Kelly: Dolphins know these lackluster QB struggles well, so suck it up and step up | Opinion

Let’s not act like we haven’t been here before.

The Miami Dolphins have endured eras with Daunte Culpepper, Chad Henne and Ryan Fitzpatrick leading the franchise for a season or two.

We have survived stretches where Trent Green lasted five games as the starter in 2007. Matt Moore was the team MVP in 2011 as a replacement, and then led the Dolphins to a playoff berth in 2016 in the same capacity.

Jay Cutler had to unretire to provide an uninspired effort as Ryan Tannehill’s replacement in 2017.

If we recall all those seasons, all those stretches of games led by lackluster quarterbacks, backup quarterbacks or break-in-case-of-emergency quarterbacks, those contests usually came down to one, or three plays in the fourth quarter.

Some of those games the Dolphins won leaning on the run game and defense. A ton of them they lost.

The point is, the 2024 Dolphins season isn’t over just because Tua Tagovailoa has been put on injured reserve while his brain heals following the concussion he sustained in last week’s 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Much like the two decades of football Miami has played between the end of the Dan Marino era and Tagovailoa’s emergence as a Pro Bowl quarterback, this stretch of the season is the time Miami will need everyone else to step forward and carry an extra share of the load.

The Minnesota Vikings are 2-0 with their backup (Sam Darnold) as the starter.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 2-0 despite being led by a backup (Justin Fields).

And the Green Bay Packers won last week with Malik Willis — a quarterback nobody in the NFL wanted, even the team that drafted him early — as the starter after joining the Packers three weeks ago.

Willis completed 12 of 14 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown and ran for another 41 on six carries in a 16-10 win against the Indianapolis Colts.

He kept the Packers’ season afloat, and Skylar Thompson can do the same, we hope.

Know what all those teams have in common. They are a team, and play like one.

That’s the approach the Dolphins need to take for this specific portion of the season, especially during this stretch.

“The hard thing is to say, ‘Whatever, let’s tune up our game,” head coach Mike McDaniel said. “I don’t care about what other phases are doing, I don’t care about what other positions are doing. How do I relate to our ultimate job?”

That job is to produce victories, and keep Miami’s playoff aspirations alive.

And to do that it’s time for McDaniel to prove to the world he’s this offensive genius, the quarterback whisperer people credit him for being because of Tagovailoa’s transformation.

His coaching buddy, Kyle Shanahan turned Brock Purdy, the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, into one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks in the NFL today, and Thompson was picked ahead of Purdy in the same draft.

Who knows what can happen, but let’s not make those the expectation.

If there was ever a time to channel the late Tony Sparano and unearth his version of the Wildcat, it’s now that Thompson’s responsible for quarterbacking till Week 8, when Tagovailoa’s eligible to come off injured reserve.

But the burden of this season shouldn’t just be placed on the offense.

Anthony Weaver’s defense, which carried Miami to its season-opening victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars, needs to lick its wounds from that embarrassing loss to the Bills and tighten the screws, trimming down the opposition’s yards per carry average and team’s success rate in the red zone.

Someone needs to start delivering sacks.

“I don’t think we have to do more than what’s required of us to win,” pass rusher Jaelan Phillips said. “I got a lot of faith in Skylar, and I have a lot of faith in our offense in general.”

Has Jalen Ramsey, Kendall Fuller, Jordan Poyer and Jevon Holland delivered an interception in a game yet? That’s important considering turnovers are usually a huge indicator of who will win NFL games.

Everyone needs to chip in, and that includes Danny Crossman and his special teams unit, which must help the Dolphins win the field position battle every week.

And then there’s the playmakers, the people who Thompson must lean on to score touchdowns.

Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle each had quiet performances against Buffalo, and that’s before Tagovailoa was sidelined by his concussion and replaced by Thompson, who will be making his fourth NFL start against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, which includes a 2022 playoff game.

During his Dolphins tenure Hill has had only had two previous games (Bills and Jets in 2022) where he only caught two passes.

That’s not how Hall of Fame players perform, especially not one who wants to become a first-ballot inductee?

Those elite players do their part to ensure the Dolphins don’t have wasted seasons. They don’t take themselves off the field on third downs no matter the score.

They put on a cape and typically play hero, and that’s what the Dolphins will need from a length cast of characters to keep Tagovailoa’s absence from derailing the season.