The Miami Dolphins had a rough joint practice on Wednesday with the Detroit Lions, as one Lions reporter described it as the “most lopsided joint practice” that he’s ever seen.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa shared his thoughts on Miami’s practice on Wednesday, stating that the team needs to face things “head on” after struggling against Detroit.
Tua is asked how do you move on from a tough practice. “You don’t,” he said. “You face it head on.”
— Travis Wingfield (@WingfieldNFL) August 13, 2025
The Lions were the No. 1 seed in the NFC in the 2024 season, so they’re certainly a tough team to face, but it’s not a great sign that the Dolphins struggled a lot against them.
Miami has hopes of getting back into the playoff picture in the 2025 season, and it’ll need to be able to compete with the elite teams in the NFL to do so. Last season, Miami missed the postseason for the first time under head coach Mike McDaniel, winning just eight games. It struggled mightily in games that Tagovailoa missed due to injury, going 2-4 in those matchups.
Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle didn’t mince words when talking about the team’s offense on Wednesday.
“If we want to be the type of offense that we are capable to be, we can’t have that type of practice,” Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle told reporters who traveled to the Detroit area today.
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) August 13, 2025
Waddle and veteran Tyreek Hill are two dynamic speedsters in Miami’s receiving corps, and they both will be called upon to play major roles in the 2025 season.
A first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Waddle had over 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first three NFL seasons. However, in the 2024 campaign, he was limited to 15 games and posted career-lows in catches (58), receiving yards (744) and receiving touchdowns (two).
The Dolphins are hoping that he can have a bounce-back season in 2025, and it’s good to see that he wants the offense to be accountable when it doesn’t perform at the level that it should.
Miami struggled in many areas on Wednesday, as Tagovailoa pointed to issues on third down, in the red zone and more.
“Very frustrating today… We couldn’t get ourselves jumpstarted as an offense. We couldn’t gain that momentum… whether it was move the ball, whether it was one of the third down team periods, another team period, red zone.” –
Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) August 13, 2025
That’s certainly a bit of a concerning sign for Miami, especially since it has a preseason game with the Lions coming up this weekend. Hopefully, the Dolphins will be able to fix some of their issues to put together a strong showing in that matchup.
