Miami Dolphins NFL Season Recap

Miami Dolphins NFL Betting Odds

Brian Flores has the Miami Dolphins on the right track. For the second straight year, the Dolphins overachieved, and Flores could have been named NFL Coach of the Year if Miami made the playoffs. He squeezed five wins out of this team in 2019 when there was barely any talent on the roster, and the Dolphins turned a lot of heads by going 10-6 in 2020. The future is bright for the team entering the offseason with the No. 3 and No. 18 picks in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Miami Dolphins Season Recap

Ryan Fitzpatrick began the year as Miami’s starting quarterback. Fitzpatrick had his ups and downs as the Dolphins got off to a 3-3 start, leading to Flores making the decision to go with Tua Tagovailoa after the bye week. There was a lot of buzz surrounding Tagovailoa as Miami was delighted to have the Alabama quarterback available with the fifth pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but he largely did not look like the player we saw in college.

Tagovailoa didn’t post bad numbers. He completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 1,814 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions in 10 games. However, Miami’s offense was not as efficient with the rookie on the field as he averaged just 6.3 YPA and was sacked 20 times. That led to Tagovailoa being pulled in favor of Fitzpatrick twice, and the grizzled veteran kept Miami in the playoff hunt by coming off the bench against Las Vegas on Christmas weekend to lead the Dolphins to a 26-25 victory.

Miami needed to beat Buffalo in Week 17 to have the opportunity to win its first postseason game in two decades. The Dolphins took a hit when it was announced that Fitzpatrick would be unavailable due to COVID, putting the team’s postseason hopes squarely on Tagovailoa’s shoulders.

The rookie threw for 361 yards against the Bills, but much of that came in garbage time, and he also threw three interceptions as Buffalo held a 49-13 lead with under 12 minutes left to go in the game. Josh Allen and Matt Barkley both picked apart Miami’s secondary throughout the afternoon, leading to a 56-28 rout that meant the Dolphins needed either Cleveland or Indianapolis to lose to make the postseason. The Browns and Colts did give them hope they would stumble for a while, but both teams ended up winning and leaving Miami out.

There were other positives despite the disappointing end to the season. Miami seemed to finally solve its running game issues with a hefty dose of University of Washington running backs.

Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed were the team’s two leading rushers, combining to run for 905 yards and six touchdowns. Both Gaskin and Ahmed missed significant stretches due to injury, appearing in a combined 16 games, but both running backs averaged at least 4.1 YPC.

Mike Gesicki is one of the most underrated tight ends in the league. He was second on the team in receiving this year with 53 receptions for 703 yards and six touchdowns, while DeVante Parker led the way for the Dolphins with 62 catches for 793 yards and four touchdowns despite missing two games. Other options need to emerge though as no other player had more than 400 receiving yards for Miami in 2020.

The Dolphins were very fortunate on defense in 2020, so don’t be surprised to see some regression in 2021 even if more talent is added on this side of the ball. Miami ranked sixth in scoring defense (21.1 PPG) and 21st in total defense (367.9 YPG). This unit didn’t rank in the top half of the league in run defense or pass defense either.

Xavien Howard was Miami’s lone Pro Bowl player. Howard led the NFL with 10 interceptions this season. He is a high risk, high reward cornerback as he loves to jump routes, and it paid off in a big way this season.

Miami Dolphins Schedule & Results

Dolphins Past Seasons (2000)

Log into BookMaker Sportsbook and get the best NFL Betting Odds, NFL Betting Articles and information about this and all other sports betting events!