Mike McDaniel, for the second time in three weeks, should make a call to his friend Matt LaFleur (if he hasn’t already). And this time, the stakes are much higher for the Miami Dolphins than a waiver wire pickup of Green Bay Packers wide receiver (Grant DuBose).
McDaniel needs a new game plan after scoring the fewest points in the league through three weeks. The good news? LaFleur has already cracked the code to beating the Dolphins’ Week 4 opponent — the Tennessee Titans — with a mobile backup.
How Miami Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel Should Attack Tennessee Titans
The Malik Willis Revenge Game could not have gotten better, with the former Titans draft pick passing for 202 yards and a touchdown and running for 73 more and another score in a blowout Packers Week 3 victory.
Everything Willis did well, Miami should try to do with Snoop Huntley, who on Monday could become the fourth different Dolphins quarterback to see the field in seven quarters.
Reality has shown that the Dolphins cannot run the Tua Tagovailoa offense with anyone but Tua Tagovailoa.
So a change is needed, and as we discuss in the Week 4 PFN Miami Dolphins Podcast, LaFleur apparently already has all the answers.
The Packers had 37 runs and 19 passes against the Titans. That’s the winning formula for the Dolphins, who had 32 passes and 18 runs in their blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3.
Willis averaged 20 yards per completion on play-action passes with a 130.2 passer rating. The Packers ran on the vast majority of first downs, but the Titans couldn’t stop it (98 yards on 22 carries in that situation) despite knowing it was coming.
Miami should have Raheem Mostert back this week, giving them five (including Huntley) ball-carrying options. Use them all — early and often, inside and out.
“We have to re-identify who we are this year,” Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold said Tuesday. “And right now 1-2 through Week 3, we have to look at this offense as nothing like what happened last year.