Miami did play SD on the road last season also. How did Tannehill do in that game? In fact, how did the offenses compare in the two games?
Here are the numbers with last year's game being the first in each category:
Offensive points - 24 vs 19
Total yards - 337 vs 336
Average gain per play - 6.7 vs 4.9
3rd down % - 40% vs 38%
Yards passing - 240 vs 230
YPA - 10.0 vs 6.8
Passing TDs - 2 vs 1
INTs - 0 vs 0
Passer rating - 130.6 vs 101.8
Redzone Efficiency - 66% vs 0%
Yards Rushing - 106 vs 111
Yards per rush - 4.2 vs 3.5
Rushing TDs - 1 vs 0
And finally:
Passes thrown over 20 yards past the LOS:
Tannehill - 4/4 138 yds and 2 TDs
Cutler - 3/6 91 yds and 1 TD
Longest complete air distance - Tannehill 59 yards. Cutler 39 yards.
Here are some more numbers from last years game #9 against the Chargers and this years game #1 against the Chargers
RIvers game #9 last year threw 4 INT
Rivers game #1 this year threw ZERO INT
Rivers game #9 last year had 44 pass attempts
Rivers game #1 this year had 39 pass attempts
Rivers game #9 last year had 23 completions
Rivers game #1 this year had 31 completions
Rivers game #9 last year had a 52 comp%
Rivers game #1 this year had a 79 comp%
Rivers game #9 last year had a 61.4 rating
Rivers game #1 this year had a 110.6 rating
Rivers game #9 last year was sacked 3 times
Rivers game #1 this year was sacked 1 time
Rivers game #9 last year was hit 9 times
Rivers game #1 this year was hit 5 times
Rivers/Chargers game #9 last year dominated the TOP 32:59 to 27:01
RIvers/Chargers game #1 this year were dominated in the TOP 26:38 to 33:22
Miami Defense forced 4 turnovers all 4 being the INT thrown by Rivers last year
Miami Defense forced 0 turnovers this year
Why am I mentioning RIvers as opposed to RT vs JC stats?
I think that is obvious as to what I'm getting at.
Just in case its not obvious, I think its safe to say that if the Dolphins defense would have forced 4 INT in week #1 this year.
The Dolphins odds on scoring more points would have gone up dramatically.
The Dolphins also would have been even more likely to dominate the TOP even more than they did this year without having any turnovers gifted to them by the Chargers.
RT vs JC stats and some misc team stats not mentioned
RT was sacked 1 time
JC was sacked 2 times
Miami ran the ball 1 more time than they passed it in game #9 last year
Miami ran the ball 1 less time than they passed it in game #1 this year
Miami INT the ball 4 times in the 4th QTR in game #9 last year
Miami INT the ball 0 times the entire game in game #1 this year
Conclusion - Basically the Chargers imploded on offense last year and the Dolphins were aided by Rivers throwing 4 INT with one of them being a game winning pick-6. Revisionist history always gets a response from me. I get that you were trying to prove a point. In the end you were comparing apples to oranges but trying to pass it off as an equal comparison between RT performance vs JC performance. Which is a very unfair thing to do considering the 2 games were vastly different in many aspects. Not taking into account that timing of both games, the stressful upheaval the Dophins face this year. Losing their QB and bringing in a new QB with a few weeks before the season started up. Having their first game cancelled due to a hurricane and having to travel to LA many days before they normally would have had to. Losing their LB who decided to go AWOL hours before the game.
I hope you're not one of the fans that will immediately claim these are just excuses as opposed to important stats and circumstances to take into account when evaluating how the 2 games played out. After all you are attempting to push your point of view farther along with your own cherry picked stats on 2 games. While they involved the same 2 teams, that's pretty much where the similarities ended IMO.