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The magic numbers behind the Miami Dolphins offense

2RXPCCY Miami Gardens, Florida, USA. 24th Sep, 2023. Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa laughs with head coach Mike McDaniel during the game against the Denver Broncos at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Sep. 24, 2023, in Miami Gardens, Florida. Credit: John McCall/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS/Alamy Live News

Keeping the defense guessing: The Dolphins lead the league in motion rate and are the most efficient team using pre-snap motion.

Using the run game well: The Dolphins have one of the league’s best run games, which keeps defenses honest and gives them a balanced offensive attack.

Changing it up: The Dolphins are near the top of the league in personnel diversity, which makes it challenging for opposing defenses to game plan against them.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes


The Miami Dolphins offense is the talk of the NFL, and for good reason.

Mike McDaniel's squad dropped 70 points on the Denver Broncos in Week 3 despite missing stud wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. And right now, it feels like teams are incapable of slowing down Tyreek Hill and figuring out McDaniel’s scheme.

It is a much different feeling than last year, when it once seemed as though Miami’s offense had hit a mid-season roadblock after losing to the 49ers on the road in Week 13.

From Week 13 to the wild-card round of the playoffs, the Dolphins ranked 23rd in expected points added (EPA) per play overall. They were 28th in success rate and 28th in EPA per dropback. From Week 13-16, the four-game stretch in which QB Tua Tagovailoa was healthy, he recorded only four big-time throws and seven turnover-worthy plays. He also took nine sacks and recorded a negative EPA per play in each game.


Click here to see Tua Tagovailoa's career in Premium Stats

All offense | Offense grades chart | Passing | Passing by concept
Passing by pressure | Passing by throw depth | Rushing
Rushing by direction


The whole offseason was about getting back to the offense that lit the NFL on fire during the early part of the 2022 season, and Mike McDaniel seems to have done it.

Here are the Dolphins' ranks in key offensive metrics.

It’s stellar across the board. Last year, there was a case to be made that the Dolphins were too reliant on explosive plays and weren’t good enough on a down-to-down basis. But they rank first in success rate this season, and while they’re still the most explosive offense in the NFL, they can also thrive without it — and that's the perfect combination.

Let's dive further into some numbers that highligh what Mike McDaniel is doing this season.

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