Despite record Fins in jolly mood
LONDON — The Dolphins have a 1-2 record and they’ve suffered back-to-back disappointing losses to Jacksonville and Buffalo. But they aren’t mad right now, not while they’re in jolly old England preparing to play the New York Jets on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
“I don’t know about angry,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill said after Friday’s practice at Allianz Park. “Not happy, I would say. There’s intensity, there’s urgency. We’re not happy about how we’ve played. We understand we have to play better.
“But I don’t think that throwing things or saying outlandish things is going to change anything. It’s a matter of how we handle ourselves day to day, how we prepare. That’s what’s ultimately going to win us games.”
Overall, morale seems high among the Dolphins.
Yes, Pro Bowl left tackle Branden Albert, possibly the most important player on the offensive line, is listed as doubtful for the game with a left hamstring injury.
And, yes, the offense, defense and special teams have performed worse than most expected.
But the Dolphins are emphasizing it’s only Week 4 of the 17-week, 16-game season.
“It’s no need to hang our heads right now,” strong safety Reshad Jones said. “We’re still up, we’re still in good spirits, and things like that. I just think we need to start fast and
continue to play tough and together, and we’ll be fine.”
Interestingly, the four teams that played in the conference championship games each had early-season struggles a year ago.
Super Bowl champion New England started 2-2. Seattle, the Super Bowl runner-up, started 3-3. AFC runner-up Indianapolis started 0-2, and NFC runner-up Green Bay started 1-2.
In fact, it was after that 1-2 start a year ago when Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers famously told his fan base to relax, spelling out the letters of the word for emphasis.
No one on the Dolphins has the credentials to do that. After all, they’re 24-27 in three-plus seasons under coach Joe Philbin.
But the Dolphins, who have absorbed back-to-back losses seven times under Philbin, think they know what needs to happen to avoid their third three-game skid since 2012.
“We’ve talked a lot about playing a 60-minute football game, which we really haven’t done to this point in time,” Philbin said. “We’ve talked a lot about making first downs and having balance and rhythm on offense. We’ve talked a lot about getting off the field on third downs. We’ve talked a lot about playing with better discipline overall as a football team.
“So we’ve certainly had a number of discussions and want to keep it relatively simple, so to speak, so we get the basics down. And we want to make some plays. We talked about that, too. And part of our job is to put [the players] in position to make plays.”
The Dolphins tried as much as possible to keep their Friday and Saturday schedule the same as it would be in South Florida or any other NFL locale.
Players have Friday night in London to themselves.
The coach and quarterback are both planning lowkey evenings.
“I don’t have anything planned,” Tannehill said. “Maybe go grab some dinner somewhere, but nothing crazy planned.”
Philbin, never known as a night-lifer, said he’ll keep things close to his home base.
“Probably hang back to at hotel,” he said. “I didn’t sleep a whole lot on the plane.”
Still, Philbin wants his players to enjoy the experience of being in London. They have an NFL-organized pep rally at Trafalgar Square on Saturday and then their usual walkthrough practice.
So Friday is the night to cut loose and be happy, not angry about back-to-back losses.
“It’s a world-class city,” Philbin said. “And how many times are they going to be able to get back here and put their feet on the soil of London? Who knows?
“So we want them to be able to use their time wisely, but enjoy the city.”