Dolphins offence can’t afford another clunker outing at Carolina
Cutler finally starting to perform as hoped
Somehow, the Miami Dolphins have won half of their eight games by scoring the fewest points in the NFL — 116, a meagre 14.5 per outing.
To put that total in a more deserving perspective, the Cleveland Browns have scored three more points in the same number of games and are convincingly winless.
Another clunker game on offence probably won’t be enough for Miami to defeat the host Carolina Panthers on Monday night.
Not so much because the Panthers are likely to pile up a mountain of points (they’re averaging only 18.7 points per game themselves), but rather because they’re winning mostly with their stout defence, which is surrendering only 17.7 points per game.
It’s incumbent on Miami quarterback Jay Cutler to come close to repeating his best statistical outing as a Dolphin last week, in a narrow 27-24 Sunday night loss to Oakland. Cutler threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns, and his 81% completion percentage (34-of-42) was a career best when attempting a minimum 10 passes.
Cutler was supposed to perform like that out of the gates in September, of course. He had maybe his best season as a pro in Chicago two seasons ago when Adam Gase was Bears offensive coordinator. Gase now is in Year 2 as Dolphins head coach, and he urged the front office to lure Cutler out of his brief retirement once Ryan Tannehill blew out an ACL early in training camp.
“When he’s had time in the pocket, he’s done a really good job of finding the open guys and getting the ball out on time,” Gase said of Cutler on Thursday, per the Palm Beach Post. “The games that we’ve struggled in were where things were collapsing quick and (receivers) weren’t getting open quick enough. It was hard for him to get in a little bit of a rhythm. I always say this about quarterbacks: it’s the toughest position because you need 10 other guys to do their job before you even have a chance to do yours.
“I think the good thing with what Jay has done is that he’s gotten better every week. The last two games that he’s played, with the Jets and the Oakland game, those are two good games backto-back. (Carolina) is going to be an extremely tough team for us to play, not only the personnel but the scheme that they’re running. This is going to really kind of tell us where we’re at.”
As for 6-3 Carolina, it appears the team will be in a dogfight down to the last day of December with New Orleans and Atlanta to win the NFC South. QB Cam Newton has done and said some strange, even offensive, things off the field this year, but after undergoing shoulder surgery in the spring he appears to be playing more consistently and effectively on it — not coincidentally, it says here, because offensive coordinator Mike Shula is involving Newton more in the run game.
Rookie running back Christian McCaffrey has proven more than just a reliable safety-valve receiver; he leads the NFC with 54 receptions, even if his contribution on the ground (183 yards) has been something of a disappointment.