CLEVELAND — Remember when Mike McDaniel said it couldn’t get worse a while back?

It got worse Sunday in a 31-6 loss to the previously 1-5 Cleveland Browns.

The Dolphins fell to 1-6 in a season that sunk a little more. Here are 10 thoughts on the dismal day:

1.Play of the Game: On the first play of the second half, Tua Tagovailoa threw high toward the sideline to De’Von Achane, who had it tick off his hands and Cleveland’s Tyson Campbell intercepted it, managed to stay inbounds and ran 34 yards for a touchdown. Twelves seconds into the half, whatever thoughts the Dolphins had of regrouping at the intermission were gone and Cleveland led, 24-6.

2. Stat of the Day: Cleveland ended a streak of scoring 17 points or fewer in 11 straight games. That wasn’t all on the defense. It was a shared disappointment with an offense. But if there was ever a day for the Dolphins defense to get healthy, here it was. Cleveland entered Sunday last in the league at 13.7 points a game and had a third-round rookie in quarterback Dillon Gabriel (13-18, 116 yards). When Cleveland took a 17-3 second-quarter lead that represented its biggest lead all season. It wasn’t the defense’s fault for the 31-point total considering …

3. … Tua couldn’t lift this offense and gift-wrapped two touchdowns to Cleveland. Or maybe this offense couldn’t be lifted against the third-ranked defense. The weather wasn’t a factor. The first-half rain stopped, the winds expected to be strong never really were — but Tagovailoa had three interceptions before being sat down in the fourth quarter after completing 12 of 23 passes for 100 yards. He was lucky not to have a second pick-6 in the fourth quarter when he was under pressure in his end zone and threw right to safety Rayshawn Jenkins at the 11-yard line. Jenkins returned it to the 2. A play later Cleveland led 31-6.  It wasn’t just Tua. Jaylen Waddle had one catch for 15 yards. De’Von Achane did everything he could with 11 carries for 80 yards and three catches for 16 yards. Tight end Darren Waller left the game in the first half with a pectoral injury and (weekly reminder) Tyreek Hill is lost for the year. The Dolphins ran 19 times for a respectable 95 yards (mainly Achane) when Tua left the game. But this offense looked lost Sunday as it going 1 of 12 on third-down conversions shows.

4. The Dolphins defense didn’t plug the run-defense holes. Two weeks ago it was Carolina’s backup, Rico Dowdle, running for 206 yards against the Dolphins. Last week it was the Los Angeles Chargers’ Kimani Vidal running for 124 yards with the fourth and fifth offensive tackles. Cleveland rookie Quinshon Jenkins running 25 times for 84 yards doesn’t tell the full story. He had 10 carries for 70 yards as Cleveland opened up its lead. Cleveland’s offense is 27th overall and 28th in running the ball, too, and it was without both starting tackles. Cleveland’s interior is healthy, though, and Judkins ran 46 yards right up the gut to put the Brown up 10-3 in the second quarter.

5. On the good-news front (every day needs some): Left tackle Patrick Paul passed a big test on his good progression this year to showing he can be very good. Myles Garrett was kept as quiet as possible this day. Garrett is a six-time Pro Bowler, four-time All-Pro and Defensive Player of the Year in 2023. He wasn’t credited with a tackle in the first half. He had a sack early in the third quarter, but that was on a defensive twist where he beat guard Cole Strange.

6. On all three Browns scoring drives of the first half, the Dolphins committed significant penalties. That folds into a day where the Dolphins had 10 penalties for 98 yards to the Browns’ five penalties for 37 yards. Here’s the breakdown of the defensive penalties on Browns’ scoring drives:

*3-0: Browns ‘ 57-yard drive aided by 1) an illegal contact penalty that turned fourth down into first down and 2) a Zach Sieler roughing the passer penalty.

*10-3: Browns’ five-play, 83-yard drive was kept alive by a marginal pass-interference call on Minkah Fitzpatrick that negated an Ashtyn Davis interception. On the next play, Judkins ran for his 46-yard touchdown.

*17-3: Browns’ 10-play, 46-yard drive that began thanks to Dee Eskridge’s kickoff-return fumble got its biggest gain on a 15-yard penalty on Jaelan Phillips for unnecessary roughness. Instead of facing third-and-5 from the Dolphins 35, the penalty gave a first down.

7. Don’t overlook the pre-game news: The simple read of Quinn Ewers being promoted to the backup quarterback over Zach Wilson for Sunday’s game is McDaniel thought Ewers gave them a better chance to win if needed. This isn’t a small decision for any team, putting a rookie seventh-round pick over a veteran free agent who was considered a good fit to rehab his game in this offense. It’s a bigger decision on the Dolphins with Tua’s injury history. It also carries some practice-week protocol as the third-stringer typically runs the scout team and the second-stringer gets limited practice reps.

9. Quick Hits:

*Jordyn Brooks had nine tackles and Tyrel Dodson eight to continue the story of Dolphins linebackers having good numbers without big impact.

*New England remains in first place in the AFC East after beating Tennessee.

*Streak alert: For the second straight week, the team that won the pregame coin toss elected to receive. It was the Dolphins last week, the Browns this week.

*Sunday was the first matchup of left-handed quarterbacks since Atlanta’s Michael Vick and Tampa Bay’s Chris Simms in 2006.

10. Dolphins at Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta plays at San Francisco on Sunday night and looks like a team that’s found some good answers this year.  Those answers pose some problems in this matchup. Atlanta has the league’s top running game at 151.2 yards a game. Bijan Robinson is tied for the league lead at 5.8 yards a rush with Carolina’s Rico Dowdle (remember him running for 206 yards on the Dolphins?) Atlanta’s defense also leads the league in allowing 253.4 yards a game and is seventh in giving up 20 points a game.

Originally Published: October 19, 2025 at 4:16 PM EDT