Miami's offense struggles again for the second time in 3 games

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Miami's offense struggles again for the second time in 3 games

2024-12-17 09:07 Last Updated At：09:11

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The good news is coach Mike McDaniel saw no finger-pointing after watching quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins offense collapse in Sunday's loss to the Houston Texans.

The bad news? One of the Dolphins poorest offensive outputs of the season came when they could least afford it.

“This particular game, I don't think was up to the standard regardless of whoever's in there," McDaniel said Monday. "I think everyone is very, very aware after today's meetings that, that is not anything that we want Miami Dolphin football to look like.”

The Dolphins offense turned the ball over four times in a game they needed to win to help their playoff chances.

Miami also fell to 1-4 this season against current playoff teams, with losses to Green Bay and Buffalo (twice). The Dolphins in Week 10 defeated the Rams, who are tied for the NFC West lead.

That's a similar pattern from a year ago, when the 11-win Dolphins beat just one team that entered the matchup with a winning record.

Defensive tackle Zach Sieler recently said the team has been in “playoff mode” since they dug themselves into a 2-6 hole to start the season. They have mostly taken care of business by going 4-2 since Week 10 to help their playoff chances.

But in their two losses during that span, they've struggled.

Miami was beat up in the trenches at Green Bay on Thanksgiving, managing just 39 yards rushing while giving up 114 yards on the ground. They missed at least a dozen tackles on defense and were 4 of 14 on third downs.

The Texans turned a fake punt into a 35-yard gain on Sunday and limited Miami to just 224 total yards.

Tagovailoa had his second-lowest passer rating (60) of the season. He was under constant pressure from Houston's pass rush, playing behind an offensive line down three starting tackles that gave up three sacks.

Tagovailoa had a strip-sack and three interceptions that led to 10 Houston points, including a pick on Miami's last-ditch effort at a comeback on the final drive.

“I’ve got to protect the ball. I’ve got to play better ball for our guys,” Tagovailoa said, "especially in a situation where the team is counting on me to go and drive our offense down to potentially tie the game up, and that’s not what I did. That’s not how you win games in this league.

"Very disappointed with how I played today and with how I conducted myself on the field, with our guys, with our team. I just need to be better in all aspects with that.”

After giving up more than 400 yards to Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets, Miami's defense limited C.J. Stroud to 131 yards passing. And Houston's rushing attack led by Joe Mixon was held to just 77 yards.

The Dolphins had the 11th-best rushing offense in the NFL with 128.7 yards per game through the first eight weeks, but have failed to rush for 100 yards in six straight games. They ran for more than 80 yards once in that span and are averaging just 3.9 yards per rush behind an injured offensive line that has struggled to run block all season.

DT Zach Sieler. His sack of Stroud in the first quarter gave him 17 since the start of last season, which is second among interior defensive linemen during that span. Sieler has 3 1/2 sacks, three tackles for loss and five quarterback hits in the past two games.

The Tagovailoa-Hill connection. It has been inconsistent at best this season and was not there on Sunday. Hill caught just two of seven targets for 36 yards. All three of Tagovailoa's interceptions were targeting Hill, and McDaniel indicated in his halftime interview on CBS that one of Tagovailoa's errant throws was because Hill ran the wrong route.

“I saw the defender. It was more so trusting that Tyreek was going to cross his face," Tagovailoa said of an interception before halftime that he threw right to safety Calen Bullock, "and if you look at a lot of the throws that we throw in-breaks, safeties are there. We throw it to the safety, trusting that our guys are going to cross face. But that’s not just on Tyreek, that’s on me, as well.”

Receiver Grant DuBose remained in the hospital but had movement in his extremities after a scary hit to the head. ... McDaniel said WR Jaylen Waddle avoided a serious knee injury when he went out in the second quarter. Waddle will not need surgery but his status this week is in question.

3.6 — Miami's total number of yards per play on Sunday.

The Dolphins host San Francisco (6-8) in their home finale on Sunday.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Teacher and a teenage student killed in a shooting at a Christian school in Wisconsin

2024-12-17 09:05 Last Updated At：09:10

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A teenage student opened fire with a handgun Monday at a Christian school in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and another teenager during the final week before Christmas break. The shooter also died, police said.

The shooter also wounded six others at Abundant Life Christian School, including two students who were in critical condition, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said. A teacher and three students had been taken to a hospital with less serious injuries, and two of them had been released by Monday evening.

“Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. ... We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened," Barnes said.

Barbara Wiers, director of elementary and school relations for Abundant Life Christian School, said students “handled themselves magnificently.”

She said when the school practices safety routines, which it had done just before the school year, leaders always announce that it is a drill. That didn’t happen Monday.

“When they heard, ‘Lockdown, lockdown,’ they knew it was real,” she said.

The shooter was a 17-year-old female student, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

Police said the shooter was dead by apparent suicide when officers arrived. Barnes declined to give details about the shooter, partly out of respect for the family. With a few rare exceptions, a 17-year-old can't legally possess a gun in Wisconsin.

Barnes said investigators may have enough information to release more detail about the shooter in another press conference later Monday.

He also warned people against sharing unconfirmed reports on social media about the shooter’s identity.

“What that does is it helps erode the trust in this process,” he said.

Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school — prekindergarten through high school — with approximately 420 students in Madison, the state capital.

Wiers said the school does not have metal detectors but uses other security measures including cameras.

Children and families were reunited at a medical building about a mile away. Parents pressed children against their chests while others squeezed hands and shoulders as they walked side by side. One girl was comforted with an adult-size coat around her shoulders as she moved to a parking lot teeming with police vehicles.

A motive for the shooting was not immediately known, but Barnes said they’re talking with the parents of the suspected shooter and they are cooperating. He also said he didn't know if the people shot had been targeted.

“I don’t know why, and I feel like if we did know why, we could stop these things from happening,” he told reporters.

A search warrant had been issued Monday to a Madison home, he said.

Someone from the school called 911 to report an active shooter shortly before 11 a.m. First responders who were in training just 3 miles (5 kilometers) away dashed to the school for an actual emergency, Barnes said. They arrived 3 minutes after the initial call and went into the building immediately.

Classes had been taking place when the shooting happened, Barnes said. He declined to say where exactly in the school it happened.

Investigators believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol, a law enforcement official told the AP. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Police blocked off roads around the school, and federal agents were at the scene to assist local law enforcement. No shots were fired by police.

Abundant Life asked for prayers in a brief Facebook post.

Wiers said the school's goal is to have staff get together early in the week and have community opportunities for students to reconnect before the winter break, but it’s still to be decided whether they will resume classes this week.

Bethany Highman, the mother of a student, rushed to the school and learned over FaceTime that her daughter was OK.

“As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters,” Highman said. “There’s nobody around you. You just bolt for the door and try to do everything you can as a parent to be with your kids.”

In a statement, President Joe Biden cited the tragedy in calling on Congress to pass universal background checks, a national red flag law and certain gun restrictions.

“We can never accept senseless violence that traumatizes children, their families, and tears entire communities apart,” Biden said.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said it's “unthinkable” that a child or teacher would go to school and never return home.

The school shooting was the latest among dozens across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas.

The shootings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to doing active shooter drills in their classrooms. But school shootings have done little to move the needle on national gun laws.

Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the country needs to do more to prevent gun violence.

“I hoped that this day would never come to Madison,” she said.

This story has been updated to correct that Abundant Life Christian School serves grades prekindergarten through high school, not kindergarten through high school.

Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Ed White and Josh Funk and photographer Morry Gash contributed to this report.