Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m so ready for Game 7 of the American League Championship Series tonight after the NL series ended in a sweep.
In today’s SI:AM:
🐬 Tua flops again
💥 Vladdy saves the Jays
💸 Expensive coaching decisions
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Misery in Miami
Who would have thought that at this point in the NFL season there would be five teams that had yet to win more than one game? And who would have thought that the Dolphins would be one of them?
Seven weeks into the season, there’s no denying that Miami is among the worst teams in the league. Yesterday’s ugly blowout loss at the hands of the equally dismal Browns confirmed that.
Cleveland wasn’t as impressive as the 31–6 final score would have you believe, but the fact that the Browns scored 31 points despite only mustering 206 yards of total offense is an indication of just how many backbreaking mistakes the Dolphins made. Most of those mistakes were made by Miami’s beleaguered quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, who threw three interceptions—all in the second half. With the game out of reach midway through the fourth quarter, Tagovailoa was benched for seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers.
The first pick came on the very first play of the third quarter, when Tagovailoa attempted to find running back De’Von Achane in the flat. The throw was high and bounced off Achane’s hands, right into the hands of Tyson Campbell, who tightroped the sideline for a 34-yard touchdown return. Tagovailoa was then picked off twice in the span of one minute early in the fourth quarter. First, on a third-and-12 from the Dolphins’ own 3-yard line, Tagovailoa hesitated in the pocket and threw an ill-advised pass while being hit that sailed nowhere near a Miami receiver. Browns safety Rayshawn Jenkins caught it and ran it back to the Miami 2-yard line. Quinshon Judkins scored his third rushing touchdown of the game on the next play. Two plays later, Tagovailoa threw another pick, this time throwing into double coverage. When the Dolphins’ offense took the field again, it was Ewers under center.
“Definitely not happy, not proud of where I’m at with my play, with how I’ve gone about things this year,” Tagovailoa said after the game. “I know I got to be a lot better, and I’ve been better for the Miami Dolphins years past. But this isn’t years past. This is this year, right? And just trying to maneuver everything and trying to build a collection of guys to kind of bring along with me, and I got to kind of be able to multitask, if that makes sense, to be able to do that. And while doing that, kind of continue to get whatever it was last year and the years prior for myself to get going again and get in that flow.”
Tagovailoa has now thrown 10 interceptions this season, tied with the Raiders’ Geno Smith for the most in the NFL. He’s been intercepted on 4.9% of his passes, more than double the rate of his first five seasons in the league (2.2%).
Tagovailoa’s turnover issues on Sunday concerned coach Mike McDaniel.
“I think, when you turn the ball over, you know, it is the number one indicator of wins and losses, and it negatively affects the team,” McDaniel said. “I think there’s multiple factors in those turnovers, I know at least one or two of them were extremely preventable from Tua and he knows that just wasn’t good enough. We’ll watch the tape and change our style of play if we [have] to.”
It’s a staggering fall for the Dolphins, who in 2023 were one of the darlings of the league with a prolific offense led by the NFL’s passing yards leader. They went 11–6 that year, followed by a disappointing 8–9 season last year, when Tagovailoa missed six games due to a concussion and a hip injury. This year, everything has gone wrong for Miami. Yes, Tagovailoa is struggling, but the defense has also been a nightmare. The Dolphins rank 28th in points allowed per game and 25th in yards allowed per game. Their only win was a 27–21 victory over the Jets, the only winless team left in the NFL.
For better or worse, the Dolphins are stuck with Tagovailoa for at least another year. He’s owed $54 million in guaranteed salary for 2026, but cutting him after next season would provide large salary cap savings. It would be a lot easier to get rid of McDaniel, and while ESPN’s Adam Schefter said Monday that the Dolphins are not planning to make a change at this time, that could certainly change if the slide continues.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Tom Verducci breaks down how Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is having an October of pure hitting excellence like we’ve never seen.
- Nick Sirianni once again showed he’s the right coach for the Eagles — plus, the Broncos validated their approach, the Bears found their ground game, and more Week 7 insights from Albert Breer.
- Week 7 drew a sharper line between contenders and pretenders — the Colts look legit at 6–1, while the Vikings' quarterback issues are holding them back, Gilberto Manzano explains.
- Several powerhouse programs face tough choices — and even tougher buyouts — as pressure mounts on some of college football’s biggest names, writes Pat Forde.
- The SEC reloaded after a dominant March Madness run (14 teams danced, Florida cut down the nets) and the conference might be even stronger this season.
- Sports Illustrated’s men’s college basketball preseason Top 25 countdown continues with a blue blood at No. 10 who enters the season rebuilt, reloaded and ready to chase another national title.
The top five…
… things I saw yesterday:
5. Giants safety Dane Belton’s big hit for a stop on fourth-and-goal.
4. Josh Naylor’s nonchalant spin after hitting a towering home run.
3. Giants tight end Theo Johnson’s touchdown catch on a deflected pass that put New York up 26–8 with 10 minutes left. (I really thought the Giants had put the game out of reach there, but they found a way to blow it.)
2. Jalen Hurts’s touchdown bomb to A.J. Brown on fourth down.
1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s sixth home run of these playoffs.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Dolphins Hit Rock Bottom With Blowout Loss to Browns.