Many nuggets on Dolphins offense Sunday: snap counts, grades, takeaways

Miami Dolphins admin September 14, 2026 0 Comments

Many nuggets on Dolphins offense Sunday: snap counts, grades, takeaways

If there’s one thing the Dolphins seemed likely to be good at this season, it figured to be running the ball with a Pro Bowl back and behind an offensive line featuring four high draft picks and a Pro Bowl center.

But even that aspect of Miami’s game disappointed in Sunday’s 27-13 season-opening loss at the Raiders.

More details on the offense, including snap counts and Pro Football Focus grades:

Quarterback

Among the 30 quarterbacks who have already played this season (entering Monday’s Kansas City-Denver game), Willis finished Week 1 with the fourth-lowest passer rating at 66.9 — ahead of only the Rams’ Matthew Stafford, New England’s Drake Maye and Atlanta’s Cooper Rush.

Willis, who finished 15 for 27 for 220 yards and an interception, completed 55.6% of his passes in Week 1 – fourth worst in the league, ahead of only Rush, Washington’s Jayden Daniels and the Packers’ Jordan Love.

Willis ran for 39 yards (on 6.5 per carry) and a touchdown but was responsible for at least two of the five sacks that Miami permitted. Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson and New Orleans’ Tyler Shough also were sacked five times; no other quarterback was sacked more in Week 1.

Per PFF, Willis was 2 for 5 with an interception when blitzed, but he nevertheless had a better passer rating on plays when he faced pressure (87.5) than when he was kept clean (58.2).

Willis closed 4 for 4 on passes behind the line of scrimmage, 4 for 6 on passes from 0 to 9 yards, 6 for 11 on passes that traveled 10 to 19 yards and 1 for 4 (for 25 yards) on passes that traveled at least 20 air yards.

Offensive line

If you’re a believer in PFF grades, you should feel better about rookie Kadyn Proctor’s play Sunday. Even though he committed a penalty and struggled with stunts, PFF rated him Miami’s second-best player overall in the opener, behind only receiver Caleb Douglas.

On the flip side, PFF rated right guard Jonah Savaiinaea Miami’s fourth-worst player Sunday (14th overall) and right tackle Austin Jackson 17th and worst overall.

PFF rated left tackle Patrick Paul fourth best among all Dolphins offensive players in the opener — behind Douglas, Proctor and De’Von Achane. Center Aaron Brewer slotted 12th.

On a day that Achane was limited to 36 yards rushing (3.3 per carry), PFF rated Proctor as Miami’s best run blocker — by far. Brewer was rated Miami’s worst run blocker among offensive linemen.

On the flip side, PFF rated Brewer as the Dolphins’ best pass blocker; he was the only offensive lineman that didn’t allow a quarterback pressure.

But the Dolphins’ tackles graded out poorly in pass protection. Jackson permitted five quarterback pressures and a sack, while Paul allowed four pressures and a sack. Savaiinaea yielded four pressures and Proctor two.

More should be expected from this group, particularly Brewer (who had a costly holding penalty) and the two starting tackles.

Caedan Wallace, the team’s No. 6 or No. 7 offensive lineman, played one snap on offense.

Wide receiver

Douglas had a very good debut, with five catches (on seven targets) for 94 yards while playing 51 of the Dolphins’ 56 offensive snaps.

Douglas tied Tyreek Hill for the Dolphins’ record for most receiving yards in a debut. The rest of the top five: Anthony Fasano (84), Irving Friar (81) and Stanley Pritchett and Brandon Gibson (77 apiece).

Malik Washington started opposite Douglas and played 55 of the 56 snaps; he caught three of his eight targets for 53 yards but fumbled late.

Chris Bell, the team’s No. 3 receiver at the moment, logged 29 offensive snaps and caught one of his two targets, for 25 yards. The Dolphins said he wasn’t on a pitch count 10 months removed from a torn ACL.

Rookie Kevin Coleman Jr. played 15 snaps and didn’t catch either of his targets. Receiver Ryan Miller, who was kept active ahead of veteran Jalen Tolbert, played only on special teams.

Among Miami’s 17 players who logged snaps on offense on Sunday, PFF rated Douglas first, Bell ninth, Coleman 11th and Washington 13th.

Running back

Achane played 48 of the Dolphins’ 56 offensive snaps; Ollie Gordon II and Jaylen Wright played only four apiece, with only Wright getting a carry (which lost a yard).

Wright produced the Dolphins’ longest play of the day with a 79-yard kickoff return; it was Miami’s longest kickoff return since Jakeem Grant took one back 101 yards against Buffalo in 2019.

Achane, who was victimized by poor blocking, led the NFL in per carry average at 5.7 last season but was limited to 3.3 per attempt on 11 carries against the Raiders.

Achane had a per-carry average of less than 3.3 only twice last season — 11 for 30 (2.7 yards) in the second game of the season, against New England, and 10 for 16 (1.6 per carry) in the sixth game against Carolina.

Nevertheless, Achane passed Karim-Abdul Jabbar for the seventh-most rushing yards in franchise history; he now has 3,093. Larry Csonka owns the Dolphins’ career record for rushing yards with 6,737.

Rookie fullback DJ Herman played 15 snaps, but his blocking was ineffective, according to PFF, which rated him Miami’s worst run blocker on his seven snaps when Miami ran the ball.

Tight end

Greg Dulcich played 43 of Miami’s 56 offensive snaps and caught both of his targets for 18 yards; PFF rated him seventh among Miami’s 17 players on offense.

Rookie Will Kacmarek played 14 snaps and PFF rated him Miami’s second-worst player on offense Sunday. A skilled blocker at Ohio State, the third-round pick blocked generally poorly on seven rushing plays, according to PFF evaluators.

Rookie fifth-round pick Seydou Traore did not play any offensive snaps.

This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 10:01 AM.