‘Soft’: Cold weather affected dolphins, says LB Jordyn Brooks

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 more yards for the Packers. Linebacker Jordyn Brooks said bluntly that 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 were too cold… I don’t know what it was. I feel like the elements played a role in how we played as a group, and that was the result 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 game. game and failed to force a turnover for the first time since Week 8.

Although Miami outscored the Packers 14-6 in the second half, the poor defensive effort and 24-3 deficit in the first half was 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 did go wrong … I never want to make excuses, but I felt that today the ball bounced their way and they played to win the ball. 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 hard 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 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 the red zone drives, 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 kept them out of the end zone on first and second downs, but he took the blame for the incomplete pass on third down and the sack on fourth down.

“It was a collection of things over four games that will be hard 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 need to win out to have a realistic shot 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 will likely need help getting into the playoffs.

“You hyper-focus on what’s next 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’s just going to be real frustrating when you know you’re able to win a game and you can point to yourself why you lost it.”

Thursday’s loss was also the Dolphins’ seventh in a row when temperatures at kickoff were below freezing — a disappointing result for one that was clearly relishing the opportunity to change the narrative that it can’t play in cold weather.

While three of the remaining five games will likely be under favorable weather conditions — two at home and one at Houston’s domed NRG Stadium — Miami will play back-to-back road games against the Browns and Jets to end the season, both of which could be near or below freezing.

McDaniel said when the time comes, he believes his players will be ready for the challenge.

“Eventually you’ve got to overcome that 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 it’s necessary and they want to.”