MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The early season offensive struggles took another ugly turn for the Miami Dolphins on Monday night.

The Dolphins scored a late touchdown that ended a nine-quarter touchdown drought their 31-12 loss to the Tennessee Titans. The offensive misery continued when the Dolphins used their third quarterback since Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion in the second week Home loss to Buffalo.

“There is a huge disconnect between preparation and execution,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “I think there are a variety of contributors. In the end, it doesn’t matter what we do behind the scenes. On the field, that’s not nearly good enough.”

Miami, which scored a league-low 45 points, finished with 184 yards of total offense.

“It’s definitely frustrating. “We’re definitely better than we show on game day,” Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle said. “We have to be better than good if your starting quarterback is out.”

Tyler Huntley got the start against previously winless Tennessee, but problems continued after that last week’s 24-3 loss in Seattleas Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle took the snaps. Signed to the Baltimore Ravens practice squad On September 17, Huntley completed 14 of 22 for 96 yards. He also ran for 40 yards on eight attempts.

Under Huntley, the Dolphins seemed out of sync. They were sentenced to five illegal shift penalties, including three in one trip.

On some big play opportunities with star receiver Tyreek Hill, Huntley missed erroneous passes after Hill beat his defender.

“You wish you had 1,000 reps to go through the playbook, but it is what it is,” Huntley said. “I felt pretty comfortable, but now I need to dive deeper, know the ins and outs of the offense and take the offense to another level.”

After Huntley joined the team two weeks ago, McDaniel acknowledged there were limitations and adjustments to game strategy.

“There are calculated decisions with what he liked in the previous game plan for Seattle and some things he’s done in his career,” McDaniel said. “It was trimmed down to the point where it was all the things he was comfortable with.”

The Titans were also pushed to bring in a backup quarterback Starter Will Levis suffered a right shoulder injury during a running play in the first quarter and Mason Rudolph took over.

Rudolph finished 9 of 17 for 85 yards and directed two touchdown-ending drives in the second half while helping rookie coach Brian Callahan to his first NFL win.

“He didn’t bat an eye when he came into the game,” Callahan said. “Our boys didn’t sleep a wink. He did exactly what you would expect a man like that to do in that situation: He came in and operated. As far as service goes, it was pretty clean.”

The Dolphins’ defense limited the Titans to three Nick Folk field goals before Tyjae Spears’ 7-yard run with six minutes left in the third quarter made it 16-6.

Tennessee secured the victory when Tony Pollard scored from 4 yards out with 2:03 left in the fourth quarter.

“There’s nothing good about this situation right now in terms of where our team needs to be,” McDaniel said. “We have to do enough to win a football game against any opponent. At the moment that is not the case and we need to fix this quickly.”

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