Given the circumstances, it is reasonable to ask how Malik obtained the highest PFF QB grade in the 2025 regular season, largely based on his performance against the Ravens on week 17. Hence I decided to look at the game to see if we should blame PFF for our current predicament.

Given that we have seen a different Malik, the questions I tried to answer were:

1.       What impact did the GB receivers have on Malik’s performance?

2.       What impact did the GB OL have on Malik’s performance?

3.       How did the GB game plan help Malik?

4.       What impact did the GB running game have on Malik’s performance?

To answer those questions, I relied primarily on the All-22 but used the PFF grades mainly to check stats and for comparison. I found that the play grades in this case were not so far off from my own evaluation although I thought the final grade on Wilis appeared too high. (95.2 Grade, higher than any other QB in the regular season).

1.  Receiver Impact. The Receivers had a tremendous impact on Malik’s performance and the first two throws are an indication.

-On the first pass Willis quickly settled on Doubs who was running a go route on the side line. Play started at GB 31. Malik threw from the 24 when Doubs was at the 45. Ball was slightly underthrown and Doubs reached back for it to make a great catch at Ravens 35. He ran to the 29. PFF gave the pass 46 yards in the air and 4 after catch. Malik had a defender within two yards when the pass was thrown,

-There were two penalties before the next play. The next play is from the Ravens 40. Coverage is zone with two safeties. Malik is on the shotgun and drops to the Ravens 46. He quickly zeroes in on Watson who gets wide open between the nickel and the safety. When Watson is at the Ravens 25th, Malik launches a bullet which Watson jumps to catch at the 18th. Watson gets tackled as he closes the goal line.

In my view neither of the first two throws were perfect. Neither earned Big Time Throw designation from PFF and there is a good chance that both would have been incompletions had they been thrown to current Miami receivers. But at the end of two throws Malik had 60 yards, a TD and 158.3 perfect passer rating. That appears to have instilled confidence in him which carried him through the rest of the game.

2. Impact of the Offensive Line. It was significantly less than I thought. The GB OL was apparently used to the quicker release of Jordan Love. Although there were no obvious breakdowns in pass protection Malik was under pressure on 48% of the passing snaps. (Compare against 50% pressure against Cincy). There was only one sack but also a fumble on the exchange which was attributed to the center. The ball hit Malik in the face as he was trying to change the play. The Ravens recovered.

3. How did the GB game plan helped Malik? I believe that the huge difference was that Malik took about 90% of the snaps from the shotgun. There were a few snaps from under center. On one of them Malik did complete an impressive pass across the field which earned Big Throw Designation. However, when under center, Malik needed more time to find receivers. In the next big play after the Big Time Throw. Malik under center missed a wide-open receiver 12 yards in front of him and instead attempted a deep throw to a covered receiver which fell OOB. The play was called back on a Ravens penalty. After that Malik stayed in the shotgun.

The other significant difference is that the Packers did not attempt to flood zones with multiple receivers. Receivers were well spaced apart on every throw. Malik seemed more confident when picking receivers.

The surprising similarity was that the Packers schemed six big throws. That was more than the five deep throws that Malik threw Sunday against the Bengals. With Packers Maliks completed the six passes. On Sunday, Malik did not complete a pass over 20 air yards. That difference in my view is mostly due to the receivers.

4. Impact of the GB Running Game. The running game had a huge impact. Two of the three Packers touchdowns were scored on the ground. But the results of the running game were all due to Malik. Willis accounted for 60 of the 79 yards the Packers gained on the ground and for both rushing TD. Malik had four runs of over 10 yards including both TD. In both TD Malik started the play on shotgun formation.

Summary.

The obvious conclusion is that Malik should take more snaps from shotgun formation. There is the perception that shotgun formation kills the running game, but I have seen Gordon get long gains from the shotgun.

The shotgun helps Malik tremendously because he can watch the play develops, A great part of the problem is that Malik takes too long to survey the field and the pocket breaks down before he finds an open receiver.

I believe more safe short throws should be schemed. The Packers, while throwing six long passes also threw 12 passes under 10 yards. In this game long passes yielded great results but largely due to the Packers receivers. The only good receiver that we have active is Washington who unfortunately is not on the same page with Malik on deep passes.

I know I have said this before but the golden bullet is Malik’s running. That is especially important when Miami is in the red zone. Against the Ravens. Malik did not attempt a single pass into the end zone but got two rushing TD. Malik did score an impressive TD to Coleman at the end of the Cincy game but his forte is the running threat he presents. The Dolphins want to teach Malik to be a good pocket passer. That might take a while. In the mean time Miami has score only five TD in 12 red zone trips which ranks 28th in the NFL.

Gines Lleonart