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Speed, motion and the Miami Dolphins: What to make of the NFL's most potent offense

2RXCY41 Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1), Miami Dolphins tackle Terron Armstead (72), Miami Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert (31) and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) dance off of the field as they celebrate scoring against the Denver Broncos during an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Doug Murray)

• Motion, speed and more speed: The Dolphins' 83.3% rate of using pre-snap shifts or motion leads the NFL, allowing players such as Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle to find space amid confused defenses.

• EPA dominance: The gap between the Miami offense and second place in expected points added per play this season is the same as the gap between second and 21st.

• Can Miami sustain this success? The offense got hot in 2022, as well, but failed to translate that into postseason success after Tua Tagovailoa's multiple concussions.

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes


The Miami Dolphins’ offense has been on fire to start the 2023 NFL season, but it ascended to a new sphere with a 70-20 beatdown of the Denver Broncos in Week 3.

The Dolphins have looked like a team going places since Mike McDaniel and Tyreek Hill arrived over a year ago. The offense — and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, in particular — looked vastly improved a year ago, but that train derailed late in the season.

Tagovailoa dealt with multiple concussions in quick succession and was eventually shut down for the remainder of the season in December, leaving rookie Skylar Thompson to start the team’s playoff game against Buffalo.

Lost in the concussion focus was the fact that Tua’s play — and that of the offense as a whole — nosedived late in the year. While Tagovailoa’s injuries didn't help, teams had begun to fight back on a schematic level against an offense that had been causing so much destruction earlier in the season.

Tua Tagovailoa 2022 Game Grades
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In a Week 14 game against Brandon Staley’s Chargers, Tagovailoa earned the lowest PFF grade of his season and the Chargers posted just 219 net yards on offense. They ran 49 plays on offense, and Tagovailoa’s completion rate was just 35.7%. In his final two games of the season, he made six total turnover-worthy plays and posted two more ugly PFF game grades. It seemed like teams had started to crowd the middle of the field and take away the wide-open space that the Miami receivers had been running into all season.

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