ciscoholgate
Winning is a Habit
Miami's devastating loss to the Buccaneers goes beyond the win/loss column. This team had a chance to band together and rally around their Head Coach. That did not happen and Miami's playoff odds for this season quickly dropped to very slim. With losses this year to a bad Bills team who started a practice squad QB and a winless Bucs team, the Dolphins have shown that inconsistency and not having an identity are Miami’s crutches. In my opinion, the blame goes squarely on the coaching staff. Bully-gate aside, this team was struggling before the latest loss to the Bucs and the fact that Miami came out so flat against the Bucs was an even bigger blemish to this coaching staffs abilities.
We've seen this team struggle all year with inconsistencies. Some of these inconsistencies include the inability of the offense to run the ball effectively and consistently (87.0 yards per game ranks 25th in the NFL), the defense’s inability to stop the run (119.1 yards allowed per game ranks 25th in the NFL) and produce turnovers consistently (only 3 games with 2 or more turnovers), and the offensive lines struggles with pass blocking (37 sacks allowed is worst in the NFL) and the lack of big plays in the passing game (only 23 plays of 20 plus yards ranks 28th in the NFL). All these issues and yet the Dolphins don’t have anything they can really hang their hat on and can rely on each week to get wins.
The Dolphins run the ball best when Tannehill is under Center and are using the more traditional one TE one FB sets or two TE one RB sets. The problem with that is Tannehill is not very good when passing out of these formations. Tannehill is much better when using the 3 WR sets and even better when we pair 3 WR sets with Shotgun. So the lack of offensive identity, meaning we can’t rely on the run or the pass, means defenses can key on one or the other and make us one dimensional. Opposing teams want us to throw the ball and we don’t win games by throwing it a lot (0-3 when Tannehill has 40 or more pass attempts).
I feel the coaches are mostly at fault for the team’s lack of offensive and defensive identity. This offseason the coaches chose to move on from Reggie Bush who is averaging 77.9 yards per game (7th in the NFL for RBs with 50 carries or more) and 4.7 yards per carry (6th in the NFL for RBs who have 50 or more carries) and that was a vital mistake. The coaches also chose to move on from Dansby and Burnett who were much better in coverage than Wheeler and Ellerbe. Both Dansby and Burnett were also better against the run and were had a more physical presence at LB. So our defense lost its physicality at LB when they cut Burnett and Dansby and our defense as a whole became a lot less physical and stout against the run.
The best young QBs in the game today (Luck, Kaepernick, Wilson) are protected by good rushing attacks (Indy, who is worst on the list, are 17th in yards per game rushing and still averaging 4.4 yards per carry) and solid defenses. So the inability of the coaches to help protect Tannehill and exposing him to amount of sacks he has taken is inexcusable. All that said Miami is only one game out of the final Wild Card spot for the AFC. It is still premature to talk playoffs for this team, but the fact is the coaches have time to fix some of the issues at hand. They don’t need to fix all the issues, but they must fix some of them if they hope to beat teams like the Patriots or the Panthers or the Jets.
If these coaches like their jobs and want to remain in Miami next season or beyond, they better work their magic and get this team to forget about the controversy surrounding it and inspire these players to play up to their abilities and win ball games. Winning cures all and the countdown has started on their eventual dismissal in Miami and the only way to get more time is to make the playoffs.
We've seen this team struggle all year with inconsistencies. Some of these inconsistencies include the inability of the offense to run the ball effectively and consistently (87.0 yards per game ranks 25th in the NFL), the defense’s inability to stop the run (119.1 yards allowed per game ranks 25th in the NFL) and produce turnovers consistently (only 3 games with 2 or more turnovers), and the offensive lines struggles with pass blocking (37 sacks allowed is worst in the NFL) and the lack of big plays in the passing game (only 23 plays of 20 plus yards ranks 28th in the NFL). All these issues and yet the Dolphins don’t have anything they can really hang their hat on and can rely on each week to get wins.
The Dolphins run the ball best when Tannehill is under Center and are using the more traditional one TE one FB sets or two TE one RB sets. The problem with that is Tannehill is not very good when passing out of these formations. Tannehill is much better when using the 3 WR sets and even better when we pair 3 WR sets with Shotgun. So the lack of offensive identity, meaning we can’t rely on the run or the pass, means defenses can key on one or the other and make us one dimensional. Opposing teams want us to throw the ball and we don’t win games by throwing it a lot (0-3 when Tannehill has 40 or more pass attempts).
I feel the coaches are mostly at fault for the team’s lack of offensive and defensive identity. This offseason the coaches chose to move on from Reggie Bush who is averaging 77.9 yards per game (7th in the NFL for RBs with 50 carries or more) and 4.7 yards per carry (6th in the NFL for RBs who have 50 or more carries) and that was a vital mistake. The coaches also chose to move on from Dansby and Burnett who were much better in coverage than Wheeler and Ellerbe. Both Dansby and Burnett were also better against the run and were had a more physical presence at LB. So our defense lost its physicality at LB when they cut Burnett and Dansby and our defense as a whole became a lot less physical and stout against the run.
The best young QBs in the game today (Luck, Kaepernick, Wilson) are protected by good rushing attacks (Indy, who is worst on the list, are 17th in yards per game rushing and still averaging 4.4 yards per carry) and solid defenses. So the inability of the coaches to help protect Tannehill and exposing him to amount of sacks he has taken is inexcusable. All that said Miami is only one game out of the final Wild Card spot for the AFC. It is still premature to talk playoffs for this team, but the fact is the coaches have time to fix some of the issues at hand. They don’t need to fix all the issues, but they must fix some of them if they hope to beat teams like the Patriots or the Panthers or the Jets.
If these coaches like their jobs and want to remain in Miami next season or beyond, they better work their magic and get this team to forget about the controversy surrounding it and inspire these players to play up to their abilities and win ball games. Winning cures all and the countdown has started on their eventual dismissal in Miami and the only way to get more time is to make the playoffs.
