An ugly start to the 2025 Miami Dolphins season with divisional opponents lying in wait, as well as the Buffalo Bills on a Thursday Night in front of the world. Things could get worse before they get better, but let’s dive into the Dolphins-Colts Week 1 autopsy report:

OFFENSE

– What we saw from the Miami offense was both an extension of last year and of the preseason. Last year, the Dolphins no longer did what they wanted and the effect Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle had on games was relatively minimal and certainly not explosive. Waddle played a little in the preseason and did nothing and in it’s “tune-up” against Jacksonville, the Tua-led offense started off with a pair of three-and-outs at the hands of the Jaguars’ second team defense. There was some inkling this might happen. 

– The Colts held Miami to only 46 offensive plays, fewest of any team in the NFL in Week 1. 

– There is reason for concern for Miami on many levels. In the pass game, the Colts confused QB Tua Tagavailoa enough that the offense’s timing was off. When he has to stand in the pocket and survey the field while awaiting pressure, every part of his game becomes average and his pocket presence lately has been below average.

– Don’t let it get lost in all the frustration that the Colts defense entered this game with huge questions at cornerback too. Miami didn’t want the guy the Colts started at one spot. Despite having limitations at DB, head coach and playcaller Mike McDaniel was befuddled by Indianapolis’ first-year defensive coordinator Lou Amaruno.

– Between this year and 2024, the “middling” Colts have outscored Miami, 49-18.

“This is as bad as it gets if you’re a Miami Dolphins fan … They said they got rid of a lot of the guys who might have been problems for them when it comes to culture. But when you put a product like this out there for the first game of the season, even operationally … this has been a really ugly presentation by the Miami Dolphins.” – fmr. Dolphins CB/NFL Network analyst Jason McCourty

– Miami obviously prepared for Jonathan Taylor and Indianapolis obviously prepared for Miami preparing for Jonathan Taylor.  

– Two tight ends when neither is a Y is bad for strategy. Tanner Conner had a nice game receiving and Julian Hill was penalty-free and added at two-point conversion. But for a defensive coordinator like Anarumo who thrives on confusion, having a tight end who doesn’t show the offense’s hand just by being on the field would help slow down the other side just by adding a dose of uncertainty of your own for the defense to think about. 

– The sack of Tua at around 7:34 in the 2nd quarter was a product of a rushed play at the line — despite no motion — and a chaotic post-snap for the line. The play also highlighted that on 3rd and 8, if keeping a back in as a blocker, it needs to be Ollie Gordon. Achane looked like a plastic bucket when the rushing tide hits it — just along for the ride. 

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TUA TURNOVERS

• INT1 he had good protection, a pocket, a clear throwing lane with no obstruction and no linebacker to go over on what was his first read, Tyreek Hill. Hill was open by a good two steps and Tua wasn’t even close. Concerning. Average quarterbacks make this throw 9/10 times. 
• FUM1 Indianapolis sent a blitzin nickel and the guy in charge of picking him up — Devon Achane — recognized it a hair late and then slipped trying to redirect, missing Colts Kenny Moore II altogether. But it was Tua’s loose handling of the football that caused a turnover as he saw the heat and tried to escape it by running forward. Should’ve been a sack at worse but instead it was Xavien Howard’s moment to help give her the finger to his former employer. 
• INT2 in the 3rd quarter once again, good protection, plenty of time (he threw it at 4.08 seconds, too long actually). Colts defense dropped edge Laiatu Latu into pass coverage, but it really wasn’t all that disguised. Tua threw the ball with everything in front of him and Eskridge already having flashed open right in front of him underneath. This was a forced throw and it’s interesting the player he’s trying to force it to was Malik Washington who was marginally open, save Latu directly between the he and the ball. 

– It’s feeling like we have a quarterback only able to play one style effectively and any hiccup to that — which McDaniel has been unable to prevent the last 18 games — can spell disaster.

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– On the failed 4th-and-6 late in the 3rd quarter, every eligible receiver (incl. RB) were running patterns well beyond the sticks, save Waddle (who was at them), and Conner (who was behind them) and whose Tua’s fluttering attempt was toward. It feels like this was McDaniel’s attempt at a big strike instead of keeping a drive alive that would be inside the opponents 25. (Apologies for being in first person here but I realized I was physically shaking my head as I was writing this paragraph.) 

– McDaniel and Tua have showed similar tendencies in one regard — when Tua gets in trouble he likes to target a favorite receiver. Year one it was Waddle, then it was Hill and now seemingly Malik Washington. McDaniel, when the pressure is on the offense, tends to lean too heavily into Achane. Achane is probably the team’s most effective offensive player right now, but he is not built for what McDaniel wants to do with him at times. It’s simple physics. He’s going to get hurt. 

DEFENSE

– The Dolphins front seven did nothing extraordinary. Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver was unexpectedly vanilla and relied on the team’s front four to provide any pressure, which it didn’t.

– The heavier fronts and different looks that Anthony Weaver started showing came far too late (late 3rd, early 4th). It was done in an effort to create pressure and force turnovers because the Dolphins were well behind, but this should have been the strategy from the get-go (as detailed early in ACR’s W1 Game Notes). Miami CAN NOT sit back and hope it’s front four can create enough pressure while DBs zone up to protect each other. They can’t get there fast enough consistently on their own and the cornerbacks can not handle what’s coming, especially if they don’t have them squatting routes. 

– If Chop Robinson is the future of this team, why didn’t he start the game on the field?

– Anthony Weaver‘s defense did not come downhill at all in the first half in an effort to help it’s corners. Instead, Miami played a lot of soft coverages with additional players in coverage, one would assume to protect the inexperienced cornerbacks from giving up big plays. The result was zero pass rush and wide open receivers underneath for Daniel Jones to hit most of the half. 

– It’s going to be easy and convenient, as league play continues, to look at the selection of DT Kenneth Grant and wish Miami had gone another direction. That’s the nature of being a rookie tackle while running backs, receivers and tight ends are all flashing quantifiable stats. Grant’s impact doesn’t necessarily need to show in the box score. With that said, week one did not see him having even the minimal impact expected. The double teams primarily stayed on Zach Sieler and Grant made little of the opportunities. The goal for Grant now is to force other teams to double him. He may not possess the upper body strength to handle it effectively yet, but his anchor was also not as you’d hope in this game and that’s a strength that showed on his college tape — Grant making work easy for his teammates by anchoring and eating double teams. Maybe it would have helped him to play in the same rotation as Zach Sieler — who by his standards was ineffective — in the preseason. 

– On the sack by Bradley Chubb, the Colts o-line looked confused. There was nothing special schematically; both Chubb and Jaelen Phillips beat their respective tackles — who each were without help — using speed rushes. 

– At no point did the Colts offense seem anything but under control. Dropping Grant into coverage was surprising in a bad way and borderline silly. 

– With one play in goal-line, Dante Trader Jr. showed why MIA would hand a 5th-rounder who was hurt most preseason a spot on the 53. He has no elite traits to speak of, but he came off like one physical SOB and goes through people with the ball. He also looks like a legit possibility as a future starting strong/box safety.

– Game 1 confirmed an issue that shows up on tape in Jason Marshall Jr. college film — tackling efforts that if you didn’t know better might suggest he gets scared. Not on all plays. On plays where he is the aggressor (e.g. a blitz or a play where the ball-carrier/receiver is not in a position of strength), Marshall is willing and a sometimes strong tackler. In the open field when the offensive player has space, his efforts are weak and can look half-hearted (3:04 1Q). He has the size to be a force but if the mentality doesn’t match, size means nothing. 

– On the touchdown from Jones to Michael Pittman Jr., McDaniel pointed out in his Monday press conference that safety Ifeatu Melifonwu was in the wrong coverage area and late to get over to help CB Storm Duck, who on tape was clearly expecting it. Letting Duck off the hook though isn’t really being straight though because his third or quarter on the boundary side had zero eligible receivers to cover other than Pittman. There was no reason for Duck not to commit to the coverage aside, despite the lack of help over the top. 

– Unpopular opinion in all likelihood but losing Duck is not a big deal. When 35 people are looting the store, a single unarmed security guard isn’t going to stop the merchandise from being taken. 

– Aside from Trader, Minkah Fitzpatrick and the early hit on Jones by Matthew Judon, the Dolphins played with little aggression on either side of the ball. There weren’t even many singular efforts of physicality at all, even from players you would expect like Jordyn Brooks. Notably, Brooks did start a little slow last season. But for a team called out publicly for being soft, it did nothing worthy of silencing anybody whose said it.

– Nick Cross (another former Terrapins safety) blindside sack of Tagavailoa in the second quarter was less Austin Jackson‘s fault than a beautifully-disguised blitz by Colts DC Anarumo. Cross lined up pre-snap as an off-ball box safety, looking like his man was TE Conner. Just before the snap though, he shifted to the line and outside of Conner, where Jackson likely couldn’t even see him. When the ball was snapped, Jackson was quick as one can be to recognize and move, but the okay was already past him and Conner was off into whatever was his intended route.

– Save a trade, there will be no answer at CB and don’t look for it to happen — Stephen Ross should not allow it. The Colts game affirmed that eyes should be on the 2027 draft, no matter what general manager and head coach are running the team.