Dolphins column urges deep shots from Malik ahead of Vikings game

A Yahoo Sports column published on the eve of Miami's game at Minnesota argues for a deeper passing game, revisits a Raiders interception and criticizes NFL officiating.

A Miami Dolphins opinion column published Saturday, October 3, on Yahoo Sports pressed the case for more deep passes from quarterback Malik with the team set to face the Minnesota Vikings. The item ran the night before the Dolphins-Vikings matchup and carried a photo from Miami's September 20 game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

The writer's core argument was that downfield throws force defenses to respect the vertical game instead of squatting on shorter routes all afternoon. As an illustration of a defense with no such worry, the column recalled a Super Bowl blowout involving Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos and pointed to a play in which Manning flipped a flat pass parallel to the line of scrimmage to a receiver who had Richard Sherman waiting on him.

Scheming for the deep ball also pulls defensive attention away from the run game and short passes, the column contended. Live-game reps on deep throws should strengthen trust and timing between Malik and Miami's wide receivers, the writer added, just as an 18-yard square-in does, and the piece hoped the deep shot would become a fixed part of the offense.

A recent game against the Raiders supplied the cautionary tale. Malik was intercepted on a deep throw in that game, but the column noted the ball was released while the quarterback fell away rather than stepping into it, and Mark Schlereth identified a poorly run route on the play. In the writer's judgment, a properly planted throw would have ended in a touchdown.

The piece reached back for precedent, invoking Howard Schnellenberger, who coached under Bear Bryant and, by the writer's account, tracked the average completion rate for every kind of pass. Schnellenberger's figure for deep-shot success was about 9 percent, the writer recalled, and the column also pointed to the Raiders' three Super Bowl titles built on downfield passing, with Cliff Branch's name invoked. The writer praised the boldness of the approach while stopping short of calling it the best path forward.

Penalties drew a separate entry, written in response to a reader posting as SDPhinsFan, who noted Miami had the league's lowest penalty totals for years. The columnist split penalties into pre-snap procedural mistakes and live-ball infractions such as pass interference, holding and late hits, and said it remains unclear whether the Dolphins led in both categories. The piece also raised, without answering, the question of whether coach Don Shula intimidated officials.

The criticism grew sharper on officiating. The writer argued that the league and its owners view fans as a nuisance and that a genuine desire to fix officiating would have produced results by now, suggesting fan anger may even be seen as good for the sport. The column cited Outkick articles this week, including one by Armando Salguero, as a sign the issue is gaining attention, and speculated that a single call from Roger Goodell to the Murdoch camp could quiet the coverage until the next officiating failure, which the writer predicted would arrive in the Dolphins' game the following day.

In a wide-ranging aside, the columnist called for stripping antitrust exemptions from every professional sports league and for subpoenaing league officiating records. He also wrote that the WNBA should be investigated over its handling of Caitlin Clark, likened the situation to what he described as league-tolerated treatment of Michael Jordan, and said the NBA's David Stern deserved prison for what he allowed to happen to Jordan.

The matchup at hand arrives first: Miami visits the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, October 4, at 4:05 p.m. EDT at U.S. Bank Stadium, with the game carried on FOX.