MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — At the top of the Miami Dolphins’ 2025 offseason priority list, perhaps No. 1, has to be the resolve to be a smarter, more disciplined team.
At least twice during the regular season and once during the season-ending press conference, coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier mentioned how the Dolphins tend to make unforced errors and to fight.
In 2025, the Dolphins can’t continue to suffer injuries during critical moments of big games like they have over the past three seasons.
Penalties. Abandoned passes. Missed blocks. Blown covers. Fumble. Interceptions. Bags. You name it, it’s happened. Frequently.
Scattered media coverage in Seattle. Two fumbles lost in Indianapolis. A lost fumble in Buffalo. A penalty at the end of the match in Buffalo. An interception late in the game in Houston. A starting quarterback – with a history of concussions – attempting to tackle an interception returner by diving headfirst into the returner’s lap. And so on.
A dropped lateral pass last season against Kansas City that was returned for a touchdown. A fumble lost against Minnesota in 2022.
The Dolphins are not a stupid team by any means.
But this is by no means a smart team, and that’s a major problem.
The Dolphins, with their low margin for error, must be a smart team.
Buffalo is smart. San Francisco is smart. Philadelphia is smart. Baltimore, Kansas City, they’re smart teams. This is one of the main reasons why they have all enjoyed lasting success.
It’s the opposite for the Dolphins, who finished the 2024 season ninth in penalties (114) and 12th in penalty yards (926). In 2022, the Dolphins were tied for fourth in penalties (111) and fifth in penalty yards (881).
Grier cited foolish mistakes as the reason the Dolphins lose games in cold weather.
“I think a lot of times in some of these cold weather games, it’s self-inflicted wounds, we find a way to fight through it,” Grier said during last week’s end-of-season news conference at the alongside McDaniel.
“Even last week (in the season-ending loss to the New York Jets), we turned the ball over three times, including in the red zone several times. Until this team finds ways to stop this, nothing will change, so we have to change this narrative and find a way to win.
The Dolphins, while looking for reasons why they haven’t won a playoff game since the 2000 season, can’t keep fighting.
A second-half pick-six in New England in a 23-21 loss in 2022. Take a 14-point lead in the final three minutes against Tennessee in a 28-27 loss in 2023. Take a lead by nine points in the fourth quarter in a 28-27 loss to Arizona in 2024.
This is an under-publicized trait that often keeps this team from being at its best.
Moreover, this tendency towards self-inflicted damage was also mentioned last season.
McDaniel actually tried to use the Dolphins’ unforced errors as a compliment last year, saying that good teams don’t beat the Dolphins, but rather that “when we lose, we beat ourselves.”
I couldn’t see how it was better then, and I couldn’t see how it was better now.
Worse still, I don’t see how much the trend has changed.
Here’s what McDaniel said a few days before their 30-27 loss at Buffalo this season: “They literally challenge you to do well longer and take advantage of groups of players who are incapable of executing up-and-down attacks . and they do a masterful job handing the victory to the other team.
Somehow, the Dolphins need to become a smarter team, one that takes advantage of every advantage the opponent provides.
Instead, it works the other way.
The Dolphins had a minus-5 turnover margin last season. According to McDaniel, statistics are the best indicator of wins and losses.
Worse yet, the Dolphins have a minus-10 turnover margin in all three seasons of the McDaniel era. They fought.
The trend was worse against good teams in 2024.
The Dolphins, who are 4-16 against playoff teams in the McDaniel era, were 1-4 against playoff teams last season.
They had a minus-7 turnover margin in those five games against playoff teams.
Penalties were pretty even in games against playoff teams. The Dolphins had 34 penalties for 261 yards while their opponents had 25 penalties for 253 yards.
However, the dolphins must stop fighting.
Here’s what McDaniel said the day after the 30-17 loss at Green Bay:
“One of the most important things good teams do when they play good teams is play clean football and allow their opponents to make mistakes – that’s what the Packers did to us.”
The Dolphins have a lot of improvement to make in 2025. But it all starts with smarter, more disciplined football.
