Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dolphins reminded how much work still to be done
By the end, they were just another Miami Dolphins team that didn’t match up to New England, and there have been so many of those through the recent years they all blend together.
That’s what hurt the most. This Dolphins team thinks it’s different. It is different, too, if you look at the record and the standings how the season doesn’t end with the regular season.
There’s a game ahead next weekend in Pittsburgh. That’s good progress. But when it when it was all over Sunday, Dolphins coach Adam Gase came through the emptying locker room like he was still looking for an answer to this 35-14 loss to the Patriots.
He saw, instead, what appeared to be the loneliest man in South Florida. Guard Jermon Bushrod sat at his locker, looking at the floor. Gase sat down beside him.
For the next few minutes, they talked about this day, this pain, this loss in the regular-season finale in which they wanted to show some measurable progress against a championship-caliber team. Instead, they
“Give (Patriots) credit, but you give up 35 points, it’s not a good showing,” Kiko Alonso, Dolphins linebacker
showed progress only by being frustrated, not resigned, to the loss.
“We talked of regrouping for the playoffs,” Bushrod said.
You can bet they’ll regroup this week, too. This team regrouped from 1-4 to win nine of its next 10 games. This team regrouped from being run off the field in December by Baltimore, 38-6, to make the playoffs.
But regrouping, rebounding, reassessing or re-anything isn’t an issue on days like this. The real issue tells why this season is a borderline remarkable one of wringing every last play from a roster thin enough to fit under a door and fragile enough to need bubble wrap.
On Sunday, Miami’s defense was essentially a punt-coverage unit as five career special teamers played among the back seven linebackers and defensive backs. The offense was without its most important player in Ryan Tannehill and most accomplished in center Mike Pouncey. So take your pick: 1) Say Miami isn’t close to New England, which they aren’t considering the Patriots’ standing.
2) Say this Dolphins team maximized this season by squeezing every possible win out of the schedule.
They went from a likely 6-10 season to 10-6. Did anyone predict that? (Not me). Did anyone pick them for the playoffs? (Not me.) But does anyone think they’re at the level of New England?
“14-2 is a good place to be,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said after dissecting Miami’s defense for three touchdowns.
Two plays told the larger difference Sunday. The first came after the Dolphins cut the lead to 20-14 in the third quarter. Facing third-and-8, Brady read the blitz, found the vulnerable cornerback in Tony Lippett and threw a short pass that turned into a 77-yard touchdown by Julian Edelman.
“That’s why he’s a Hall of Famer,” Lippett said.
The second telling play came midway through the fourth quarter. The Dolphins were driving with a chance to cut it to a touchdown. They’d be within striking distance of magic then. Could Kiko Alonso return another interception, DeVante Parker catch another game-winner?
Damien Williams caught a short pass at the Patriots’ 9-yard line. Patriots’ Pro-Bowl safety Devin McCourty stripped the ball. Linebacker Shea McClellin scooped it up and returned it to the Dolphins’ 18-yard line. Ball game.
“We just can’t turn the ball over down there,” Gase said.
Dolphins coaches have been saying that in important games against the Patriots for 15 years. It’s true. It’s just self-explanatory. And all across Miami’s locker room, similar themes echoed as they do after any loss.
“We didn’t make plays we normally make,” Lippett said.
“We didn’t execute,” safety Michael Thomas said.
“Give them credit, but you give up 35 points, it’s not a good showing,” Alonso said.
If frustration is a mark of progress, this was progress for the Dolphins. There’s no shame in this loss for a team going to the playoffs. But let’s be clear: Sunday was another reminder how much work is yet to be done to this team.