There were two instances in the season-opening loss to New England where the
Dolphins were at the goal line, inches away from scoring touchdowns, and this former offensive line coach — this admitted running game lover — watched his team throw the ball trying to score touchdowns inches from the end zone.
The Dolphins, who have admittedly abandoned their run-first, physical-ball control identity, failed to punch it in for touchdowns twice in those instances where a power-rushing attack would have come in handy.
The Dolphins only pulled the trigger on three rushing calls in the team's 14 goal-line opportunities against the
Patriots, and the end result was minus-1 yard on those rushes.
The problem got so bad that late in the fourth quarter, trailing by 14 points, the Dolphins threw four consecutive times at the goal line. That possession ended on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line when
Chad Henne threw a fade to
Brian Hartline that was off the mark.
"In this offense in years past we've been run, run, run, run and run, but now it's an attacking style offense, and we're going to try and gain as many yards as we can," left guard
Richie Incognito said. "We do a real good job week in and week out playing to our strengths."
That strength appears to be relying on the passing attack, which has been humming since the exhibition season in Brian Daboll's more aggressive offense. But can the Dolphins still get physical when they need to, blowing a team off the line of scrimmage to open up rushing lanes?
But can Sparano's Dolphins, who averaged a disappointing 3.7 yards per carry last season, still play that way?
"That is an area that we need to improve on," Daboll said, lumping the rushing attack in with the team's poor third-down conversion rate (2-of-14) as areas of emphasis during this week's practice. "You need timing in the passing game. You need rhythm. You need that in the running game, too. … We put some work into the running game this week, no question about it."
