This year, Dolphins must avoid meltdown
In front office and on field, time is running out
The Miami Dolphins should have one goal in 2018, and it does not involve a Super Bowl appearance.
The franchise’s focus this coming season should be to avoid returning to a state of dysfunction, because I’m sensing a storm is brewing, which is usually the case once adversity hits.
Consider the 2016 season, when the Dolphins had a miraculous year, turning around from a 1-4 start to win 10 games and make the playoffs for the first time since the 2008 season, as the honeymoon of vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum, general manager Chris Grier and head coach Adam Gase’s marriage.
Everything that could go wrong did, and those Dolphins managed to overcome it.
That season presented hope, teased upside, tempted us with promise.
Then came 2017, a season in which everything that could go wrong did, again, but last year’s team folded under pressure, finishing the season 6-10.
Fingers were pointed, blame was privately assigned, and now we’re dealing with the aftermath.
Tannenbaum, Grier and Gase can hide it as much as they want, but it has become clear to those inside the organization that the honeymoon’s over.
While lines in the sand haven’t been drawn, we’re getting close to that point. It smells like dysfunction is brewing, and based on owner Steve Ross’ frustrated tone at this week’s NFL Annual Meeting, we could be facing another front-office shakeup if Miami doesn’t produce a winning season in 2018.
These things happen in the NFL — and
professional sports in general — when franchises hit rough patches. And Miami’s struggles this decade — with a 76-84 record over the past 10 years — isn’t a rough patch, it has the expanse of a football field.
“I believe in the people in our building,” Tannenbaum said during his sitdown with Ross at the NFL meeting. “I believe in our players and coaches. There are a lot of players we’re counting on to do more. We’re excited to see their progress. We’re trying to be opportunistic.
“We’re excited to get our starting quarterback [Ryan Tannehill] back,” Tannenbaum continued. “And I’m excited to watch him with our head coach.”
Gase was specifically hired as Miami’s coach because of his reputation for making quarterbacks better, and last season was supposed to be the year we saw Tannehill take a significant step forward in his second season in Gase’s offense.
Gase holds up the growth Tannehill was showing right before he suffered his season-ending knee injury against the Arizona Cardinals in 2016 as evidence that the talent is there.
And he’s right. After Miami started 1-4 because the team lacked an offensive identity, the Dolphins found their lane courtesy of a play-action attack that utilized Tannehill’s movement skills, and the Dolphins won seven of eight games. Tannehill produced a 102.6 passer rating during that stretch, which made a playoff berth possible.
When Tannehill’s knee couldn’t hold up in 2017 training camp, that led to the unraveling of this team’s seams. The question is, how much better would the Dolphins have been in 2017 with a healthy Tannehill instead of Jay Cutler?
At best, and this is a generous estimation, can we say Tannehill was worth three more victories?
If so, that means at best last year’s Dolphins — the team Tannenbaum, Grier and Gase assembled over the previous two offseasons — could have managed nine wins, maybe pushing the Buffalo Bills for that final AFC wild card playoff spot if they were actually trying to win the season finale (they weren’t).
Now insert Tannehill back into the equation in 2018, and remove Pro Bowl players Jarvis Landry, Ndamukong Suh and Mike Pouncey, and key starters or role players Lawrence Timmons, Julius Thomas, Jermon Bushrod, Cody Parkey, Damien Williams, Michael Thomas and Matt Moore.
Replace them with defensive end Robert Quinn, offensive guard Josh Sitton, center Daniel Kilgore, receivers Danny Amendola and Albert Wilson, tailback Frank Gore and the return of linebacker Raekwon McMillan, who missed his rookie year with a knee injury.
Now assess the product the Dolphins are selling.
The Dolphins will add a few more pieces in the draft, and if lucky, three of them become significant contributors, if not immediate starters.
Is that good enough to produce a winning season? Does that prop up Miami as a playoff contender, coming from a division in which the New York Jets and the Bills will be breaking in new starting quarterbacks and the New England Patriots have been weakened by free-agent defections?
It better be, because that’s probably the only thing that will keep Tannenbaum, Grier and Gase safe. Ross, who will be 78 in May, is seemingly out of patience.
“I’m not hoping. I know it’s going to be different,” a defiant Gase said when asked if this offseason’s roster overhaul can fix what went wrong in 2017. “We’ve got different animals. You’ve got some Alpha Dogs running in there. You’ve got some guys that are going to go in there and they’re not going to accept a lot of the b------that’s gone on in the past.”
Ross basically had the same sentiment when putting this trifecta into power, talking about how the era of dysfunction was finally coming to an end.
And here we are again, possibly right back at dysfunction’s doorstep.