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Marcel Louis-Jacques, ESPN
GREEN BAY, Wisc. — At least one Miami Dolphins player believed the team allowed the cold temperatures to dictate its performance in Thursday’s 30-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
According to NextGen Stats, the Dolphins missed 20 tackles in the loss, which directly led to 132 additional yards for the Packers. Linebacker Jordyn Brooks bluntly said he thought the mid-20-degree temperatures played a role.
“I thought we were soft,” Brooks said after the game. “Simple as that, I thought we were soft today. I don’t know if guys was too cold… I don’t know what it was. I feel like the elements played a part in how we played as a group, and that was the result that we got.”
After going five straight games without allowing an opponent to rush for 100 yards, the Dolphins allowed 108 rushing yards in the first half Thursday. They also allowed Green Bay to average more than 7 yards per play and failed to force a turnover for the first time since Week 8.
Though Miami outscored the Packers 14-6 in the second half, the poor defensive effort and 24-3 first-half deficit were too much to overcome.
Defensive linemen Calais Campbell grimaced when told the final number of missed tackles after the game.
“That’s the game right there, man. Twenty missed tackles — it’s hard to win,” he said. “I think it was one of those days where what could go wrong, went wrong … I don’t ever want to make excuses, but I felt like today, the ball bounced their way and they made the plays to win the ball game. When we had our opportunities to make tackles in critical spaces, we have to find a way.”
Miami forced a three-and-out on the Packers’ opening drive of the game, but rookie returner Malik Washington muffed the punt, giving the Packers the ball at the Miami 7-yard line. Green Bay scored three plays later on a pass from Jordan Love to Jayden Reed.
Campbell said mistakes like that are tough to come back from, but the Dolphins’ defense also failed to hold Green Bay to a field goal after the turnover, which would have been much more palatable.
Miami’s offense wasn’t without its share of the blame for Thursday’s loss, going 4-for-14 on third down and failing to score touchdowns on half of its red zone visits. On one of those red zone trips, the Dolphins faced second-and-goal from the 1-yard line and ultimately turned the ball over on downs. Head coach Mike McDaniel said errors in technique held them out of the end zone on first and second downs, but he shouldered the blame for the incomplete pass on third down and sack on fourth down.
“It was a collection of things over a four-play span that will be tough for us to swallow when we watch film,” McDaniel said.
With the loss, Miami is two games back of the Denver Broncos for the seventh and final playoff seed in the AFC. With five games remaining, the Dolphins will likely have to win out in order to have a realistic chance at a third straight playoff berth.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said he wouldn’t say the “dream is dead” for the Dolphins just yet, but as Campbell said, they’ll likely need help in order to get into the playoff field.
“You hyperfocus on the next thing and you take it one game at a time, just like we did when we were 2-6,” McDaniel said after the game. “I told them, 5-7 pales in comparison to 2-6. We positioned ourselves to be in a situation where we could withstand a one-game setback and still get things done … It just gets really frustrating when you know you’re capable of winning a game and you can point to yourself as to why you lost it.”
Thursday’s loss was also the Dolphins’ seventh straight loss when temperatures at kickoff were below freezing — a disappointing result for a team that openly welcomed the opportunity to change the narrative that it can’t play in cold weather.
While three of its remaining five games will likely be in favorable weather conditions — two at home and one at Houston’s domed NRG Stadium — Miami will play consecutive road games against the Browns and Jets to end the season, both of which could feature near or below freezing temperatures.
McDaniel said when the time comes, he thinks his players will be ready to meet the challenge.
“Eventually you have to overcome it, if you’re trying to do anything in this league,” he said. “I think our guys will look forward to executing in the cold weather at the next opportunity; I think they know they can, so they need to and they want to.”
