South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Report card: Help needed
Following a promising start to the 2018 season, the Miami Dolphins endured a ton injuries before falling flat on their face in the season’s final month.
After beating the New England Patriots, 34-33, on a last-second play that will always famously be known as the “Miami Miracle,” the Dolphins closed the season with three consecutive losses, which produced a 7-9 record that led to the removal of Mike Tannenbaum as the vice president of football operations, and Adam Gase as the team’s coach.
Injuries showed how poorly Miami’s roster was assembled, and it became evident at the end that Gase and his staff had lost the locker room, which prompted the full-scale changes.
Were they needed? Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s report card for the 2018 Dolphins:
Passing Game: C
When healthy, which hasn’t been often the past three years, quarterback Ryan Tannehill has proven he’s a decent game manager. Tannehill’s numbers this past season — 64.2 completion percentage, 7.2 yards per attempt, 17 touchdowns, nine interceptions and 35 sacks in 11 games — are on par with what they’ve been throughout his career. The problem is Tannehill, who has an 87.0 career passer rating, has routinely come up small in pressure-filled situations (third downs, when trailing and fourth-quarter play). And that’s been an issue for the six seasons he’s been the starter, which indicates that it’s time for the Dolphins to move on.
Running Game: C
Frank Gore and Kenyan Drake complemented each other well, leading a rushing attack that averaged 108.6 yards per game and 4.7 yards per attempt. Only six teams had a higher yards per carry average, but only seven teams attempted fewer carries than the Dolphins. Gore carried the rushing attack until he suffered a season-ending foot injury in December, and from there Drake, who produced 1,012 rushing and receiving yards and led the team with nine touchdowns, shouldered most of the workload with mixed results.
Defending the Pass: C-
The Dolphins finished second in the NFL with 21 interceptions in 2018, trailing only the Cleveland Browns in that category. But Miami’s success creating 28 turnovers masked how poor the defense was at everything else. Only the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and New York Giants recorded fewer sacks than the Dolphins, which finished the season with 31 — and that’s after producing 20 in the final eight games. The Dolphins’ 94.1 cumulative passer rating for opposing quarterbacks ranked them 18th against the pass. And Miami didn’t have enough decent cornerbacks to make it through the season.
Defending the Run: F-
The Dolphins struggled to stop the run for a sixth consecutive season, allowing 2,325 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns, which was the worst performance against the run in franchise history since the one-win 2007 Dolphins team. The problem is, the issue can’t just be put on one unit because the deficiencies — lackluster defensive tackle play, poor edgesetting, inexperienced linebackers — were spread throughout the entire defense, and indicates that Miami’s entire defense needs to be rebuilt. There’s very little that’s salvageable on this defense, and a scheme change needs to be considered by the new coach.
Special Teams: B
Darren Rizzi has been the one constant with the Dolphins since 2010. You can always expect his special teams unit to deliver respectable returns (two special teams touchdowns in 2018), decent coverage on kickoffs and punts, punt/field goal blocks, and reliable kicking (18 of 20 on field goals this past season). However, Rizzi’s unit got watered down when injuries set in, especially after Jakeem Grant suffered his season-ending foot injury.
Coaching: D
It doesn’t take much for a collection of players to lose confidence in their coaches. Once they feel that the staff doesn’t consistently put the team in position to be successful on gamedays, it’s a wrap because the trust is lost. That’s what happened to Gase, who was fired last week despite owning a 23-26 overall record as Miami’s head coach since 2016 with his starting quarterback missing a ton of games, primarily because the player’s wouldn’t rally for him. Too much talent had been purged last offseason and too many players had been mishandled. In the final three games of the 2018 season, there was a lack of effort, planning and desire from the team, and that couldn’t carry over into 2019 so changes were made.
Top Performer on Offense: Tunsil
Laremy Tunsil, the Dolphins’ 2016 firstround pick, has blossomed into an elite left tackle who is able to handle some of the NFL’s best pass rushers one-on-one consistently. Tunsil only allowed two sacks in 2018, and was one of the few reliable aspects of Miami’s offense, which ranked 30th in the league. Tunsil appears to be one of the few building blocks Miami’s offense has and it would be wise to locked him up to a multi-year contract this offseason or the next.
Top Performer on Defense: Howard
Cornerback Xavien Howard played admirably all season, locking down every receiver he shadowed outside of Houston’s Deandre Hopkins, and contributing an NFL-leading seven interceptions in the 12 games he played. He’s the type of talent you build a defense around. Problem is, Howard’s nearing the end of his rookie contract and seeks a multi-year deal that will make him one of the NFL’s highest-paid cornerbacks. The Dolphins have had a nasty habit of low-balling their top talent, which has lead to an exodus of good players the pass few years.
Biggest Surprise: Wilson
Before suffering his season-ending hip injury in Miami’s loss to the Detroit Lions, wide receiver Albert Wilson established himself as the Dolphins’ top playmaker, producing 391 yards and four touchdowns on 26 receptions and throwing a 52-yard touchdown pass. His run-after-catch skills, which allowed him to lead the NFL in yards after the catch when healthy, made him a touchdown threat every time the ball was in his hands. Let us hope that Wilson’s hip injury hasn’t hurt his shake-and-bake ability.
Biggest Disappointment: McMillan
Raekwon McMillan might have finished his first healthy season in the NFL with 105 tackles and two forced fumbles, but the Dolphins’ 2017 second-round pick fell short of the lofty expectations Miami’s coached had for him. As the season evolved, McMillan became a two-down linebacker, lost the play-calling role on defense, and could routinely be spotted shooting the wrong gap, which compromised Miami’s run defense. McMillan either needs to show drastic improvement next season, or the Dolphins must replace him, and find a more instinctive inside linebacker.