The Miami Dolphins were overwhelmed by the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3. There is no way to describe it otherwise when a team loses 24-3 even if they are playing with a backup quarterback. Almost all the rest of the players were starters and they were all professionals. In other words, there were no excuses for Miami.
To be fair, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel offered his team no excuses in his locker room speech after the game. He has a solid game plan and that has proven to work with injured quarterback Tua Tagovailoa at the helm. Tagovailoa missed Week 3 after suffering a concussion in Week 2.
In his place was Skylar Thompson who was himself injured during the Seahawks game and had to be replaced by Tim Boyle. Combined, Thompson and Boyle completed 20 of 32 passes but for just 140 yards and no touchdowns. They were also sacked six times and hit another 12 times. Seattle made it a rough day for the Dolphins quarterbacks.
Still, both quarterbacks are NFL players and need to be able to adapt and adjust. McDaniel understands this too. According to David Furones of the Sun Sentinel, McDaniel told his team that they “handle the road better… the crowd was rocking. We looked as though it was our first time in a hostile environment.”
Of course, that is what 12s do and Seahawks fans know it. Lumen Field is a different environment for nearly every team. If a player is not ready for the news then that is partly a coaching issue. The coaching staff has to prepare a team for the noise that 12s will bring.
So, yes. Mike McDaniel is correct in that his team needs to handle crowd noise better. He also did not help his team prepare well enough for the 12s. The Seattle Seahawks are now 3-0 in part because of the fans at Lumen Field.
