The Miami Dolphins that started their season off strong now look as if they have nothing left to give. During last Thursday’s game at the Buffalo Bills, the Dolphins played with no passion until late in the fourth quarter, when they were attempting a comeback. Their comeback failed and ended with an interception to end the game, which they lost 19-14.
What exactly happened to the Dolphins? There were two issues – their stagnating running game and their lack of defensive production. Reggie Bush, at the start of the season, stated that he wanted to be an every down running back and lead the NFL in rushing yards. At this point in the season, he is not even close to being that guy. In his last game he only managed to rack up 20 yards in his 10 carries with no TDs. Daniel Thomas, the Dolphin’s other RB, ran for more yards then Bush with 12 carries for 33 yards, but that’s still only 53 yards from two backs and their running back averaged an abysmal 2.3 yards per carry. At the beginning of the season, even when the Dolphins were losing games, they were still gaining more yards on the ground than they are now. In their game against the New York Jets, Bush carried 10 times for 61 yards and Thomas carried 19 times for 69 yards. The difference is staggering and because of their low rushing production, they will not win games down the stretch. The offense isn’t ready to be put entirely on Tannehill’s shoulders, and his poor performance ties in directly to their inability to run the ball.
The second cause of the Dolphins fall from grace is their unproductive defense. The only player that puts in any effort and wears his emotions on his sleeve when he makes a big play is Cameron Wake. In their loss to the Bills, the Dolphin’s SS Reshad Jones alone was penalized four times including a pass interference call that resulted in the Bills gaining 56 yards. The defense had no turnovers in the game, although they forced 2 fumbles. When the defense cannot produce turnovers, their offense starts in a hole much more often, being forced to drive the length of the field.
During the game at Buffalo, CJ Spiller ran all over the Dolphins D with 19 carries for 91 yards. It did not help that the defense also failed to prevent the Bill’s pass game that was averaging 5.4 yards per play. The Dolphin’s defense has stagnated and without a spark to reignite them, the Dolphins will continue their 3 game losing streak.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier here on out for the Dolphins. They’ve got Seattle, New England twice, and San Francisco. They still have to play Buffalo again which isn’t a gimme either as we saw last week. The only game they should truly win is against Jacksonville.
The Dolphins have shown life at times throughout the season. Defensively they are pretty sound and they’ve got a good backfield rotation with Reggie Bush and Daniel Thomas. Tannehill has done a pretty good job at managing the game but nothing too impressive quite yet. I understand that his receiving core is lacking, so that’s a factor too.
The remainder of the schedule will determine if this is the team the Dolphins can go forth with in the future.