State of the Union: Miami Dolphins
If you thought that the Jets game was a fluke and that head coach Adam Gase would have the Dolphins ready to play on Sunday you were sadly mistaken. The Miami Dolphins fell to 1-2 on the season, losing their second straight game. Questions about playcalling and the attitude of the players arose after last Sunday’s upset loss to the New York Jets. However, after seeing the Dolphins make no improvements in the following week, it’s hard to call the Jets loss an upset anymore.
The harsh reality is that the Miami Dolphins may just be the worst team in the National Football League. Although there are some teams out there who are winless, it is hard to image a team being worse than the Dolphins right now.
The primary reason that this is the case is because the teams who are winless do not have the inability to score points. Also, if the Chargers had a kicker that could do his job of making makeable field goals then the Dolphins would be winless too.
The Miami Dolphins were atrocious on offense once again this past Sunday. Without counting junk-time against the New York Jets, the Dolphins have scored one touchdown all year. One. With offensive weapons such as Jay Ajayi, DeVante Parker, Kenny Stills, Jarvis Landry and Julius Thomas at Gase’s disposal that is just plain unacceptable.
As it stands right now, the fanbase is divided. Many are calling for quarterback Jay Cutler to have a seat. Others have absolutely had it with Gase’s conservative, predictable and safe playcalling.
Some believe that Gase has suddenly forgotten how to call a game. Others believe that he is calling games this way due to Cutler’s limitations. The latter does not seem as plausible given the fact that Cutler had his best year in Chicago under Gase and that Cutler doesn’t exactly have a wet noodle for an arm. He is able to make the reads and make all the throws. What it seems as though he is not able to do is to break bad habits such as overconfidence in his throws and throwing off of his back foot.
Overconfidence and a poor throw led to a drive-killing interception against the Saints. Cutler lazily lofted up a throw for Julius Thomas before he had even shown any sort of separation from the defensive back Ken Crawley.
The interception ruined an excellent drive by the Dolphins. They marched down the field and showed significant improvement from the previous week. After the turnover, the Dolphins could not get it going again on offense for the rest of the day.
Once again, the lack of offensive production by the Dolphins is inexcusable given the talent that makes up the roster on that side of the ball. Defensively the Dolphins had a solid showing. They held Drew Brees and the Saints to 20 points, which is no small feat. They have also held Philip Rivers and the Chargers to 17 points so the 1-2 record does not fall on the defense.
Where do the Dolphins go from here? It is entirely plausible that the locker room has been lost and it’s still very early in the season. If Miami does not bounce back against Tennessee talks of tanking the season could begin. That is hard to process given the preseason expectations for the team and the fact that Miami made the playoffs last season. Hopefully Gase can get everyone in the right mindset sooner rather than later, as the fanbase is tired of hearing excuses for inexcusable performances.
