Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Something has to change after another sad showing
MIAMI GARDENS — Let’s get straight to the point. The Miami Dolphins don’t score enough points.
The Dolphins offense is averaging 18.7 points per game this season when the two special teams scores, and the one touchdown the defense scored is taken out of the equation. That’s troubling because it’s far below the league average of 23.4.
No matter how good the Dolphins defense plays, if an offense can’t produce points it is highly unlikely that the team will win games.
The fact that the Dolphins have seven wins while possessing the 30th-worst defense and 30th-worst offense in the NFL is a Christmas miracle in itself.
But the realization that Adam Gase, who had a reputation as an offensive guru and quarterback whisperer before becoming the Dolphins head coach, can’t get his offense going for the third straight season is an indicator that his guru label might be fool’s gold, and had more to with Peyton Manning being his quarterback when he established that reputation.
Gase’s offense only scoring seven points in Miami’s 17-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars cost his team the game.
“The defense did their thing,” left tackle Laremy Tunsil said, referring to Miami’s defense holding the Jaguars to 244 yards and 10 points.
The pick-six quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw with 9:43 left in the fourth quarter sealed the win for Jacksonville (5-10) after Miami (7-8) failed to convert a third-and-14 from the 43-yard line on the next drive, turning possession over to the Jaguars, who ran out the final 5:14 left in the game.
“We got to figure it out,” said Tunsil, who allowed his first sack of the season on Sunday.
The first thing Miami needs to figure out is what’s worth salvaging from this offense.
There’s nothing special about Tannehill, and that’s been well established after seven years. He’s an average NFL starter, the Jake Plummer or Ken O’Brien of his generation, which means he’s good enough to get his team to 8-8. However, everything has to be perfect around him to lead them to more wins.
Miami’s coaches won’t say it, but there’s a trust issue with tailback Kenyan Drake, who leads the team with nine touchdowns despite losing his starting spot to Frank Gore earlier this season. Even with Gore on injured reserve because of foot injury he suffered last week, the Dolphins limited Drake to 10 touches against the Jaguars, which he produced 54 yards of offense with.
Miami’s tight ends have been invisible all season. That unit’s performance has been so bad Nick O’Leary, a journeyman another division team waived earlier this season, is starting over the two rookies Miami selected early in this year’s draft.
And this is the third season Miami hasn’t had a decent tight end under Gase despite an army of average players being paraded through Davie.
Receiver Albert Wilson was phenomenal before hurting his hip and being lost for the season, but every other receiver on Miami’s roster wouldn’t be a clear-cut starter on other NFL teams. Sunday was the second straight game a pair of cornerbacks locked down Kenny Stills and DeVante Parker, taking them out the game.
But then again, the quarterback hasn’t had time to find them because Miami’s offensive line has been giving up sacks in bunches lately.
Teams blitz quarterbacks on third downs all the time in this league. But not every team buckles to that pressure like Miami has.
It hasn’t help that Ted Larsen and Travis Swanson have spent most of the season as replacements for Josh Sitton and Daniel Kilgore, but that’s not the main issue causing the breakdowns. It’s Tannehill’s lack of pocket presence, which has been terrible his entire pro career.
Tannehill has been sacked 20 times in the past five games.
That’s four per contest.
Blaming Miami’s struggles on the five-game absence of Tannehill due to his shoulder injury, and the season-ending injuries that Wilson, Gore, MarQuies Gray, A.J. Derby, Jakeem Grant, Sitton and Kilgore suffered isn’t off base. But it’s also not a justifiable excuse because every team suffers injuries.
The quality of the Dolphins backups hasn’t been good enough.
Miami shouldn’t be scoring so few points per game for three seasons.
The Dolphins shouldn’t lack an offensive identity under Gase for a third consecutive season.
The Dolphins shoudln’t be this horrible on third downs for three straight years.
Either Gase is a bad play-caller, or the roster and quarterback he’s used for the past three years aren’t good.
Either way you slice it, something has to change because what we’ve witnessed this season doesn’t give us reason to believe Gase can ever turn this sputtering offense around.