Penalties perplex Dolphins
Infractions ‘keep killing our drives,’ Pouncey says.
DAVIE — Adam Gase isn’t the only one being made miserable by his offense. Dolphins players are perplexed and vexed by all the ways in which they’re derailing themselves.
A day after racking up 17 penalties, nearly a franchise record, and committing five turnovers center Mike Pouncey couldn’t stomach the self-inflicted damage. The offensive line was responsible for nine of those flags, including one on Pouncey.
“We’ve just got to find a way to protect the football and stop having these stupid penalties that keep killing our drives,” Pouncey said Monday.
“I had two of them in an area of the field where we can’t have those kind of penalties. It just hurt our football team; but we’ll learn from it. We’ll get better. We’ll practice at it.”
One issue the Dolphins believe won’t resurface was false starts. That was attributed to the change in cadence from Jay Cutler to Matt Moore. It’s an odd rationalization given that Moore’s been with the team since 2011 and had already appeared in two games this season.
Pouncey refuses to believe Miami is overmatched in terms of personnel, even after the long list of injuries the team has endured, and thinks it can turn things around quickly.
“Just too many mental mistakes, honestly,” he said. “It’s just we need all 11 guys doing their job on every play, and if we do that, we have all the talent in the world. We’ve got the right coaching staff. If we just start playing together as a football team, we’ll win games.”
Pouncey discussed the state of the team at the Dolphins’ Thanksgiving event. Every year, the team gives away complete turkey dinners in advance of the holiday, and served 500 South Florida families today. Attendees also got to talk with players get photos taken.
“This event is awesome,” Pouncey said. “To be able to give back to the community, a community that supports through good, bad and ugly, to be able to put a smile on their face for such a great holiday means the world to us.
“Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I’m a fat guy. I love to eat. This one, I look forward to every year. To put a smile on these families’ faces, it’s awesome.”