Dolphins waste good QB outing amid failure of high-priced free agents and coaching

We’ve seen this before: You don’t have to be a historian to remember Sundays in which a Miami Dolphins quarterback collects yards as if they were cheap stamps, throws a couple of touchdown passes, the offense scores enough points to win most games but, somehow, the result still disappoints.

We’ve lived this before: When the Dolphins in the offseason load up on expensive free agents but when that shiny new talent actually hits the field the investment doesn’t immediately pay dividends.

We’ve cringed at this before: When the game plan, however smart and infallible it seems during the week of preparation, gets blown to smithereens by the other team or fate or plain bad luck. And yet no one bothers to change course in time to save the day.

Everything the Dolphins showed us in Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills is a repeat of franchise history. It’s familiar.

Unfortunately the intimacy doesn’t deaden this loss’s pain or importance.

So get re-acquainted with Sunday’s result: Buffalo Bills 31. Miami Dolphins 28.

This was no stranger..

We’re familiar because following an opening game in which he played poorly, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick rebounded. He threw for 328 yards.

Good.

He threw two touchdown passes.

Good.

Unlike last week, he didn’t throw an interception.

Really good.

But he lost. Again. He still lost.

The day’s work fell short because the Miami offense was inconsistent early in the game and receiver Preston Williams dropped a potential touchdown pass in the fourth quarter on a key fourth-down gamble.

So everything Fitzpatrick did gets chucked into the not-good-enough bin even though it was actually quite good..

“I think at the end of the day we as a team didn’t do enough,” coach Brian Flores said. “I’m sure he had some plays he wishes he had back. Same thing in the kicking game. Same thing defensively. Same thing as coaches. Nobody likes to lose so we’ll go back and, we didn’t play well enough.”

Flores last Monday had to address whether he’d bench Fitzpatrick for this game. There will be no such questions this week. But Fitzpatrick left Hard Rock Stadium feeling every bit as empty as he did last week when he left New England.

“I feel bad because, really, it was two drives,” Fitzpatrick said, recalling two failed second-half drives. “It was the drive in the second half after they took the lead and it was the drive where we’re inside their 5-yard line and had a fourth-and-one and couldn’t finish.

“And those were the two drives that kind of led to us losing the game. It’s great to throw for yards and touchdowns but that’s not what we’re here for.”

That’s true. But losing and having no answer at quarterback is much worse than losing and not needing to make a desperate quarterback change. (How’s that for being positive)?

Still, Flores wasn’t feeling or sounding any of those good vibes after this one.

“We didn’t play well enough, we didn’t coach well enough, we didn’t play well enough, really anywhere,” he said. “We had a chance but we didn’t get it done. I know there were some bright spots, I get that.

“But at the end of the day, we didn’t win. When you don’t win it’s disappointing.”

There’s disappointment with this Dolphins defense now and it is merited. Because the Dolphins spent millions of dollars to make the unit not just representative or competitive, but of high caliber.

And the first two games this season all the unit has proven is it couldn’t stop the run against New England nor stop the pass against the Buffalo.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen threw for 417 yards. The last time the Dolphins yielded over 400 net passing yards as a team was November of 2012 against Indianapolis.

Allen threw four touchdown passes and seemed comfortable throwing the football deep because guys were open and the Dolphins pass rush was basically absent. So, yeah, troubling considering the Dolphins spent so much free agency money signing cornerback Byron Jones, defensive ends Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah and linebacker Kyle Van Noy to address those very issues.

But issues, so far, not addressed.

And as the Dolphins are leaking yards and touchdowns, the news gets worse because Jones left the game in the first quarter with a groin injury. That put the defensive game plan at risk because Jones was apparently set to shadow Buffalo receiver Stefon Diggs most of the day -- at least he did until he was injured.

Well, when Jones went out the Dolphins inserted Noah Igbinoghene into the game. And then coaches expected the rookie to cover Diggs much of the day.

The frustrating part is former Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard was often on the other side covering John Brown. And, yes, Brown is good. But Diggs is Buffalo’s best receiver.

So Dolphins coaches for whatever reason decided their best available corner would stay on Brown while Buffalo best receiver feasted on everyone else to the tune of eight catches for 153 yards and a touchdown.

“I wasn’t surprised, it was the game plan,” Howard said afterward. “Coaches did what was best for us. First Byron covering him but then something happened to Byron so Noah knew he was coming in. It was the game plan we had.”

I assume the idea of placing Jones on Diggs was putting the healthiest cornerback on Buffalo’s best receiver man-to-man. But neither Igbinoghene nor Nik Needham, who also got in the game, should have been filling that role.

Clearly not after anyone with eyes was seeing the plan fail.

And, worse, the young Miami corners were also asked to cover Diggs man-to-man a lot. So, of course, they paid a dear price as Allen and Diggs connected time and again.

“It’s definitely a teachable moment,” Igbinoghene said. “I learned a lot today, not only about the receiver but myself. I didn’t play up to my standard at all. I’ve got to move past it and move on to the next game, that’s all I can do.”

This was bad. It felt like watching the same cornerback trying and failing to cover Wesley Walker over and over again.

How could the Dolphins coaching staff see Igbinoghene fighting, but often losing, and continue to ask him to cover Diggs man-to-man? Especially with Howard as an option on the other side?

“It starts with me,” Flores said. “And we have to do a better job of putting them in position to cover them better.”