Dolphins offense extends difficult start in 31-12 loss to Titans

The early season offensive struggles took another ugly turn for the Miami Dolphins on Monday night.

The Dolphins scored a late touchdown that snapped a nine-quarter touchdown drought in their 31-12 loss to the Tennessee Titans. The offensive misery continued as the Dolphins used their third quarterback since Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion in the second week home loss against Buffalo.

“There’s a tremendous disconnect between preparation and execution,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “There is a multitude of contributors I believe. The bottom line, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing behind the scenes. On the field that’s not even close to good enough.”

Miami, which has scored a league-low 45 points, finished with 184 yards total offense.

“It’s definitely frustrating. We’re definitely better than we show on game day,” Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle said. “We have to be better than good when your starting quarterback's out.”

Tyler Huntley got the start against previously winless Tennessee but the problems persisted after last week’s 24-3 loss at Seattle, when Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle took the snaps. Signed from the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad on Sept. 17, Huntley completed 14 of 22 for 96 yards. He also ran for 40 yards on eight attempts.

Under Huntley, the Dolphins seemed out of sync. They were called for five illegal shift penalties, including three in one drive.

On a couple of big play opportunities with star receiver Tyreek Hill, Huntley mistimed passes after Hill had beaten his defender.

“You wished you had 1,000 reps to go through the playbook but it is what it is,” Huntley said. “I felt pretty comfortable but now I have to dig in deeper and know the ins and outs of the offense and take the offense to another level.”

With Huntley having joined the team two weeks ago, McDaniel acknowledged there were limitations and adjustment to the play-calling strategy.

“There are calculated decisions with what he was comfortable with from the previous game plan for Seattle and some stuff that he had done in his career,” McDaniel said. “It was abbreviated to the extent to all things he was comfortable with.”

The Titans also were pressed to use a backup quarterback when starter Will Levis sustained a right shoulder injury during a running play in the first quarter and Mason Rudolph took over.

Rudolph finished 9 of 17 for 85 yards and directed two touchdown-ending drives in the second half while helping rookie coach Brian Callahan get his first NFL win.

“He didn’t bat an eye when he walked in the game,” Callahan said. “Our guys didn’t bat an eye. He did exactly what you want a guy like that to do in that situation was come in and operate. He was pretty clean operation wise.”

The Dolphins’ defense limited the Titans to three field goals by Nick Folk before Tyjae Spears’ 7-yard run with six minutes remaining in the third quarter made it 16-6.

Tennessee secured the win when Tony Pollard scored from 4 yards with 2:03 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“There is nothing good about this situation right now in terms of where our team needs to be,” McDaniel said. “We need to do enough to win a football game against any opponent. Right now, that’s not the case and we need to fix that fast.”