The Miami Dolphins’ season did not just end on a cold Monday night in Pittsburgh; it unraveled. Publicly, brutally, and with former champions lining up to say exactly what they think went wrong.
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After the Dolphins were thrashed 28–15 by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, two-time Super Bowl winner Asante Samuel Sr. did not mince words. Speaking emotionally after watching his son, Asante Samuel Jr., intercept Tua Tagovailoa, Samuel Sr. tore into Miami’s leadership, its quarterback, and especially head coach Mike McDaniel.
“The moment that changed the game was when my son took Tua’s confidence,” Samuel said. “Up until that point, he was confident. After that interception? His confidence went from sugar to straight trash. He was scared to throw the football down the field.”
According to Samuel, the interception was not just a defensive play — it was a psychological break. He described Tagovailoa as a rhythm quarterback whose comfort vanished once the Steelers disrupted Miami’s scripted opening drives.
“That one play messed up the whole rhythm,” Samuel explained. “Once that rhythm offense was taken away, he didn’t know what to do. He just gave it up.”
Samuel’s frustration went beyond the quarterback. He suggested the Dolphins’ refusal to fully commit to Asante Samuel Jr. stemmed from his own blunt criticism of the organization.
“If they don’t want to sign my son because I’m too real about the Dolphins’ leadership, then so be it,” he said. “Go get an interception on them. Make them realize the mistake they made.”
Miami’s problems were evident almost immediately. Despite entering the game riding a four-game win streak and needing a victory to stay alive in the playoff race, the Dolphins were overwhelmed from the opening quarter. By the fourth, they trailed 28–3, a margin that exposed how misleading the final score truly was.
Tagovailoa finished with over 200 passing yards, but much of that production came in garbage time. At halftime, he had barely eclipsed 60 yards. In the third quarter alone, Miami somehow managed minus-20 yards of offense, a stretch Samuel called “embarrassing.”
“This is what happens when Tua doesn’t have receivers running wide open through the scheme,” Samuel said. “When it’s zone defense, when it’s physical, when guys are everywhere — that’s when you see who he really is.”
The numbers back up the criticism. Tagovailoa is now 0–6 in games played at 40 degrees or colder, and the Dolphins have lost 14 straight cold-weather games. Under McDaniel, Miami is 4–13 in prime-time games and 0–8 when temperatures dip below 40 degrees. Monday’s kickoff temperature was 17 degrees.
For Samuel, those trends are not coincidences.
“He’s a Mike McDaniel product,” he said. “Man-to-man coverage? One-two-three, throw it. That’s when he’s at his best. But when defenses play real Steelers football — zone, physical, disciplined — it exposes everything.”
McDaniel’s loyalty to Tagovailoa also raised eyebrows. Even trailing by 25 points in the fourth quarter, Miami stuck with its starter, fueling speculation about whether the coach is willing to “go down with his quarterback.”
That question looms large now. Miami is officially eliminated from the playoffs, headed for a 25th consecutive season without a postseason win, and staring at an uncomfortable evaluation period over the final three weeks. With potential changes coming in the front office, Tagovailoa’s tape, especially in cold weather, could determine his long-term future in South Florida. For Samuel Sr., the verdict is already in.
“You gotta watch the game,” he said. “Don’t look at the box score. The game was over early. And when the lights were brightest, they couldn’t move the ball, couldn’t complete passes, and couldn’t handle real football.”
The Dolphins still have pride to play for. But any dream of a miracle postseason run is gone, frozen somewhere on a frigid night in Pittsburgh.
