However bad you thought the Dolphins’ 31–6 loss to the Browns was on Sunday, it was somehow even worse
I hesitate to say it can’t get worse, but…
The Miami Dolphins have a long flight home. Miami lost a 31-6 stinker to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon in what was one of the most appalling displays of football that Dolphins fans have been subjected to in years.
Miami lost the turnover battle 4-0, as Tua Tagovailoa got an early head start on Halloween by giving out interceptions to Browns defenders — while Dee Eskridge joined the fun by putting the ball on the ground on one of his two critical miscues on special teams.
After the game, you could simply feel a flabbergasted football team that doesn’t appear to have any answers. This was a contest of 1-5 football teams playing each other, and the Dolphins were simply outclassed by the Browns and had no one to thank for the end result but themselves.
Miami’s miscues were plentiful. And they’re the mark of a bad football team in need of change. Desperately.
Dolphins have no one to blame but themselves for Sunday’s defeat to Cleveland
Where do you want to start? With the penalties? Miami had 11 of them for 103 yards. And it wasn’t just posting penalties — it was where and when they came in the game. Miami had a holding call on a punt return that prompted a 26-yard field position change. There was illegal contact on a third-and-14 stop that gave the Browns a fresh set of downs. Pass interference on an overthrow that negated an interception. Multiple false starts on consecutive possessions that started near midfield — a sure death sentence for an offense that aimlessly plodded around on Sunday afternoon.
Miami finished this game with nearly half as many penalty yards as they had of total offense (219 yards of offense versus 103 yards of penalties), and 86 of their yards came on two plays.
Would you like to talk about situational football? Miami was 1-13 offensively on third downs — often yielding any comfort or control over their possessions in those moments. It failed to score touchdowns on both of its trips to the red zone. The Dolphins’ early down efforts were, somehow, even worse. From the one-minute mark of the first quarter until the final two minutes of regulation, Miami posted 12 yards of offense (plus two false starts) on 16 first-down plays.
When you factor in the penalties, Miami had as many turnovers as it had total yards (two) on first downs across 43 minutes of game clock.
Miami Dolphins’ 31-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns by the numbers
- 219 yards of offense (3.8 yards per play)
- 4 turnovers
- 1/13 on third downs (2/4 on fourth downs)
- 0/2 in the red zone
- 28:15 time of possession
And then there’s the most devastating theme of all. Self-awareness. The Dolphins sorely lacked it on Sunday. Miami came into adverse conditions in Cleveland, talking about the need to focus on the Browns as its opponent and not the weather.
Maybe they should have considered the weather as an opponent, too. Cleveland came in with a heavy volume of unsexy runs, willing to offer body blows on the Dolphins’ defense and play a clock control game. Miami looked like it hadn’t touched a wet ball all week in practice and fell into the trap Mike McDaniel is known much too often for — airing it out too early.
Tua Tagovailoa‘s stat line paid the price — although his limitations in this contest were so woefully apparent that Miami had no answers for Jim Schwartz’s pressure looks. Tagovailoa showed brutal decision-making all day, not dissimilar to his decision-making at the podium after last week’s loss to the Chargers. The judgment was poor, throwing blindly into coverage with passes that floated too long or sailing out-breaking patterns to his running back on the first play of the second half for what ended up being a pick-six the other way.
This was an appalling football game for the Miami Dolphins. Appalling probably doesn’t properly describe it. Because the more you digest this game, the worse it gets, and the more painfully apparent the issues are. They seep deep into this football team. And there’s no salvation coming any time soon. Not with this group, who seem content to lob grenades at one another after games.
It can always be worse. But right now? For the 2025 Miami Dolphins? It doesn’t feel like it.
Miami Dolphins News
After a chaotic week, Minkah Fitzpatrick offered a gold standard that every Dolphins player should aspire to meet
Minkah set the record straight and also a standard for the locker room.
