What Dan Orlovsky Had To Say About The Miami Dolphins Might Shock You…

[Music] Do you got faith, folks? Because ESPN’s Dan Orlovski does. He has been praising the Miami Dolphins all week on social media, on ESPN, all of their shows, kind of speculating that he thinks Miami has a chance to make a push for the NFL playoffs. And it honestly surprised me that he thinks this is very possible. We’ll start with what he tweeted on Monday morning after the game against the Saints. I mean, you see the date and time 6:17 in the morning on December 1st. It’s right after he watched the film from that game against New Orleans saying that Dolphins are a dangerous football team right now and they have totally transformed their offensive identity. And he’s not wrong about that second part about transforming the offensive identity. We have been talking about this now for a couple weeks. How Miami has gone from a finesse kind of RPO style passing the football team to, hey, we’re going to just line up and we’re going to run it right down your throats and be physical. And you have to give credit for the Dolphins making that switch with Daniel Brunkill, which we’ll talk more about here in a second. Tu tongue of Aloa um checking into a lot of these run plays and Mike McDaniel and this offensive line playing extremely well. Well, I mean, you look at the shift here and it really started week eight against the Atlanta Falcons. That’s when the Dolphins offense really started to shift to this run first runheavy offensive scheme. Actually coincides with Darren Waller getting hurt as well because it forced Miami to utilize some of these six offensive line sets. But weeks one through seven, Miami averaged 18 run per game. And this is designed runs per game. So I am not accounting for two tongaloa scrambles or anything like that. If they are running the football by design, it was 18 times per game in the first seven weeks of the year. In the last five games, week eight, week nine, week 10, week 11, and week 13. Obviously, Miami had a by-week in week 12, they have averaged 28.8 runs per game. That is an unbelievable shift. 10 more designed runs a game for Miami. Now, some of that could be because they got up big against Atlanta early and ran the ball a ton in the second half. Same thing could be said about the Buffalo Bills, but Miami has been running the ball extremely effectively because they’ve put a more emphasis on it. And the run game design by Mike McDaniel has been really impressive. But I mentioned it just a second ago. It’s not just a they woke up one day and said we’re going to run the football and they just did it better. No, it’s because the design and the personnel that they used, which was that Daniel Brunskill six offensive line package. They used him as a fullback at times as an inline tight end. They got him in motion to get him out on the perimeter easier when they were doing halfback tosses and around and zone runs to the outside, but it also allowed them to be more effective running the football over the middle of the field. The change there was created by Mike McDaniel. Some of the Dolphins offensive staff have given credit to McDaniel for coming up with the idea and actually putting it in the game plan and calling the plays. And boy has it changed everything for Miami. And we’ll showcase more offensive statistics here in a second. But we talked about a week 14 like battle with the Jets report. We play the Jets this week earlier in the week. Well, we are dominating them right now by 747 likes. That was quick math. Unbelievable math by me by the way. Um, I want to continue to put them in the dirt. Hit that thumbs up icon to take down the Jets this week, but I wanted to utilize some offensive advance metrics to showcase the offensive change because we talked about it, but how about the runs numbers actually backing it up? Weeks one through seven, bottom 10 offense in the entire NFL. Sure, they were still about league average and EPA per rush, but EPA per play 27th, EPA per drop back 27th, and then 29th in rush success rate. But in the last five games, weeks 8 through 13. They’re a top half offense in EPA per play. They’re a top 10 offense in EPA per rush and rush success rate. And they’ve actually improved a little bit as well in EPA per dropback, moving all the way up from 27th to 18th. It has been a dynamic difference in weeks one through seven to weeks eight through 13. And it’s obviously because of the play calling and the offensive line personnel being utilized better, but it’s also because you have an absolute superstar at running back in Devon AM. It has been incredibly awesome to watch him in a week in weekout basis to see him become a top five running back in football. I’ve talked about this over the last month. Ham, BJ Robinson, Jamir Gibbs, Jonathan Taylor, Christian McAffrey. Those are the top five running backs in football and there’s really no debate. Now, you could rank them however you want to. I would put up Hchan probably in the top three and that’s how good he’s been. And once again, I’ll kick it to Dan Olowski who said, “Do not sleep on Miami. Devon Han owns the highest explosive run rate in the NFL, 17.2%.” Over the last three games, he has been having 6.6 yards per carry, 428 yards, 21 first downs, and 14 explosive runs. Devon Aan has been unbelievable all year long. Honestly, throughout his entire career, but in this three-game win streak, he has totally transformed this Dolphins offense. So, I wanted to look at the advanced analytics and numbers over the last three games. Week 10 against the Bills, week 11 against the Commanders, week 13 against the Saints. When the Dolphins have won these three games, they are 11th in EPA per play, second in EPA per rush, second in rush success rate at 48.9%. They’re 16th in EPA per dropback, and they have the ninth best success rate out of all plays at 46%. So clearly when Miami is investing in making a hardcore concrete decision to run run the football with Devon Ham and let that set up the passing game. Miami’s done an incredible job. Give credit to Mike McDaniel for designing the plays. Give credit to the offensive line for executing the plays and give credit to Devon Ham for being a dominating force in the entire year. But over the last month, we break down news, rumors, advanced analytics, react to what people talk about in the Miami Dolphins in the media. Hit that sub button to be covered on all things Dolphins every single day. So, there were two parts of what Olowski was saying that I wanted to react to. Obviously, the offensive identity shifting and Devon Achan being a superstar, which we just talked about, but also how he said, “Do not sleep on Miami.” he has been hinting at on social media and on the shows. He literally I did a seg I watched him do a segment on it on Thursday morning by the way about he said the Dolphins can make the playoffs. That was his hot take of the day. I say pump the brakes. But let’s see what maybe Dan was talking about. I mean you look at the AFC right now it’s going to be hardressed for me to be talked into them making the playoffs. They’ve still got three teams ahead of them, and that’s before you even get to the teams actually in the wild card right now, which is the Chargers, Colts, and Bills all at 8 and4. You’ve got the Texans at seven and five. You got the Steelers and Chiefs at six and six. Now, there could be some cannibalism between the Ravens and Chief uh Steelers, excuse me, because they play each other two more times. The Dolphins still play the Steelers, so if they’re able to beat them, that would be a massive advantage. You look at the Dolphins remaining schedule. Obviously, the conversation starts at winning the final five games. There is no way Miami makes the playoffs if they do finish anything less than 10 and seven. So, they got to win all five of these games. They play the Jets in New York this Sunday. Then you go to Pittsburgh for a Monday night football game. Then you host the Bengals and Buccaneers before finishing against the Patriots. And although I was very skeptical and on our live show Thursday, someone asked me, “What do I think the chances Miami wins out are?” I said like a 17% chance. I think it’s growing on me as time goes on. You go game by game, Miami is better than the New York Jets. They just simply are. They should win this game on Sunday against the Steelers. The Steelers are collapsing. They look horrible. So, that could be a win for the Dolphins. You come back home to play the Bengals who yad Joe Burrow’s back, but that defense is horrendous. You should be able to run the ball up and down the field on them. And then you play the Bucks in week 17, a team that has really been struggling here. They started off the year six and two. They’re seven and five. So they’re one in their last three. That’s not good math. No, that is true. They’re one in their last three. They have not been playing good football. They’ve got a lot of injuries, although they are getting some key players back like Mike Evans potentially. And then in week 18, there’s a chance the Patriots have the number one overall seed locked up if Denver loses a couple of games here down the stretch and New England uh wins their next three games. So if that’s the case, maybe New England’s rest their guys and Miami can win. Do I think it’s likely? No. But it is more likely the more I look at each respective game. But even with that O being said, the Dolphins playoff chances, according to New York Times, if they win out and finish 10-7, is still just 14%. So even if Miami ends up rattling off eight straight wins, to go from two and seven to 10 and seven. It’s probably not going to happen, man. Just isn’t. Um, but let me know your thoughts. Do the Dolphins have a shot at the playoffs? New York Times is saying it’s less than a 1% right now, but 14% if the Dolphins make the playoffs. Type Y for yes or N for no. But I wanted to, as I always do on a week- toeek basis, inform you on what the rooting guide for Miami should be this weekend. The number one result you need is for the Bengals to beat the Bills. Number one result when you look at the simulator, if the Dolphins finish 10-7, the biggest jump this week is if Cincinnati takes down Buffalo. Because if Buffalo falters down the stretch and ends up finishing the year two and three and they go 10 and seven, remember you have a potential tiebreaker over them. You split the season series this year. You also need the Eagles to beat the Chargers, the Jaguars to beat the Colts and the analytics says the Texans to beat the Chiefs and they play on Sunday night. Game’s kind of a wash in my opinion because it’s two teams already ahead of you in the standings. But if you do all those four things and that happens and you win out, the number goes from 14% to about 30%. So it’s a 16% increase if all four of these things happen and Miami obviously wins out. Now the realistic outcome and pathway for Miami to make the playoffs this year is a Chargers and Indianapolis Colts historic collapse. I’m talking historic because the Chargers are eight and four. The Colts were eight and two, but these teams are the most likely in my opinion to collapse down the stretch due to their schedule and the injuries to their quarterbacks. I mean, this is certainly getting a little interesting. Justin Herbert suffered a fractured hand this past Sunday, and he’s questionable to play on Monday night against the Eagles, but if he is severely like I I don’t want ha what is what you say hampered. It’s a good word. Probably shouldn’t have used the other one. Um, then that could hurt their play down the stretch. Daniel Jones has a fractured tibial or fibula, whatever the bone is, and he can’t move. And the Colts have lost back-to-back games now. And like you look at the two schedules for these teams, dude, they’re gauntlets. The Chargers have to play the Eagles on prime time, go to Kansas City in Dallas, then home against Houston, and in Denver. That’s brutal. Like there’s a realistic outcome where Los Angeles goes two and three or worse in this fivegame stretch to finish 10 and seven or worse. But then again, the Chargers own the tiebreaker over you. No bueno. So you really need them to go one and four and finish the year nine and eight. Indianapolis another gauntlet. Jags twice who lead that division right now at 8 and four. The Seahawks and Niners, two dominant forces in the NFC West. Then you finish against the Texans in week 18. Like, could both of those teams go two and three or one and four in the final five weeks because of the injuries to the quarterback play and overall deficiencies in their roster? I mean, the Colts don’t have Sauce Gardner for a couple weeks as well. Like, these teams schedules are brutal. So, maybe there is a higher chance than what the people are saying, man. Maybe that’s the case. But, I mean, it’s all going to have to play out. And we’re gonna round out the show here in just one second. But take advantage during the holiday season. Dolphins PJ set, long sleeve shirt, nice little comfy pants as well. 30 or $5. 50% off down from 69 to 35 at chatports.com/dolphinspj set. Smalls are already out of stock, but they should have mediums, larges, extra large, 2xs. They’re running out though. Link in the description and comments of today’s show. chatsports.com/dolphinsspat. going to close the show here. Let’s go away from what Orlovski said about the playoffs and just quickly talk about how even if Miami doesn’t make the playoffs, I think the Dolphins have found the path for success offensively in 2026 if Mike McDaniel and Tu are back. Obviously things will change if they fire Mike McDaniel and either cut Tua, which is incredibly unlikely, or find a trade partner for Tua. But if you have both of those guys back and want Miami to be a better football team next season, you need to continue to do what you’ve done over the last five games. It’s the only path to offensive success. Like really, we’ve seen Miami have such a strong offensive shift, and it’s been sustainable offensive success over the last five games, not only for the Dolphins offense as a whole, but to a tongue of a lowa. And assuming they’re both back, which seems like it’s heading that way right now, if you want to have the success next year, you got to continue to do this. Like look at the difference in two up. Um, and it’s been incredible to watch. On the left, you see his numbers from the last five games and on the right you see his numbers in the last four weeks. Right? The difference is so stark. Ever since Miami started utilizing the run game more and really going runheavy, it has helped Tua’s play. He’s been phenomenal over the last five weeks. Phenomenal might be a strong word to put it, but it’s certainly been better after being a bottom five quarterback in the NFL through the first seven weeks of the year. It’s been significantly better from weeks 8 to 13. So, final word on today’s show. Everyone, me, you, Dan Orlovski can see that the Dolphins offense has gotten better and what is working. You cannot go away from this style of play offensively in 2026. If they’re gone, they’re gone. I don’t think they will be. And if they are here, like I expect, they need to commit to the run. They need to feature Devon Han as that lead guy. Devon Han should be going number one in fantasy football drafts next season. That’s really what should be happening because McDaniel and this offense should certainly hammer him like they’ve been doing over the last five years. All right, I’ll do it for today’s show. Remember, let’s take down the Jets in our like battle. Win on the YouTube streets, we win on the field. That’s what I’ve been told. So, hit that thumbs up icon and I’ll see you with another video coming soon. [Music]

ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky was HEAPING PRAISE on the Miami Dolphins! Orlovsky thinks Mike McDaniel’s Dolphins are a team to watch to make the NFL playoffs. The Dolphins would have to win their remaining games in the 2025 NFL Season to have a chance to make the playoffs, and even then will need help from other teams in the AFC. The Dolphins offensive highlights have certainly increased since the start of NFL Week 8 and have been improving, along with the defense led by Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver. Can the Dolphins pull it off and make the 2025 NFL Playoffs? We discuss on the show!

Dolphins Today is a place of discourse! Sound off on today’s questions:
– CONFIDENCE? Do the Dolphins have a shot at the playoffs? Type ‘Y’ for Yes or ‘N’ for No

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Miami Dolphins offensive stats:
Weeks 1-7
EPA/Play: -.055 (27th)
EPA/Rush: -.045 (15th)
EPA/DB: -.061 (27th)
Rush SR: 33.3% (29th)
Weeks 8-13
EPA/Play: .024 (15th)
EPA/Rush: .014 (8th)
EPA/DB: .034 (18th)
Rush SR: 46.3% (5th)

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Dolphins remaining schedule for the 2025 NFL Season:
Week 14: at Jets
Week 15: at Steelers (MNF)
Week 16: vs. Bengals (SNF)
Week 17: vs. Buccaneers
Week 18: at Patriots

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31 comments

  17. They're supposed to average about 25 runs per game. The problem is they need to run more plays, so they need to snap the ball quicker and not wait until the play clock is down to like 4 seconds on just about every play. That way, they can pass more and also mix up the plays more to keep the defense on its toes. When they run less plays they way they do now, everybody knows that they're going to run most of the time, and it makes them seem unsure of theselves

  19. Miami is stuck with Tua 1 more season. They should just keep McDaniel, and if he doesn't get them to a playoff win after next year move on from both QB and Coach. Full rebuild. I would prefer the rebuild happens this year but if they are stuck with Tua just roll it back until you can move on from both.

  21. 2:00 Wow….. Really? Hardly any credit I hear to Mike McDaniel for the success he has created for this team. Single handily found a way to make this team productive! All Mike McDaniel. I’ll continue to say it. Firing Mike would be the biggest mistake since passing on Drew Brees. What he has done for this run game with the lack of talents at the O Line positions! Mediocre at best! But still Mike figures it out because of how he schemes! It’s time to change your tone on my Coach brother. This guy needs…… to stay

  22. I'm just a Dolphin fan since I was a young kid in 1972.Why is it that I knew for years now that the Dolphins must have a smash mouth run game and an elite defense to win against good teams and especially in cold weather? Why did I, just a normal moron know this and yet coach after coach, including McMuffin, did not know this? It's the model that a warm weather team like Miami must adapt. Having Marino was great but it got us zero rings and wasted his talent. Achane, Gordon, Wright & Ingold along with a good Oline give us something we haven't had in decades, if ever. For the love of Pete Rozelle, forget trying to outsmart everybody and smash that ball down their throats!!!!

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