All
Mike Wallace could do was grimace.
When approached in the locker room after a 20-16 loss to the
Detroit Lions, the
Miami Dolphins' leading receiver knew he would be asked about the offense's baffling inconsistency. It has been a consistent trend that showed up again in Sunday's loss that dropped Miami to 5-4.
"It's the same thing I tell you every week," Wallace said. "We have to find our balance, man. We can't keep doing this on offense. We can't be up and down to be the team that we want to be. We have to be able to finish football games. Our defense played great once again.
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"[The Lions] are going to score points. They have
Calvin Johnson and it's going to happen. I feel like they did a great job on defense. We had a chance to kill the game and we didn't do it again on our end on offense."
Sure, Miami's defense gave up the go-ahead touchdown to Detroit with 29 seconds remaining.
Matthew Stafford connected on an 11-yard touchdown throw to
Theo Riddick, despite good coverage by Dolphins safety
Reshad Jones.
But you can't pin this loss, which ended a three-game winning streak, on the defense.
The Dolphins' offense gained just 228 yards. Miami trailed by 10 points in the first quarter after the offense lost a combined 20 yards on its first two drives, the worst start by any team's offense since 2001, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Seven of Miami's 11 drives lasted five plays or fewer. Still, Miami somehow held a 16-13 lead with 4:19 remaining after a
Caleb Sturgis field goal. The defense forced another three-and-out by Detroit, and Miami's offense gave the ball right back. The Dolphins' three-and-out led to the Lions' decisive drive against Miami's worn-down defense.
