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As the New England Patriots keep cruising, another AFC East rival is unraveling.
The Miami Dolphins dropped to 1-5 after Sunday’s 29-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. They’ve dropped their last four losses by a combined 11 points, starting with Week 2’s 33-27 shortcoming to the Patriots, after the Chargers kicked a game-winning field goal in the game’s closing seconds at Hard Rock Stadium.
After the Week 6 loss, per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques, Tua Tagovailoa was asked how the Dolphins can bounce back from another heartbreaker. The sixth-year quarterback seemed to criticize his teammates when calling on himself and other leaders to set clearer standards.
“I think it starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys and then what we’re expecting out of the guys,” he said. “We’re expecting this — are we getting that? Are we not getting that? We have guys showing up to players-only meetings late, guys not showing up to players-only meetings. There’s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory?
“It’s a lot of things of that nature that we’ve got to get cleaned up, and it starts with little things like that.”
Down 26-13 early in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins rallied to take the lead with two touchdown drives. The Chargers received the ball with 46 seconds remaining, but a 42-yard completion from Justin Herbert to Ladd McConkey set up Cameron Dicker for a 33-yard field goal.
While Tagovailoa came through during the final period, he also threw three interceptions on Sunday. The 27-year-old has his lowest quarterback rating (92.1) since 2021 and fewest yards per attempt (6.8) since his 2020 rookie campaign.
Barring a significant turnaround, the Dolphins could be poised for their worst season of Tagovailoa’s career. They followed back-to-back playoff berths by going 8-9 in 2024.
Tagovailoa and Co. must regroup when Miami seeks a much-needed Week 7 road victory over the Cleveland Browns.
