No panic button, but also no yards for revamped Dolphins rushing attack
MIAMI GARDENS — One game was a disappointment.
Two games started to form a trend.
Three?
“That will be more concerning for me,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said.
The cause for concern — stop us if you’ve heard this many times before — is the run game. Or the lack thereof. Through two preseason games, the Dolphins are averaging 2.7 yards per carry, which sounds poor. Subtract two outlier long runs and the more indicative stats are worse: 30 carries for 45 yards — an average of 1.5.
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And yet …
“I don’t look at our run game tonight as something to be discouraged about,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said after Saturday’s 15-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Fine, but can anyone look at the two performances and be encouraged about the run game?
No.
After ranking 30th in rushing last season, the Dolphins revamped their running back corps by adding Chase Edmonds, Raheem Mostert and Sony Michel, plus fullback Alec Ingold. But two-thirds of the way through training camp, there’s no way to definitively say McDaniel’s wide-zone scheme will keep defenses honest and make Tagovailoa’s job easier. Too many important pieces — namely Mostert, Ingold and left tackle Terron Armstead — have been limited to see the complete picture.
‘I have complete confidence,' Chase Edmonds says
And yet ... “I have complete confidence,” Edmonds said, adding that the problems are “nothing crazy big.”
It was clear during the two games that many rushing attempts were creating a down-and-distance bind for the offense. Of the Dolphins’ 32 total carries this preseason, a staggering 17 have gained 2 yards or fewer, including six that lost yardage.
“It’s not hard to be patient,” Edmonds said. “Man, this is the NFL. It’s hard to run the football in the NFL.”
Edmonds figures it won’t be quite as hard once the Dolphins plug in Armstead, who has Pro Bowl experience, as the unquestioned leader of the line.
“He can really make a ton of difference when you plug him into left tackle, obviously,” Edmonds said. “Nine times out of 10 Terron is going to handle his guy.”
Second-year tackle Larnel Coleman started both games in Armstead’s place. He played every offensive snap against the Raiders and had a difficult sequence in the second quarter that included a false start. In fact, the line in general was poor in that series. After a Tagovailoa pass to Mike Gesicki gained 9 yards on first down, the Dolphins sent Michel around right end and left guard but gained nothing on either try. Then came the false start. Despite a second-and-1 on the Raiders’ 24-yard line, the Dolphins settled for a field goal.
“It's a work in progress,” said Eric Studesville, the associate head coach/running backs. “It's a new system. We're all learning and we're all getting into it. There's adjustments that are being made. Every group is involved in it. We feel like we're getting closer to what we want it to be.”
Dolphins have more success running left
Overall, the left side of the line, which includes guard Liam Eichenberg, has held its own. When the Dolphins run left, they’ve rushed for 46 yards on 12 attempts. Going right? Twelve carries, 8 yards.
One running back did make a splash play against the Raiders: ZaQuandre White. But it wasn’t on a running play. White, an undrafted rookie out of South Carolina, caught a 19-yard pass that Skylar Thompson dropped into his hands along the sideline. White sidestepped a would-be tackler, walked into the end zone and strutted around, celebrating like Antonio Brown.
“It was just a simple play-action pass play,” White said. “I kind of figured Skylar was going to throw it to me. So when my opportunity came, I just had to do what I had to do.”
The play earned a thumbs-up from Edmonds, who called White “a neighborhood hero” on the team.
“Great job by him really selling the play-action going into the flat and making the guy miss,” Edmonds said. “That’s not easy to do, especially after catching the ball over the shoulder and high-stepping into the end zone, man. So I was really happy for my guy. We’ve got to find a touchdown ball for him — gotta get it back for him.”
As a group, Miami’s backs are proven receiving threats. And they’ve had success as rushers. Now they must find a way to have sustained success as Dolphins.
“I’m happy that there’s no false sense of comfort level, really,” McDaniel said. “It does raise the urgency for the offensive line, tight ends and receivers blocking.
“But at the same time I’m not panicked because I would be more panicked if they were entering into something that we had totally prepared them for and we still weren’t able to displace people on the line of scrimmage and do things of that nature. So it’s cause for your attention, but at the same time, there’s no panic button.”
Hal Habib covers the Dolphins for The Post. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Should Dolphins be concerned about lack of a run game?
