Regrets from Dolphins’ game that slipped away at Titans — and an interesting response to Will Fuller situation

Prime among reasons the Miami Dolphins are preparing for a Week 18 finale against the New England Patriots without a playoff spot on the line is how they failed to deal with the elements in Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans that led to their elimination from postseason contention.

While coaches generally put the past behind them quickly and move on to the next task, Dolphins assistants took their final stabs on Tuesday at what went wrong with the game plan in chilly, rain-drenched Nashville.

“We didn’t execute,” said Dolphins play-caller George Godsey. “Probably could have called some calls that put our guys in a better position too. I think a lot of those we’d like to have, to have back the way that we executed or called the game.”

Miami (8-8) put a lot more on its quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, than Tennessee did with Ryan Tannehill. Tagovailoa dropped back 42 times between 38 pass attempts and four sacks. Tannehill threw it 18 times and was sacked once. The Titans had 40 rushing attempts to the Dolphins’ 16.

Tagovailoa fumbled three times, lost one, was intercepted once, had multiple other passes that could’ve been picked off and only completed 18 passes for 205 yards, playing from behind all game.

“As a running backs coach, I always want to run the ball. I’m all for more runs,” said co-offensive coordinator Eric Studesville, who doubles as running backs coach. “But at the end of the day, in our group, and I think in every group on this offense, we’re going to try to contribute every way we can to give us the best chance to win. … It’s the execution of it. It’s doing it better. It’s doing it exactly right on every play that gives us the best chance.”

Duke Johnson had 49 yards on his seven carries. Myles Gaskin went for 23 on his five.

“We probably could have stuck a few more runs in there,” said coach Brian Flores on Monday. “When you’re down, you want to try to get back into the game and try to create some other plays, which we missed on some of those other plays that we had guys open, as well.”

The Dolphins defense also allowed Tennessee to go for 5 yards per carry, surrendering a season-worst 198 on the ground. That did not help while Miami faced a deficit throughout the game and the Titans piled on with the ground game in the fourth quarter.

“That’s how the game ends up playing,” Godsey said. “We’re pretty balanced. We’d like to take out the third downs, the two minutes and really look at normal downs as far as a balance standpoint goes.”

Regardless of how much the run game was utilized, Tagovailoa did not handle the wet ball well at Nissan Stadium.

“When you have a wet ball, when it’s windy, weather is going to affect how you throw the football,” said quarterbacks coach Charlie Frye, “but the thing is, it’s the same for both sides. Both teams have to deal with the elements. Obviously, the more experience of throwing in the cold, wet games, you got to kind of work through that and find out the best way to handle that for him.”

Frye said Tagovailoa “played around” with using a glove in practice, but he and the team decided against it.

Empty feeling from Fuller

Wide receiver Will Fuller never played again for the Dolphins in the 2021 season after his finger injury cost him to exit early way in the Week 4 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 3.

After Flores maintained week-to-week hope of an eventual return since Fuller became eligible to return off injured reserve, he ultimately announced a setback for Fuller in December that cost him the end of the season.

On Tuesday, wide receiver coach Josh Grizzard was pressed on if he had even seen Fuller at team facilities in the past month, and he would not divulge that information.

“I’ll just keep those conversations and how much we see Will and whatever we talk about, really, to keep between me and him,” Grizzard said.

He added, in general, of the impression he got from Fuller this season: “He was good to be around. Unfortunate what happened with the finger and all that, but just a guy that just is upbeat, good to be around, works hard. Just one of the guys, like hanging out with him, talking about different things, whether it’s on the field or off the field. … Wish him the best for him and continue to support him.”

Fuller played in the first quarter of that game against the Colts, plus the previous week’s loss at the Las Vegas Raiders in overtime. Making $10.6 million on the one-year deal he signed with Miami, he contributed four receptions for 26 yards, plus the tying two-point conversion that sent the game with the Raiders to the extra period.