Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Inconsistency leads to ugly loss yet again
HOUSTON — The Miami Dolphins are having an identity crisis.
In the Dolphins’ four wins, Adam Gase’s team has been resilient, forceful and opportunistic. In wins over the Titans, Jets, Raiders and Bears, they produced big plays on offense and turnovers on defense.
In losses to the Patriots, Bengals, Lions and Texans, the defense was shredded by the run game, the quarterbacks committed turnovers, and the team struggled on third downs.
Injuries have been a factor, but that’s not an acceptable excuse for how inconsistent the Dolphins’ performance has been in the first half of the season.
If Thursday night’s 42-23 loss to the Texans is any indication of where this season is headed, owner Steve Ross could be forced to make some tough decisions about the direction of his franchise come January.
Here is the Sun Sentinel’s report card, evaluating how the Dolphins (4-4) performed against the Texans.
Passing Game: D
Brock Osweiler struggled in his third game filling in for Ryan Tannehill, who is sidelined by a shoulder injury. Facing his former team, which gave up on him after one season as a starter, Osweiler showed the accuracy issues that have plagued him during his career have returned. Most of his 37 attempts were off target, whether they were caught or not. Osweiler, who had a 65.3 quarterback rating for the game, was sacked twice and threw one interception.
Running Game: B
Miami rushed for 116 yards (4.6 per carry) against a Texans team that has been stingy against the run, holding opponents to 95.1 yards per game and 3.6 yards per attempt. Kenyan Drake gained 58 yards and scored a touchdown on his 12 carries, and Frank Gore gained 53 yards on his 12 carries. The Dolphins also incorporated the Wildcat offense as Kalen Ballage gained five yards on his one carry.
Defending the pass: F
Deshaun Watson had fewer incompletions (four) than touchdown passes (five). The Dolphins struggled to apply pressure to the elusive quarterback who was hit only once the entire game. Deandre Hopkins had a quiet first half but erupted in the second, taking advantage of Miami’s soft zone. He also beat Xavien Howard for a two-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Dolphins need to find a way to start producing turnovers again to spark the struggling defense.
Defending the run: F
Miami’s defensive front struggled to keep the linebackers clean for the second straight game, and the team’s struggles stopping the run compromised the back-end of the defense. In his first game playing against his former team, Lamar Miller, the former University of Miami standout who spent his first four seasons with the Dolphins, gained 133 yards on 18 carries and scored his second rushing touchdown of the season. The Texans gained 188 yards on the ground and averaged 5.4 yards per attempt.
Special teams: B
Rookie kicker Jason Sanders made all three of his field-goal attempts, redeeming himself from his first miss last week. Also, five of his six kickoffs weren’t returnable. The Dolphins used Senorise Perry and Kalen Ballage as the team’s kickoff returners because of Jakeem Grant’s elevated role as a receiver. Perry gained 80 yards on three kickoff returns. Matt Haack put three of his four punts inside the 20-yard line, and averaged 43.8 net yards per punt.
Coaching: F
Miami’s play-callers on offense (Gase) and defense (Matt Burke) must be held accountable for how poorly their units have been playing this season, especially during this two-game losing skid. The Dolphins’ offense continues to short circuit on third downs – converting just 31 percent against the Texans and 36.5 percent on the season – and the defense has been dreadful against the run (4.6 per attempt).
Stock Up: DeVante Parker
The Dolphins finally put on display what a healthy Parker can do and the former first-round pick contributed a careerhigh 134 yards on six receptions, having a breakout performance against an injury-depleted Texans secondary forced to play safeties at cornerback. Parker caught a couple off-target passes from Osweiler, and had one lucky reception that turned into a 46-yard catch after a defender dislodged a pass thrown to Jakeem Grant right into the hands of Parker. Most importantly, Parker left Thursday night’s game healthy, and has extra time to rest his troublesome quadriceps injury before next Sunday’s game against the Jets.
Stock down: Bobby McCain
McCain struggled for a second straight week, allowing a handful of receptions, including a 73-yard catch by Will Fuller, who showed off his blazing speed before tearing his ACL in the fourth quarter. Not all of the plays McCain was beaten on were all his fault, considering Miami’s safeties were nowhere to be found most of the game. But McCain’s recent issues hint that he’s not fully recovered from the knee injury he suffered in Week 4 against the Patriots.