miami’s next series, then was benched with Miami trailing 31-6. Tagovailoa exited with a 24.1 passer rating. Dillon Gabriel is a third-round rookie who was making his third career start for the Browns, and he wasn’t doing much (he had just 116 passing yards) but still was playing much better than Tagovailoa. That’s an indictment of McDaniel too.
The Dolphins are a bad football team. McDaniel looks more and more like a coach with no answers. Miami is 1-6 with the only win coming against the lowly New York Jets. That’s why the Dolphins will have to consider a midseason change at coach. It’s not like there are any signs of life.
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It’s not just McDaniel whose future is in serious doubt. General manager Chris Grier has been in that job for Miami since 2016 and the team has three playoff appearances and an 0-3 postseason record to show for it. The cap has been mismanaged and the roster has major holes, and that’s on him. Tagovailoa has had productive moments but has not been the same quarterback since suffering yet another concussion early last season. The Dolphins might be at the end of the line with him. Grier was in attendance for Oklahoma vs. South Carolina on Saturday, which featured two top quarterback prospects in John Mateer and LaNorris Sellers, and it’s not hard to connect those dots even if Grier might not be the one making the pick next April.
The Dolphins’ offense is not good and its most tradable asset, Tyreek Hill, has major questions about his future after a severe knee injury at age 31. The Dolphins’ defense is one of the worst in the league. Miami knew Cleveland would be running the ball in terrible weather Sunday and couldn’t stop it. The Dolphins can’t stop anyone from running the ball all over them.
We’ve seen one NFL head coach fired this season. The Tennessee Titans let Brian Callahan go last week. It’s hard to say what Dolphins team owner Stephen Ross is thinking, in terms of when and if he’d move on from McDaniel. But with each passing week, it seems less likely that McDaniel lasts the entire season. He might not last until Week 8. There’s just no hope for the franchise anymore.
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Here are the winners and losers from Week 7 of the NFL season:
WINNERS
Bo Nix, after a while: Twice this season, the Denver Broncos’ offense has looked awful for three quarters, only to come alive in the fourth quarter and steal a win.
It happened against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 5, and Sunday’s comeback against the New York Giants was even more improbable. Facing a 19-0 deficit to start the fourth quarter against the Giants, the Broncos finally started scoring. Nix hit two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns to give the Broncos the lead. Jaxson Dart rallied the Giants downfield for a touchdown with 37 seconds left but they missed the extra point, giving the Broncos a chance to win in regulation. Nix completed two huge downfield passes and the Broncos somehow escaped with a 33-32 win on a field goal as time expired.
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Nix’s 22-yard pass to Marvin Mims and a 29-yard completion to Courtland Sutton, plays that gave the Broncos a shot to win at the end, were two of the biggest clutch plays of his pro career. He had a monster fourth quarter after doing little through three quarters. That was enough for the victory.
According to the NFL, Denver’s 33 points in the fourth quarter were the most ever for a team that had been shut out through three quarters.
The Broncos will want to get four good quarters out of its offense soon, instead of relying on fourth quarter magic to bail them out. But Sunday was a big win, after they were on the verge of being upset.
Matt LaFleur: When faced with a difficult decision Sunday, LaFleur hesitated. Then he made a big gamble.
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Going for it on fourth down in all situations has become the norm, but what LaFleur had to decide against the Arizona Cardinals wasn’t easy. With a little more than two minutes left, the Packers trailed 23-20 and had a fourth-and-2. They were in field-goal range. The Packers initially looked like they were going to kick, but then called timeout and changed course. Instead of trying the kick for the tie, the Packers went for something more.
Jordan Love hit Tucker Kraft on a huge fourth-down completion to keep the drive alive. Josh Jacobs took over from there, with two runs to get to the 1-yard line and then a go-ahead touchdown with 1:50 to go. The Packers held on for a 27-23 lead when it looked like they might get upset.
The Packers haven’t looked dominant since their first two games, when they were the talk of the NFL. But a key coaching decision Sunday helped them get a win. Maybe that will get that back on track.
CeeDee Lamb and the Cowboys’ offense: Lamb missed three games with a high ankle sprain. He returned Sunday. He and the Cowboys’ offense looked quite healthy.
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Lamb has 110 receiving yards, including a 74-yard touchdown, in his return and Dallas cruised to an easy 44-22 win over the Washington Commanders. The Cowboys still have defensive issues, but their offense will keep them competitive all season.
Dak Prescott had to be thrilled to see Lamb back, which rounds out the offense. Jake Ferguson scored two touchdowns. George Pickens had more highlight plays. Prescott continued to look like one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks this season with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
The 3-3-1 Cowboys moved ahead of the 3-4 Commanders in the standings. It’ll be tough for Dallas to catch the Eagles in the division, but they’ll be a lot of fun to watch.
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Rashee Rice: The Kansas City Chiefs might be ready to go on a long winning streak.
Kansas City provided a quick reminder that Rashee Rice is probably the most valuable offensive player they have other than Patrick Mahomes. Rice returned from a six-game suspension Sunday and the Kansas City Chiefs looked unstoppable with him in a 31-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
They had 30 first downs to three for the Raiders, which seems impossible in an NFL game. The Raiders had just 96 total yards, which also seems like a misprint. Amazingly, it was the first regular-season shutout win in Andy Reid’s career.
It was a nearly perfect day for the Chiefs, with the headline being Rice’s productive return to the lineup. He changes their offense.
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In the first half, Rice had six catches for 36 yards and two short touchdowns. A team that doesn’t run the ball that well needs other red zone options, and Rice immediately made an impact in that area upon his return.
Mahomes didn’t even play in the fourth quarter. The Chiefs were far enough ahead that Gardner Minshew came in the game at quarterback before the end of the third quarter, and they started kneeling out the clock before the two-minute warning.
All of this happened against the Raiders, who are face-planting in Pete Carroll’s first season. Rice is fully capable of having big games against competent teams too. With him back, the Chiefs will start to look like a Super Bowl favorite again, even if most NFL fans won’t be too excited about that.
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Drake Maye: Not that there was much doubt, but the New England Patriots have their quarterback of the present and future.
Maye is one of the breakout stars of the season. He was fantastic again Sunday as the Patriots warmed up after a slow start to bury the Tennessee Titans 31-13. The storylines were on the head coaches, for Mike Vrabel’s return to Tennessee and interim Titans coach Mike McCoy in his first game since the team fired Brian Callahan, but it was Maye who became the focal point.
Maye completed 19 of his first 20 passes, including a pair of touchdowns. One came on a deep ball to Kayshon Boutte for a 39-yard score. He finished 21 of 23 for 222 yards with another 62 yards rushing.
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The Patriots (5-2) are still in first place of the AFC East with the win. There’s a long way to go to hold off the Buffalo Bills (4-2), but the future is very bright in New England due to its second-year quarterback.
Ben Johnson’s offense: The Detroit Lions’ offense with Johnson as its coordinator had many winning options, but the foundation was always the running game. Detroit could pound teams on the ground week after week.
The Chicago Bears might not be there yet in the running game, but Sunday was their best effort on the ground since Johnson took over as head coach.
D’Andre Swift, who had a big game last week against the Washington Commanders, and rookie Kyle Monangai each had big games as the Bears beat the New Orleans Saints 26-14. Swift rushed for 124 yards and Monangai added 81. The Bears also came up with three interceptions off Spencer Rattler.
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Caleb Williams didn’t have a big day, but he didn’t need to. The running game and defense did the heavy lifting. That’s how it should look if Johnson’s offense is operating correctly.
LOSERS
Los Angeles Chargers’ AFC West hopes: The Chiefs looked great Sunday. The Chargers did not.
The Chargers’ 3-0 start, which included a win over the Chiefs, is a distant memory. The Indianapolis Colts look like one of the best teams in football and were way better than the Chargers on Sunday. Jonathan Taylor had another big game with three more touchdowns and the Colts were never really challenged in a 38-24 win. The Chargers have lost three of four, and that’s bad news with the Chiefs starting to come alive.
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The Chargers will get healthier and improve as they get players back. But they have a hole to dig out of in the AFC West, just a few weeks after a dream start to the season.
Jalen Hurts haters: You didn’t really think the Philadelphia Eagles were going to lose three straight games, right?
When the Eagles lost two straight, there was a lot to dissect. The player who took most of the heat was Hurts because he was leading a passing game that was stuck. Hurts had a big answer Sunday.
Hurts hit A.J. Brown for two touchdowns and DeVonta Smith for another as the Eagles beat their old quarterback, Carson Wentz, and the Minnesota Vikings 28-22. Hurts had a perfect 158.3 passer rating. When the Eagles faced a third-and-9 with the game in the balance in the final two minutes, Hurts hit Brown for a huge 45-yard gain. Smith had 183 yards and Brown had 121. Hurts finished 19-of-23 passing for 326 yards and three touchdowns.
It hasn’t always been smooth for the Eagles this season. But it looked good Sunday.
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Aaron Glenn and Justin Fields: Glenn had a better Sunday than Fields, because Glenn kept his job. For now.
Glenn would not entertain the idea of benching Fields after a Week 6 debacle against the Denver Broncos, and then he benched Fields after the first half of Week 7. Fields was 6-of-12 passing for 46 yards, the Jets trailed 13-3 and Tyrod Taylor came on at quarterback for the Jets to start the second half. The two-year, $40 million contract the Jets gave to Fields in the offseason looks like a massive waste.
The Panthers didn’t have a clean game either, with the offense not doing much and Bryce Young exiting with an ankle injury, but Jaycee Horn had two big interceptions and the Panthers held on to win 13-6. They didn’t need to do much to outscore the Jets’ putrid offense.
It’s hard to say that there are many signs yet that Glenn was a good hire as head coach. The Jets are the only winless team left in the NFL. They fell to 0-7 in Glenn’s first season as their coach. That’s not enough games for a final judgment on Glenn, but it doesn’t look good so far.
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Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars: It’s hard to believe that just 13 days before what we saw from the Jaguars in London on Sunday, they beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
That game looked like a breakthrough for the Jaguars and Lawrence. Apparently it wasn’t.
The Jaguars lost last week to the Seattle Seahawks at home and then looked terrible against the Los Angeles Rams in a 35-7 loss on Sunday overseas. Matthew Stafford was fantastic as he threw for five touchdowns, three of which went to Davante Adams. The Jaguars’ defense had a lot to do with that.
The offense was miserable too. Lawrence missed so many passes that he even had NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner, who is rarely critical, pointing out often that Lawrence was whiffing on easy layup throws. Lawrence completed just 23 of 48 passes. About the only positive for the Jaguars is they finally figured out in the second half that they should get Travis Hunter the ball. Hunter had his first NFL touchdown and his first 100-yard game as a receiver.
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That was about the only good news for the Jaguars (4-3). They made dumb mistakes, again. Lawrence was erratic, again. The win over the Chiefs was great, but it has been ugly since then.
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