Last Sunday\u2019s 15-10 win over the\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0was a step in the right direction, but at 2-3, the\u00a0Miami Dolphins\u00a0have plenty of work left to rebound from an early-season three-game losing streak.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins tied the\u00a0Arizona Cardinals\u00a0with a\u00a0league-high 118 penalties in 2022, Mike McDaniel\u2019s first season as head coach. Though Miami dropped out of the top 10 last season with 105 penalties, through five weeks of this season, penalties have again become a defining part of their identity.<\/p>\n
With the Dolphins on their third-string quarterback instead of Tua Tagovailoa,\u00a0the 390 penalty yards this season\u00a0are tougher to overcome without a high-powered passing attack. Miami is tied with the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0and\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0with 43 penalties this season. Only the\u00a0Houston Texans\u00a0(47),\u00a0Seattle Seahawks\u00a0(47), and\u00a0Baltimore Ravens\u00a0(44) have been penalized more.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust moving forward, no matter what the call is, we got to go execute and without the negatives bringing us back after we have some positive gains,\u201d\u00a0left tackle Terron Armstead said on Oct. 7.\u00a0\u201cSo that\u2019s going to be something that we continue to do, and the more we can do that, we can execute without the penalties, our offense will start to look a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dolphins average 4.7 yards per play and while penalties have impacted\u00a0the No. 26-ranked offense, pre-snap problems have doomed the unit. Miami\u2019s 21 pre-snap penalties rank second behind only Cleveland\u2019s 23.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of nuances in an offense, especially when you have a lot of motions, you have a lot of personnel,\u201d Armstead explained. \u201cYou have quarterback changes so the cadence could be different; he might hold the cadence longer than others or he wants to operate faster than Tua [Tagovailoa] or maybe Skylar [Thompson].<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the illegal formation, illegal shift, guys are taking their time getting set as opposed to [Tyler Huntley] being in more of a hurry \u2013 we got to get set off of him. So those small little details or nuances that nobody really pays attention to until it\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dolphins have been called for\u00a0eight false starts, six illegal formations, and five illegal shifts.\u00a0On average, teams have averaged 1.41 illegal formations and 0.84 illegal shifts per game through five weeks. Additionally, their nine offensive holding penalties rank among the league\u2019s highest.<\/p>\n
Tight end Jullian Hill has been responsible for a team-high seven penalties, including four pre-snap infractions. Three of Liam Eichenberg\u2019s four penalties also came before the snap.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins offense,\u00a0averaging a league-low 12 points per game, has struggled, but the outing against the Patriots showed improvement. Miami\u2019s 15 points in New England matched its combined scoring output from the previous two weeks \u2014 a few special teams blunders were the difference from breaking 20 points in the outing.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins were called for a season-high 11 penalties Week 3 against the Seahawks but the team set a season-low with just six penalties on the road in New England. Miami struggled significantly in the season\u2019s first quarter but appears to be\u00a0slowly<\/em>\u00a0trending in the right direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last Sunday\u2019s 15-10 win over the\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0was a step in the right direction, but at 2-3, the\u00a0Miami Dolphins\u00a0have plenty of work left to rebound from an… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":11735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n