Fans are the least of Dolphins’ worries

Jarvis Landry picked the right word for not just this past Miami Dolphins week, but a season where all the surprises so far have been bad ones. You just wonder about the topic he chose to apply the word.

“Embarrassing,” Landry called some fans’ sporadic chant to play reserve quarterback Matt Moore last Sunday. He also called the chant “disrespectful” to players.

He then went back to his first idea, saying, “It’s embarrassing as a player to have fans like that.”

Maybe he’s right. Maybe that’s the view from the locker room. But if we’re ranking what’s embarrassing about the Dolphins right now any possible fans’ chant, curse, boo or player-specific reaction is far down any list. They should rank even lower to an offensive player like Landry.

Because you want to know what’s really embarrassing as they try to change the narrative of a season Sunday in Atlanta?

Embarrassing is an offense averaging five points fewer than the next-worst team, the Cleveland Browns, a clown franchise.

Embarrassing is a team built around its running game still the only one in the league without a rushing touchdown.

Embarrassing is being on pace — admittedly, an early pace — for the fewest points (10.3) and yards (231.3) per game not just in the league but in team history.

Embarrassing is having scored only three offensive touchdowns when every other team has scored at least seven. Seventeen players have more touchdowns than Miami right now, including former Dolphins Chris Hogan (five) and Mike Gillislee (four) in New England.

Embarrassing is video of your offensive line coach, Chris Foerster, snorting lines of a white, powdery substance just before a team meeting going viral after its release by a Las Vegas woman.

Embarrassing is that snorting line coach being in charge of the worst unit on the team, which should be no surprise considering the trouble he had.

Embarrassing is having coach Adam Gase feel the need to say Foerster’s snorting was an, “isolated incident.” And what’s even more

embarrassing is he couldn’t know if it was isolated considering no one evidently knew of Foerster’s problem in the first place.

Embarrassing is having your longest offensive play be 31 yards — a league low.

Embarrassing is a defense with no interceptions — another league low.

Embarrassing is living in an era of the passing game and having a passing attack of dinks and dunks as measured by 5.3 yards passing per attempt — yet another league low.

Embarrassing is a thirddown percentage of 25 percent, especially when the second-worst team at converting third downs, San Francisco (29.7 percent), already is shedding players in a rebuilding job.

Embarrassing is the non-existent big plays. Remember when the skilled positions were the talk of the team? They have a league-low average of 2.25 big plays each week (a run more than 10 yards or pass play more than 25 yards).

Embarrassing is a rushing attack that averaged 4.5 yards a carry last year now averaging 3.2, which is 31st in the league.

Embarrassing is scoring six total points and quarterback Jay Cutler having a league-low 55.5 rating in first halves of games this season.

Embarrassing is having no answer at guard. Again. And again. And again for more than a decade.

Embarrassing is having such a lack of depth at linebacker that you had to make a trade for a back-up who wasn’t ready to help even as the season was underway.

Embarrassing, still, is answering how your big free-agent linebacker, Lawrence Timmons, goes AWOL before the first game a week after he showed up at his former team’s practice.

And, yes, as Landry said, embarrassing is your fans feeling so bereft of hope so early in the season that they feel the need to chant, “We want [Matt] Moore.”

But it’s not embarrassing to have fans like that. It’s embarrassing simply that it’s all come to this so early in a season already trying to dig its way out.

Dave Hyde