Coaches, not QBs, were the story on Sunday
The books will dutifully record Tua Tagovailoa beat Justin Herbert in their first face-off-Sunday, that Tua played a smart and efficient game, that Herbert struggled against a big-boy Miami Dolphins defense and, yes, that maybe thiswas the start of a boy-band rivalry as their careers grow.
But the truth is neither quarter back was dynamic in the Dolphins’ 29-21 win against the Los Angeles Chargers The game didn’t ask Tua for heroics. He helped shape this win asmuch as several other Dolphins players.
The larger truth is something that should stir a long-suffering Dolphins fans more than just a good, young quarterback. This game, you see, wasn’t about the quarterbacks. Itwas about the coaches. Itwas crystallized by the game’s five opening plays that showed the quality and depth of two organizations.
Anyone watching the Dolphins for nearly two decades has had a front-row to what happens when bad organizations meet good ones. They’ve seen enough imploding regimes, as the elevator goes down another round of Dolphins careers, to not just recognize it but also to sit up straight on those first five plays that again say you might just be coming through the looking glass.
Onthe fifth play, the Dolphins offense’s first of the game, Tua made a simple hand-off for a 1-yard off-tackel run and a 7-0 lead.
“As an offensive player to go out there and start the game on the 1-yard line is very rare andwas important to the game,” center Ted Karras said.
It also told of the previous four plays— of the two that effectively set the tone for the entire day. On game’s second play, Herbert was sacked for a 13-yard loss by blitzing corner back Nik Needham, whoran free in part because running back Kalen Ballage blocked the wrongway.
Ballage was a Dolphin the previous two years. The Dolphins haven’t needed a reason to blitz of late— they might have set the record for all-out blitzing lastweek in Arizona. But perhaps knowing Ballage’s blocking deficiencies gave one a strategic way do it.
That led to a Chargers punt. Before the snap, the Dolphins players shifted on the line, no doubt creating matchups or
space theywanted. Andrew Van Ginkel broke free and blocked the punt. That’s howthe offense ran on the field at the 1-yard line.
There, in five plays, is how Sunday’s game played out. It wasn’t just better playing. Itwas better thinking, too. Did you see how much trouble Herbert had throwing downfield against the defense that invested heavily in two shut-down cornerbacks? How wide open tight end Durham Smythe was for the touchdown that made it, 26-14?
“They played exactly like we thought they would defensively,” Tua said of the Chargers.
They also played exactly like losing teams do, like the Dolphins did for somany years. The Chargers are 1-7 this year in games decided by eight points or less. Theywere 2-9 in them last year. Sunday told why as theywere offsides on a Dolphins field-goal attempt that instead ended with a touchdown to make it, 14-0; didn’t catch a punt that then rolled 20 yards to the 2-yard line;
took a personal foul that turned a fourth-and-2 attempt in the fourth quarter into a fourthand-17
punt.
Nothing you hadn’t seen for years with the Dolphins. This
was a Sunday for the Dolphins to be that team again, too. They had a four-game win streak. Maybe they got a little soft fromthat, maybe some odds catch up to them. Instead, theywere up, 7-0, after five plays.
Does this have staying power? That’s the next question. They’re 6-3, a half-game off the AFC East lead. But Flores has been up the mountain with New England. Hewas asked about Tua after Sunday’s game and turned into a broader statement.
“This is a hungry group, they fight for each other, it’s important to them, they’re competitive, so they work at it and we’re seeing the fruits of that ... labor out on the field,” he said. “It wasn’t perfect… We’re not looking down the road, we’re looking at the next day, the next meeting, the next practice, and just trying to take it one day at a time. That’s my message to the team.”
The quarterbacks got the headlines Sunday. But the coaches were the story— and the organizations were. For years, the Dolphins were the Chargers. For now, they’re charting anew course.