2014: 1st season since the Marino Era that the Defense was mostly to blame for losses

[SkapePhin]

There were so many games this year where the loss can be pinned mostly on defensive collapses:

GB
Detroit
Denver
Jets

Go down the line.

There were very few wins where you could point solely to the defense for the reason for the victory, outside of the first game against the Patriots.

The metrics appear to back this up as well:

Points Per Game Vs. Points Allowed: http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/teams/345/miami-dolphins/#Points%20per%20Game$SeasonMax=9999&SeasonMin=1990

In 2014, the Dolphins averaged 24.3 points per game while averaging 23.3 points allowed. That's the highest PPG since 1995 where the Dolphins averaged 24.9 points per game. That year the team allowed 20.8.

Overall, 2014 Dolphins scored 388 points (highest total since 1995 when they scored 398) while allowing 359 points (highest since 2009 when they allowed 370 points). The difference in points scored vs. against was 29 points this year.

In the heyday of Dolphins defense (the early 2000s), no team allowed more than 287 points in a year, but the offense highest points scored in that span was 378 (2002).

I think we are seeing the beginning of a reversal for the Dolphins. I expect next year to follow this trend where the defense bottoms out and the offense is what keeps the team afloat.

I expect the team to average 30+ ppg next year, while allowing 30+ ppg. If the defensive struggles cause losses early on, I could see Ross making a change midseason and handing the reigns to Lazor.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

30+ on both sides of the ball is a big jump. That's really good on offense and really bad on defense. I think it's more likely that we'll stay in the 25/25 range.

 

[CO-Gator]

That 2009 D was atrocious. I can recall several games off the top of my head that they cost us because they couldn't tackle or cover anyone. And that team had a solid OL and Ricky had a great season after Brown went down yet again.

 

[SkapePhin]

30+ on both sides of the ball is a big jump. That's really good on offense and really bad on defense. I think it's more likely that we'll stay in the 25/25 range.

You are probably correct there. High 20s on both sides.

 

[Xbrett82us]

What starters do we keep on D?

Jenkins, Misi, Jones, Grimes, Wake, Vernon, Shelby, Jamar Taylor are the only ones I want back. But even Misi I am not sold on anymore.

 

[phins_4_ever]

There were so many games this year where the loss can be pinned mostly on defensive collapses:

GB
Detroit
Denver
Jets

Go down the line.

There were very few wins where you could point solely to the defense for the reason for the victory, outside of the first game against the Patriots.

The metrics appear to back this up as well:

Points Per Game Vs. Points Allowed: http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/teams/345/miami-dolphins/#Points%20per%20Game$SeasonMax=9999&SeasonMin=1990

In 2014, the Dolphins averaged 24.3 points per game while averaging 23.3 points allowed. That's the highest PPG since 1995 where the Dolphins averaged 24.9 points per game. That year the team allowed 20.8.

Overall, 2014 Dolphins scored 388 points (highest total since 1995 when they scored 398) while allowing 359 points (highest since 2009 when they allowed 370 points). The difference in points scored vs. against was 29 points this year.

In the heyday of Dolphins defense (the early 2000s), no team allowed more than 287 points in a year, but the offense highest points scored in that span was 378 (2002).

I think we are seeing the beginning of a reversal for the Dolphins. I expect next year to follow this trend where the defense bottoms out and the offense is what keeps the team afloat.

I expect the team to average 30+ ppg next year, while allowing 30+ ppg. If the defensive struggles cause losses early on, I could see Ross making a change midseason and handing the reigns to Lazor.

How many games did you watch this year?

Stats are stats and stats are for loosers.

The blame for the season is 50/50.

I give you Denver and the second Jets game though the second Jets game our offense did diddly nothing in the second half. But because it was Geno I give you that game. But GB and Detroit I fight you tooth and nails to put that solely on D.

 

[SkapePhin]

How many games did you watch this year?

Stats are stats and stats are for loosers.

The blame for the season is 50/50.

I give you Denver and the second Jets game though the second Jets game our offense did diddly nothing in the second half. But because it was Geno I give you that game. But GB and Detroit I fight you tooth and nails to put that solely on D.

"mostly" =/= "solely"

Both the GB and Lions games ended with the Defense choking away a game winning drive. The offense did enough to win both of those games and didn't put the D in horrid situations to overcome. In my view, those losses are PRIMARILY on the D. Of course you can find some things the O did poorly in those games, but they did enough to win. That's all I am saying...

And I watch all 16 frustrating games this year, unfortunately. This is the first year in a long while where I could see that the offense performed better than the defense as a whole.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

I think the case for the offense being the better unit this season is strong, but both units were inconsistent and need improvement.

I will say that I think we're closer to being good on offense than we are close to being good on defense, but with the huge caveat that if we get good on offense, I think it helps our defense a lot, too. We still might get one more good year out of Cameron Wake, and I think Chris McCain has a lot of future value as a pass rusher.

 

[Coach_Rob]

I will respect Philbin a little bit if he actually grows a pair and fires coyle. that is the first thing that needs to happen. the d has been awful under him. hated the hire. we need someone to be aggressive.

 

[Scotty P]

Not defending Coyle hear by any means, but we lost to 3 of the most potent offenses in the league with each team having a future HOF'er.

But I am done with Coyle, he can go.

 

[truedolfan57]

don't forget the jags game. that one was won by the D.

 

[dabeastdabone]

You obviously didn't get the approval from Miko to start this discussion.

 

[phins_4_ever]

"mostly" =/= "solely"

Both the GB and Lions games ended with the Defense choking away a game winning drive. The offense did enough to win both of those games and didn't put the D in horrid situations to overcome. In my view, those losses are PRIMARILY on the D. Of course you can find some things the O did poorly in those games, but they did enough to win. That's all I am saying...

And I watch all 16 frustrating games this year, unfortunately. This is the first year in a long while where I could see that the offense performed better than the defense as a whole.

If you go by the simple last drive you are correct. That's why I was asking of you watched the games.

Our D was 21 of 30 minutes on the field in the first half. The conditions were hot and humid. We couldn't even get points after our special teams gave us the ball on the GB 25. Everybody I talked to at half time said the same thing: the first half will come back to haunt us. And it did. The last drive was a D which was gassed, done, finished. And they had to go out there because our O could not close the game out. If you want to claim that you have a good O than they have to be able to protect a 3 point lead and make sure that one of the top QBs does not see the field anymore.

Yeah, if you want to you can look at that last drive. But if you look at the entire game I can easily say: the D made it possible for us to have a lead in the first place with less than 4 minutes to go.

Detroit? Again if you want to judge the D on one drive. Fine. But if you look at the game you will see that our O put up a whopping 16 points and our D held Detroit to 13.
To top it off our D gave our O twice the chance to close out the game. But again. We ran 50 seconds off the clock and gave the ball right back. Coyle's words after the game are still echoing....."We thought that was the last time that we had to go out there".

Our offense was mediocre at best this season. So was our D. Neither unit ever played a full 60 minutes. And they pooped in the important games.

 

[SSnowman]

Our D was 21 of 30 minutes on the field in the first half. The conditions were hot and humid. We could even get points after our special teams gave us the ball on the GB 25. Everybody I talked to at half time said the same thing: the first half will come back to haunt us. And it did. The last drive was a D which was gassed, done, finished. And they had to go out there because our O could not close the game out. If you want to claim that you have a good O than they have to be able to protect a 3 point lead and make sure that one of the top QBs does not see the field anymore.

Maybe they should get off the field on 3rd down instead of giving up 44% of 3rd down attempts for the year. There's only 3 teams with a worse percentage than that. Those teams have a 17-48 record.

 

[SoCal Finatic]

I think we came blame both sides of the ball. Many of us are forgetting that early on in the season, the offense was stagnant (like in the GB game) and the defense was left on the field to flounder. This shallow D was exposed, true, but the offense was a mess early on in most games. Can you say 3 and out??