NOTEBOOK:
Dolphins’ players are divided on whether poor practices are what led up to Sunday’s poor showing against the New York Jets.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Opinions varied in the Miami Dolphins locker room on whether the team had a bad week of practice leading up to Sunday’s 20-6 loss to the New York Jets, and whether it was a factor in the loss.
“Our week of preparation wasn’t our best,” cornerback Bobby McCain said. “You could just tell in all three phases — offense, defense and special teams— we didn’t have it together. We didn’t play with emotion, we didn’t play with passion like we normally do, we didn’t play with fire.”
Others, such as center Mike Pouncey, disagreed.
“The coaches didn’t saywe had bad practices after practice,” he said. “But it’s easy to say that after a loss.”
Running back Jay Ajayi said the week of practice was “not good enough.” He said the problems were with “intensity, probably physicality, aswell.”
But Ajayi stopped short of making a bad week of practice the culprit for the loss.
“We know how to practice,” he said, “and we didn’t do it thisweek.”
Wide receiver Jarvis Landry said the week of practice “was fine” and didn’t see any relation between bad practices and a bad showing in the game.
“Obviously there’s thing[s] we can get better on, there’s things we will get better [on],” he said. “But there’s 14 games left.”
Quarterback Jay Cutler also questioned whether a week of poor practices was the cause of Sunday’s showing.
“I think anytime you go out there and play like that you’re going to go back and look at what you did at practice and refine some things and change some things and try to get better,” he said.
Right tackle Ja’Wuan James basically disregarded the practice talk and went straight to the game result.
“We definitely can’t let that happen again,” he said. “Whatever happened we need to [watch it on] film and correct it.”
Injury update
Cornerback Byron Maxwell left the game with an eye injury but eventually returned. …
Safety Nate Allen left the game with a hamstring injury and didn’t return. …
Wide receiver Kenny Stills had his right handwrapped after the game. ...
Defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, offensive tackles Sam Young and Eric Smith, rookie cornerbacks Cordrea Tankersley and Torry McTyer, linebacker Rey Maualuga and guard Isaac Asiata were inactive.
Pouncey on Hernandez
Pouncey, a close friend and college teammate of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, said hewas caught off guard by the diagnosis that Hernandez, who was 27 when he died, had stage three CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) and was reportedly one of the worst cases they’d seen at Boston University, which does much of the analysis.
“I guess surprised in a way,” Pouncey said. “It’s real. It definitely is. It’s hard because you can’t see any signs of that stuff before. Obviously you have to be dead for them to test your brain. So it’s tough. That’s tough.
“It’s not something that’s in the back of my mind, but it’s tough for anybody.”
Odds and ends
Ajayi, who rushed for 16 yards on 11 carries, had the worst statistical performance of his career in a game with 11 or more carries. His previous low was 42 yards on13 carries in last year’s 30-17 loss to Tennessee. Ajayi now has 39 carries for 138 yards, an average of 3.5 yards per carry, for the season. …
Safety Reshad Jones and linebacker Kiko Alonso led the Dolphins with eight tackles apiece. Linebacker Chase Allen, who might only play half of the snaps, had seven tackles. …
Defensive ends Cameron Wake and Andre Branch each had one sack. …
Cutler was sacked three times and absorbed seven hits. ...
Newly-signed linebacker Stephone Anthony didn’t play.
“We know how to practice and we didn’t do it this week.” Jay Ajayi, Dolphins running back