The Miami Dolphins lost to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday by a score of 27-17. This is the Dolphins third straight loss, dropping them to 1-3. The Colts move to 1-3 with their first win of the season.

This was the second game with Jacoby Brissett as the starter, and offensively, not much changed.

The offensive line played to their usual level this season – which is like the worst unit in the entire league. There wasn’t much surprise there as Austin Jackson constantly needed help, and gave up a crucial penalty on a 25-yard reception by Fuller on the first drive.

There were some plays where he looked decent in terms of run-blocking, prompting some to question whether he should be moved over to guard. Regardless, not good here.

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Rookie Liam Eichenberg surrendered two sacks and failed to contain his man.

Center Greg Mancz threw one over Brissett in the first quarter.

Just across the board, the Dolphins offensive line is still a mess, and it’s hard to imagine that this unit undergoes a complete overhaul at this point in the season. The Dolphins had an opportunity to address this group in the offseason, they elected to trust their second-year players, and it backfired in the worst way possible.

Though the offensive line played bad, Jacoby Brissett does in fact deserve blame for this one. In other performances, it’s hard to gauge how he performed because he had nothing to work with – but in this game there was enough to see that he wasn’t doing well either.

There was a checkdown pass to Ahmed, where it appears that Jaylen Waddle was wide open for what would have been a gain of at least 30 yards.

He was pressured on one play, and literally dropped the ball on the floor, allowing the Colts to recover in Miami territory. His 3.04 second time to throw was the fourth-longest in the NFL, trailing only rookies Trevor Lawrence and Trey Lance, and the dual threat Lamar Jackson. Bad offensive line + QB who takes forever to throw = recipe for disaster.

I’m sure as the film is dissected, there will be more plays that showcase how inefficient Brissett was.

The worst period in this game came in the second quarter. The Dolphins offense completed stagnated – finishing the second quarter with a net of -7 yards. You read that correctly. In the entire second quarter, the Dolphins had – 7 yards.

The receiving game was exclusively Jaylen Waddle for the beginning of this game. He had three catches for 33 yards in the first quarter, and would finish the game with those stats.

Receiver DeVante Parker would end up being one of the bright spots offensively, finishing with four catches for 77 yards and a touchdown. It seemed like nearly every time Parker was targeted, he made an impressive contested play. He had one drop in the end zone, which he promptly atoned for as he secured the touchdown on the following play.

Tight end Mike Gesicki was non-existent for the first half of this game. It’s astonishing that someone who has so much physical talent could be such a non-factor. Like Parker, it seems like once the team had nothing to lose, Gesicki became involved. Gesicki would finish with 57 yards a touchdown. Four of Gesicki’s five catches

The running game seems like a lost cause. Malcolm Brown once again got the start and dominated the carries. He would finish with 8 carries for 23 yards. The Dolphins longest rush of the game was six yards, and was by Jacoby Brissett. Myles Gaskin was once again out-carried by Brown and Salvon Ahmed. There’s no excuse for Gaskin to be the third guy on this depth chart.

An interesting stat: Only Peyton Barber has a higher percentage of runs against an 8-man box on defense than Malcolm Brown.

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Defensively, Miami came out strong. The Colts haven’t been a great team offensively, and it was evident in this game. The Colts could not get absolutely anything going – and they would finish the first quarter with a net total of four yards on offense.

Even into the second quarter, the defense was in a rhythm, with big plays by Nik Needham and good pressure from Eguavoen and Jaelan Phillips. It was on a 4^th down play, where linebacker Brennan Scarlett jumped offsides on a punt, that extended the Colts’ drive, where the defense began to sputter.

As expected, that second chance that Indianapolis had led to a big 20+ yard touchdown run from Jonathan Taylor.

Later in the game, tight end Mo Alie-Cox caught a touchdown over Eric Rowe. Cox gave Rowe the “you’re too small” hand motion after. Cox would finish with two touchdowns.

Some positives were that Emmanuel Ogbah blew by his man early in this game and recorded a sack.

Colts Nyheim Hines muffed a punt, which extended the Dolphins turnover streak.

There were loads of tackles for a loss to go around, as they nearly doubled the amount they had on the whole season. They finished the game with six, with Andrew Van Ginkel and Christian Wilkins each recording two.

Jaelan Phillips applied solid pressure, recording three QB hits. He was having a terrific performance aside from one face mask call against him. It was a brutal call in which he made absolutely zero contact with Wentz’ face mask, yet the drive was extended for Indianapolis.

Takeaways

Many Dolphins fans have reached the same realization; the Dolphins offense, on a painful level, is playing not to lose. There’s no aggression until it’s too late. Had the Dolphins offense played as loosely as they did in the final moments for the entire game, it may have actually gone in favor of Miami. Indianapolis was not good in this game, they were a beatable team. However, the Dolphins offense elected to play a conservative, scared brand of football until it was too late. Four of Gesicki’s five catches came in the fourth quarter. And 70 of Parker’s 77 yards came in the fourth quarter. When they realized they could move the ball with success, they had dug themselves in too deep of a hole.

The Dolphins are not good right now. That seems obvious to say, but if the Dolphins were to win a game (against a team that isn’t the Jets,) it would be shocking. I say that because people will say “You lost faith” or say to be patient. The rational thought process would be to approach the Dolphins now like they are a below-average team. After three atrocious performances, and barely squeezing out a win against a rookie QB in his debut, it seems logical to think the Dolphins just aren’t going to be favorites or respected by the media, or anything of that nature right now. And frankly there’s no way solid argument against it until this team can prove us otherwise.

The decision-making is horrible. Again, very similar to one of the takeaways from two weeks ago. On a macro-level, meaning the big picture, Noah Igbinoghene was once again inactive even while Justin Coleman is struggling. This is LAST YEAR’s second round pick. LAST YEAR. Austin Jackson is a liability on this roster. I understand the appeal of project players – but in the first round you need to have some guys who have a degree of certainty, or could provide impact.

The Dolphins traded Laremy Tunsil – who made Pro Bowls in 2019 and then in 2020 with the Texans. It seemed impossible for that massive haul to have not worked in favor of Miami, yet here we are.

The Dolphins traded Minkah Fitzpatrick – who became a two-time first team All-Pro with the Steelers.

Then on a micro-level, meaning decisions that are made throughout the course of a game: Jakeem Grant, yet again, muffed a punt. His value on special teams doesn’t seem to warrant not having an extra receiver who could help offensively. Parker and Waddle have combined for 42 catches for 442 yards. Every other Dolphins WR has combined for 11 catches for 62 yards.

Jason Sanders, who was 8-of-9 on field goals beyond 50 yards last year, a guy who is regarded as one of the best in the business – was not given an opportunity to kick a 55-yard field goal.

The decision to use the run so sparsely, and elect to roll with Malcolm Brown of all players. Seeing the impressive outings of Ahmed and Gaskin last year – and completely erasing that from your memory in favor of a guy who has one 20-yard run and nothing else is just staggering to me.

The Deshaun Watson to Miami situation seems more and more like an unavoidable reality. I said previously that I can’t see how any team would trade for Watson now — but the reports insist Miami and other teams are interested. Having a conditional element in place could allow the Dolphins to not invest to heavily in a guy with massive question marks in the near future. And now, you have a situation where just about everyone is going to be under immense pressure.

You got the new coach, you decimated the roster, you tanked, you got all the picks you could ever want — yet it seems we’re back at square one. Chris Grier and the OCs are obviously in the hottest of seats — but even Brian Flores, who seemed just about unfire- able before the season is looking questionable. Not to mention everything in regards to Stephen Ross. Pressure, desperation, fear – all of that could lead to bold decisions to stop the bleeding, and there’s no bigger way to do that than by landing a top 5 QB in the NFL.