Dolphins’ offence found wanting
Somehow, the Miami Dolphins have won half of their eight games by scoring the fewest points in the NFL with 116, a meagre 14.5 per outing.
To put that in perspective, the Cleveland Browns had scored three more points in the same number of games and are convincingly winless.
Another clunker from the offence probably won’t be enough for Miami to defeat the host Carolina Panthers on Monday night — not so much because the Panthers are likely to pile up a mountain of points — they’re averaging only 18.7 per game — but because they’re winning with their stout defence, which is surrendering only 17.7 a game.
It’s incumbent on Miami quarterback Jay Cutler to come close to repeating his best statistical outing as a Dolphin last week, in a narrow 27-24 Sunday night loss to the Oakland Raiders. Cutler threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns, and his 81 per cent completion percentage ( 34 of 42) was a career best when attempting a minimum 10 passes.
Cutler was supposed to perform l i ke that out of the gates in September, of course. He had maybe his best season as a pro in Chicago two years ago when Adam Gase was the Bears’ offensive co- ordinator. Gase is now in Year 2 as the Dolphins’ head coach, and he urged the front office to lure Cutler out of his brief retirement.
“When he’s had time in the pocket, he’s done a really good job of finding the open guys and getting the ball out on time,” Gase said of Cutler. “The games that we’ve struggled in were where things were collapsing quick and ( receivers) weren’t getting open quick enough. It was hard for him to get in a little bit of a rhythm.
“I always say this about quarterbacks: It’s the toughest position because you need 10 other guys to do their job before you even have a chance to do yours. I think the good thing with what Jay has done is that he’s gotten better ever y week.”
As for 6- 3 Carolina, it appears the team will be in a dogfight down to the last day of December with New Orleans and Atlanta to win the NFC South. QB Cam Newton has done and said some strange, even offensive, things off the field this year, but after shoulder surgery in the spring he appears to be playing more consistently and effectively.
Roo kie r u nn i ng ba c k Christian McCaffrey has proven more than just a reliable safety- valve receiver. He leads the NFC with 54 receptions, even if his contribution on the ground — 183 yards — has been a disappointment.