Kelly: Tide turns on Dolphins defense, which let victory against Cardinals slip away | Opinion

As he walked off the field dejected, defeated Anthony Weaver rubbed his hands over his shaved head and face in an act that whipped away his sweat, and possibly his frustration.

The Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator never looked up as he labored through the field full of players with his play call sheet hanging down his leg.

With each step Weaver kicked the laminated paper forward, which happens to be the opposite direction Sunday’s 28-27 fourth-quarter loss to the Arizona Cardinals sent the Dolphins after Kyler Murray put on a cape and impersonated a superhero against Weaver’s defense.

Murray led two scoring drives in the fourth quarter to rally the Cardinals from a nine-point deficit.

The first concluded with a 2-yard touchdown run by James Conner that got Arizona within 27-25 with 8:47 left in the game.

The second was a methodical 13-play, 71-yard march that ended with Cardinals kicker Chad Ryland’s 34-yard kick.

“We got to make a play for our offense. It’s not good enough,” said starting defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, who finished the game with three tackles, one for loss, and a pass deflection. “We finally got that spark on offense and we [pooped] down our legs.”

Miami’s defense had played admirably the previous four games, delivering performances that had Weaver’s unit ranked in the top five of many key defensive statistics like yardage gained, passing yards allowed, and third down conversions.

But when the Dolphins needed the defense to tighten the screws on Sunday, sealing a victory, Weaver’s unit leaked.

“This one is tough. This is the one we have to say is on the defense,” said inside linebacker Jordyn Brooks, who shared the team-lead for tackles (nine) with David Long Jr. “The offense played great all day. We played good at times, but when we needed it we didn’t come through.”

Brooks is referring to the game’s final drive, a series where Murray completed all four of his attempts, producing 47 passing yards, which got the Cardinals to midfield.

Then Conner bulldozed a couple Dolphins defenders, gaining 17 yards on a right side run that put the Arizona at Miami’s 33 with 1:58 left in the game.

But the death blow was a quarterback keeper from Murray that converted a third-and-4, putting Arizona on Miami’s 20-yard line and allowing the Cardinals to drain the clock, leaving Miami no time to counter.

“It’s difficult,” Brooks said about defending Murray, who finished the game with a 116.3 passer rating. “He’s fast as hell. An athlete like that, we had to do our best to keep him in the pocket. Everybody talks about it, but he does this every week. He got the best of us today. I’ll give credit where credit is due. He willed them to a win.”

The Dolphins must find a way for the defense to mesh better with four key starters — pass rusher Jaelan Phillips, defensive lineman Zach Sieler, nickel cornerback Kader Kohou and safety Jevon Holland — missing from the lineup.

Calais Campbell opens the game as a defensive end, and Chop Robinson and Tyus Bowser split the workload as Miami’s edge players put opposite Ogbah, who returned from a biceps injury that forced him to miss last week’s game.

Da’Shawn Hand starts his 12th NFL game, and first for the Dolphins, because of the broken orbital bone Zach Sieler suffered in Thursday’s practice.

Benito Jones and Brandon Pili received a significant snap count increase and Miami activated and Miami used Neil Farrell after calling him up from the practice squad.

Outside of Conner’s timely 17-yard run, the Dolphins contained Arizona’s rushing attack without Sieler, limiting the Cardinals to 82 yards on 26 carries.

With Kohou sidelined by a neck injury, Cam Smith stepped forward and went to the boundary while Jalen Ramsey handled quite a few nickel snaps.

And when Holland left the game because of a knee injury he sustained in the first half Marcus Maye returned to the starting role he held most of his career before joining the Dolphins.

As challenging as all those injuries are, good teams have players ready to step forward and carry the load.

Unfortunately, it seems as if the Dolphins defense has more leaks than load carriers at the moment.

“You were the last ones out there, so you want to win the game for your brothers,” said Hand, who contributed four tackles. “This is a grown man’s game. Everybody has to be a grown man and look at ourselves in the mirror and get better. We have to work. Can’t tuck your tale.”