The Good, Bad & Ugly from the Miami Dolphins’ Week 13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers

Dec 5, 2022 - 1:30 PM

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Miami’s five game winning streak was snapped on Sunday with a loss to the San Francisco 49ers, 33-17. It was the first of three straight road games for the Dolphins, and if Miami was looking to start the trip on the right foot, the exact opposite happened.

When the 49ers quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, left the game early, he was replaced by backup QB Brock Purdy. The defense was licking their chops, but unfortunately San Francisco relied on other weapons like Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel en route to victory.

Miami’s offense didn’t help things either, as Tua Tagovailoa contributed three turnovers — two interceptions and one fumble lost — on the day, while looking out of sync for most of the contest.

This one stings, but we will still take a look back at the good, bad and ugly of Miami’s 33-17 defeat at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers in week thirteen anyway.

GOOD

Tyreek Hill continues to be Miami’s best offensive player — and possibly best player overall

While Miami’s offense as a whole didn’t play up to expectations, Tyreek Hill had himself another monster day for the Dolphins.

The Cheetah had nine receptions for 146 yards and a long receiving touchdown.

Tyreek finds himself sitting atop the NFL receiving yards leaderboard, and his pursuit of Calvin Johnson’s single season receiving yards record is still alive — sitting just 10 yards off of the pace to surpass the 1,964 yards needed to claim the top spot.

Still, even if he doesn’t get the record, Tyreek Hill’s addition to Miami’s team has been nothing short of amazing and his role in this offense will be paramount to the Dolphins’ playoff push.

BAD

Referees do Dolphins no favors against 49ers

The Dolphins played poorly against the San Francisco 49ers, but the referees tasked with officiating the game did their jobs poorly as well.

Now, I’ll be clear. I don’t think the referees cost the Dolphins this game — no, Miami’s inept offense had more to do with the loss than the refs — however, there were multiple ticky-tack calls that hurt the Dolphins’ chances in key situations.

Some of the calls weren’t even that ticky-tack. They were just blatantly bad.

I’m not going to sit here and focus on the referees for too long, however, I did want to highlight how badly they officiated this contest.

UGLY

Tua Tagovailoa plays his worst game on the season in San Francisco

Tua Tagovailoa was on a potential MVP pace this season before Sunday’s game against the 49ers. Suffice to say that there will be no Most Valuable Player hardware heading to Tua’s South Florida home after the stinker he put on tape against San Francisco.

He started the game with a 75 yard touchdown throw to Trent Sherfield, but it was nearly all downhill from there.

Absent both starting tackles, Terron Armstead and Austin Jackson, Tagovailoa was jittery in the pocket all day long, routinely overthrowing, underthrowing, and throwing behind his intended receivers. The most accurate passer in the National Football League unfortunately was so wildly inaccurate on Sunday, that after setting Miami’s franchise record for most passes without an interception thrown at 193, he threw two interceptions on back-to-back ill advised throws.

Tagovailoa tried to redeem himself late with a long touchdown throw to Tyreek Hill, but he had already dug the team into too deep of a hole and the comeback came up short as a result.

There will be better days for Tagovailoa, however Sunday’s game against the 49ers was one he — and we, as fans — will want to put six feet under, never to be thought of again.

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Through twelve games, Miami has a record of 8-4 after suffering defeat at the hands of the 49ers. How are you feeling after Sunday’s poor performance against San Francisco? Do you think that Miami can get back on track in primetime against the Chargers next Sunday night? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter at @MBrave13. Fins up!