Inside Waddle's Slow Start ... and the Wacky Play

Miami Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle's low numbers include a wild massive yardage loss on one play

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) makes a catch against Buffalo Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas (31) during the second half at Highmark Stadium. / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

As a national audience watched Ja'Marr Chase have a monster game on Thursday Night Football, the second wide receiver taken in the 2021 NFL draft is having the worst season of his career.

After three 1,000-yard seasons, Jaylen Waddle has some major work to do in the Miami Dolphins' final nine games to make it four in a row. With 310 yards in the first eight games of the season, Waddle is on pace for a meager 658 yards. And the 310 yards are just 46 yards more than Chase got in the wild Thursday night game when the Cincinnati Bengals dropped a 35-34 decision against the Baltimore Ravens.

Of course, Tua Tagovailoa's four-game stint on IR hurt Waddle's productivity, but even in the quarterback's first two games back, Waddle's numbers were rather pedestrian.

Of course, it didn't help that Waddle lost 23 receiving yards on the final, desperation play of the loss at Buffalo after taking a later from De'Von Achane and being chased down and tackled by Gregory Rousseau, putting his reception totals for the Buffalo were a weird two catches for minus-4 yards. But even with that, Waddle's receiving yardage still would be at 333 and a 707-yard projection over the full season.

WADDLE BEING A 'FANTASTIC TEAMMATE'

Offensive coordinator Frank Smith, though, says Waddle has been a pro about the whole thing and he did come through when called upon in the final stages of the loss at Buffalo. Waddle kept the Dolphins' final drive alive with a key third-down reception for 12 yards and followed it with the 7-yard touchdown that tied the score 27-27.

"Well, the great thing about is you play a whole game and ... you're executing, you're doing your job for your teammates, and then at a critical moment, at a critical time, where we needed a critical reception, makes it," Smith said. "I mean, that third down was huge and then comes back, touchdown, huge. So for us, we look at it as talk about a guy who's leading by example of executing when the plays come and then all of a sudden at the end, it's easy to get frustrated in the game and then at the end, how do you perform? Executed his job, critical moments, making plays to help us win and he's the guy on the sideline at the end you know cheering on his teammates as the defense is fighting to get us to win.

"So keep doing what you're doing because you're being a fantastic teammate and helping this football team and like all things when you stay the course and you keep working at that level it will come."