Miami couldn't sustain offense early and missed a boatload of tackles all game. The Dolphins trailed by 21 points at halftime before a failed fourth-quarter bid. While players and coaches refused to blame the cold for the 20 missed tackles, linebacker Jordyn Brooks said regardless of the temperatures, the team played "soft."
"I thought we were soft," Brooks said, via ESPN. "Simple as that, I thought we were soft today. I don't know if guys was too cold. ... I don't know what it was. I feel like the elements played a part in how we played as a group, and that was the result that we got."
The Dolphins lost their last 12 games, including postseason, in which the temperature at kickoff was 40 degrees or lower. Thursday, it was 27 degrees, with 10 mph winds and a wind chill of 18.