The Miami Dolphins needed a “get right” game after a sluggish start against the New York Jets in Week 12. And while they didn’t necessarily avoid the sluggish start in Week 13 against the Cincinnati Bengals, either, they sure did get the “get right” opportunity in the second half. And the team, as a whole, obliged. Miami had 263 yards of offense in the second half while holding the Bengals to just 25 yards of offense over the final 30 minutes. Tua Tagovailoa was humming along. The offense was playing brisk (until a Myles Gaskin fumble took points off the board late in the game). The defense had returned to their swarming selves — sacking Bengals quarterbacks Brandon Allen and Ryan Finley relentlessly.
But one are of concern for this Dolphins team looms large as Miami looks to push forward over their final four games. The red zone.
Miami was just one of four in their trips to the red zone and saw several possessions fizzle due to a vanilla approach — run early on and attempt a third-down fade along the perimeter. The Dolphins, playing an elite quarterback like Patrick Mahomes next week, can not trade touchdowns for field goals and expect to win. It’s not possible or realistic. That’s a similar script to the one we saw play out for the Dolphins in Week 4 in their 31-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Miami flew close to the sun all game and cut the Seattle lead to 17-15 with just ten minutes remaining before things fell apart. They simply need to be better in the red zone.
That will come, but there’s little to no wiggle room against more potent teams. So the Dolphins offense must be honest with themselves about their running game and find more layered plays in the low red zone if they’re looking to find pay dirt — including more plays like one run-pass option that appeared to be hastily given by rookie Tua Tagovailoa against the Bengals instead of pulled and tossed to TE Adam Shaheen cutting across the formation and into the flat.
The consistency from Tagovailoa will come. At the very least, there were no turnovers in the red zone. But Miami’s efforts here, especially inside the 10-yard line in the “low” red zone, must improve for Miami to finish their race to the postseason in 2020.