The Miami Dolphins are running out of time. What once felt like another step forward in the Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa era has instead become a season defined by frustration, inconsistency and a disappearing margin for error.
As the losses have mounted, McDaniel‘s tone has shifted sharply, and the message entering Week 13 is unmistakable: beat the New Orleans Saints or surrender whatever slim postseason chance remains.
McDaniel made that clear when asked about Miami‘s broader trajectory. Rather than talking about long range plans or late season momentum, he pointed directly to the standings.
“You can do the math, and you do it off the losses,” he said, via reporter Omar Kelly. “The report of the seedings six weeks before the season is over is vastly different.”
For the Dolphins, now 4 and 7, the Saints visit is less an ordinary Sunday than a lifeline. New Orleans is 2 and 9, struggling badly, but Miami knows it has no room to overlook anyone.
“The most important thing is that we play our style of football,” McDaniel said. “None of it matters beyond the New Orleans Saints game here on Sunday.”
That urgency reflects how precarious Miami‘s situation has become. Even with back to back wins, the Dolphins enter the weekend with only a two percent chance to reach the postseason. A loss would all but eliminate them.
Tagovailoa’s season of setbacks and self assessment
The weight of this season has not fallen solely on McDaniel. Tagovailoa has been unusually candid about his struggles, acknowledging the inconsistency and mistakes that have disrupted Miami‘s offense.
Already sacked 21 times and intercepted 13, he has been forced to face a difficult truth: the standard he set in previous years has not carried over.
“When things are not going the way you expected them to, when you have goals for yourself and they are not aligning, there are a lot of things I can learn from,” Tagovailoa said. “Glad we get to get back at it and hopefully continue our win streak.”
The Dolphins‘ offensive identity has wavered for much of the year, undone by miscommunication, stalled drives and a rash of pre snap penalties. Those errors drew a pointed reaction from McDaniel recently.
“One thing I struggle to tolerate is not learning from something,” he said. “When things happen to your detriment and you do not learn from it and fix it, that is where I get triggered.”
To their credit, Miami has started to clean up the basics. Penalties have dropped significantly over the past month, and the staff has leaned on creativity, including deploying Daniel Brunskill as an extra lineman, to stabilize the run game.
Whether the Dolphins can build on that progress will be determined quickly. The Saints arrive at a moment when Miami has little choice but to find answers, and even less time to discover them.
The Dolphins still have a pulse, but every week from here will feel like a test of urgency, resilience and belief.
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