The Miami Dolphins have started their 2025 season with an 0-2 record, increasing pressure on the team’s leadership.
Upcoming nationally televised games against the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets will intensify scrutiny on the team’s performance.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s late-game interception and offensive miscues contributed to the Week 2 loss against the Patriots.
MIAMI GARDENS, FL — The Miami Dolphins are one of the teams to start 0-2 in 2025, but the booming noise around their abysmal start will only get louder with nationally televised matchups in the next two weeks.
The Dolphins will visit Josh Allen and the big, bad Buffalo Bills (especially against them) on ‘Thursday Night Football’ to begin Week 3, where a 0-3 start almost feels like a certainty. Miami will be in prime time again 11 days later hosting the New York Jets on ‘Monday Night Football’ in Week 4 on Sept. 29.
Whether or not it’s enough time for Dolphins owner Stephen Ross to make wholesale changes, the hot seat will only get hotter for coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier, while shortcomings from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and embattle receiver Tyreek Hill will be amplified if their struggles continue.
Some Dolphins fans voiced their displeasure by flying a banner that read “Fire Grier. Fire McDaniel” above Hard Rock Stadium before the team succumbed to a 33-27 loss to the New England Patriots at home on Sunday, Sept. 15.
Tagovailoa had an overthrow, endured a false start and a sack, and tossed an interception on the final drive – after running back De’Von Achane stepped out of bounds on a potential game-winning touchdown.
“We had the opportunity to win the game, and we robbed it from ourselves,” McDaniel said as his job security was questioned two games into his fourth season, following a 33-8 drubbing to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1.
Whether they scored and won or not, any chance for the Dolphins to relish or celebrate their first win of the season would have dissipated quickly before their next opponent.
Allen, the 2024 NFL MVP, is 13-2 against the Dolphins since he was drafted by the Bills in 2018.
Simply put, Allen and the Bills have become the AFC East nightmare for the Dolphins like Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots were for the previous 20 years.
This is the big picture reason why the Dolphins have the longest playoff win drought in the NFL – their last in a 2000 AFC wildcard game, the first season when quarterback Jay Fielder and coach Dave Wannstedt took over for a retired Dan Marino and former coach Jimmy Johnson.
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The Dolphins have reached the postseason twice under McDaniel – falling in the wildcard round to the Bills in 2022 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023. They failed to make the playoffs with an 8-9 record last season.
While Grier acknowledged Miami has reset its roster following the departures of standouts like Jalen Ramsey, Jonnu Smith, Calais Campbell and Terron Armstead, Miami’s 0-2 start lingers with baggage from 25 years of gloom, heightened with every regular-season loss that weighs heavily on this current cast of Dolphins – unfairly or not.
“I’ve seen a team that is trying to do everything they can to win, and coming up short, and pressing forward and trying to change that result,” McDaniel said to begin the week.
“Pressure is opportunity … Obviously, we don’t want to be 0-2. We look at it as fuel to the fire,” added Hill, who had 109 yards against the Patriots, including a 47-yarder which snapped a personal streak of 371 days without a catch longer than 30 yards.
The Dolphins have been unable to weaponize Hill offensively like they did in 2023, when the former Chiefs star led the NFL in touchdown catches and receiving yards in his first season in Miami.
Tagovailoa – who was 26 of 32 for 315 yards with two touchdowns – cited procedural issues offensively on the final drive, which resulted in his fourth turnover and the first 0-2 start of his six-year NFL career.
“Anyone who knows football and anyone who doesn’t know football just knows that was not clean and that was not right, what we were doing at the end of the game,” Tagovailoa said. “We’ll get that fixed, communicate that to those guys, and we’ll move forward from there.’
Added McDaniel: “With the game on the line, our communication and our substitution was not up to par, and ultimately, I hold all responsibility for all things. I will make sure that things that should already be ironed out moving forward. We will not fall victim to the same thing again.”
The Dolphins defense has allowed a field goal or touchdown on 13 of 15 drives excluding kneel downs through two games. They allowed the Colts to score on every drive, and saw the Patriots punt just twice – the first on a drive with three New England penalties, and the second after a poor snap led to a 3rd and 26.
While Miami’s Malik Washington returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown, the Patriots answered with Antonio Gibson’s 90-yard touchdown return on the ensuing kick – the turning point before Tagovailoa’s end-game miscues.
“It’s a short week. You get this one out your head, learn from it, grow from it, and we got another divisional opponent we’ve had fits with in the past,” Dolphins edge rusher Bradley Chubb said.
Pressure is mounting for McDaniel, Tagovailoa, Grier and the Dolphins.
Their glaring miscues have led to a disappointing start in McDaniel’s fourth season, and will only be amplified in prime time in the next two weeks.
“If I worry about my job security, then I’m not doing my job,” McDaniel said.
Added Tagovailoa: “It’s one of those deals where you can never get too high in this league. You can never be too low. You’ve just got to continue to stick to your process, stay even keel, trust the guys, continue to bring those guys along.”
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