During their Sunday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Miami Dolphins had failed to move the ball all that efficiently after a touchdown-scoring drive on their first possession of the game.
So, in the third quarter, when Tua Tagovailoa and company had moved the ball into Steelers territory, head coach Mike McDaniel opted to go for it on fourth down instead of kicking their fourth field goal in six possessions.
The fourth-and-3 attempt from Pittsburgh’s 14-yard line was stopped, and the Steelers took the ball, keeping it a 16-10 game.
After the game, McDaniel was asked about the decision to go for it at that point in the game, and he acknowledged the poor choice.
“I’m very aware that it’s one of those things that if it works, it’s a great play, and if it doesn’t, you know exactly what you have to — it could be a deciding factor in the game, so you do that,” McDaniel said. “I think at the moment I had some faith in the players and then regardless, you do it, and you don’t convert; that’s a bad decision because you have points, especially with the way Jason (Sanders) is kicking. It would have been a two-score game.
“Those are things that you’re well aware of when you enter into it. It was something that I felt pretty good about it working out. It didn’t, so that’s something that I take full responsibility for and luckily the rest of the team had that decision’s back, and we were able to come up with a win.”
While it was a questionable decision with a field goal making it a two-score game, the play call was probably more of the reason for the backlash. Tagovailoa, in shotgun, gave the ball to Chase Edmonds, who was lined up next to him, for a run that was stopped at the line of scrimmage for no gain.
Edmonds has been ineffective through seven weeks, as Raheem Mostert has proven to be the more efficient runner. However, the smarter move may have been to call a pass play that allowed Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill to use their quickness to get open and convert.
The decision didn’t end up costing the Dolphins, as the score remained the same for the rest of the game, but as McDaniel said, it could’ve come back to bite them.
