Where was this team the first seven weeks of the season?
It wasn’t even close.
Pretty much from the word “go,” the Miami Dolphins and their beleaguered head coach, Mike McDaniel, completely dominated the Atlanta Falcons in their home stadium.
The stats are even uglier than the scoreboard.
Miami had 15 more first downs than Atlanta had, and held the ball for nearly twice the amount of time the Falcons did.
All in all, it was a bloodbath.
And Dolphins fans should be positively pissed.
Sure, the Fins looked like a completely different team in northern Georgia than they have all year, but that’s the point.
Where was this team (and this quarterback) for the first month and a half of the season?
Miami signal caller Tua Tagovailoa had a career day at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, completing 77% of his passes and tossing four scores in a nearly perfect afternoon through the air.
This wasn’t against some patchwork defensive unit he did it against, either.
Coming into the day, the Falcons were second in the NFL in total defense, and Tua shredded them to pieces without his best wide receiver in the lineup.
So, let me repeat the question: where was this Dolphins team for the first month and a half of the season?
Miami dropped winnable games against the division-leading New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Chargers.
With wins in those games, the Fins would be right at the top of their division after Sunday’s victory.
Dolphins fans should be absolutely sick to their stomach after Sunday’s game, because it represents everything that could have been this season for a franchise starving to be relevant again.
The offense looked lethally efficient.
The defense looked dominant.
And, of course, Tua played like everyone thought we would when he was drafted fifth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.
But it might be too little, too late.
Mike McDaniel probably won’t be able to turn this around quickly enough, and all that means is the win represents an agonizing glimpse into what might have been a fun season in South Florida.
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