Patriots to end Fins’ season
DAVIE — Very few expect the Dolphins (5-10), who are celebrating their 50th season, to be competitive today against the Patriots (12-3).
Before the season, the Dolphins thought they were primed to ascend to the top of AFC East, but it hasn’t gone that way.
“It’s been a bad year, a lot of adversity,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill said.
“To go out and to find a way to win the last game of the year, finish on a high note and head into the offseason with as good a feeling as you could get at this point, would be great.”
The Dolphins opened the season 1-3, fired coach Joe Philbin, named Dan Campbell his replacement, fired defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle, and got a bounce with convincing back-to-back victories against Tennessee and Houston to climb to 3-3.
That’s when the bottom fell out, and it started with a 36-7 loss on the road to New England.
Since that game, the Dolphins have lost seven of nine, been hit hard by injuries and fired offensive coordinator Bill Lazor.
And there was also this week’s controversy that included Brent Grimes apologizing to Tannehill for his wife’s critical tweets about the Dolphins quarterback.
Owner Steve Ross announced Friday in a letter to season ticket holders that the franchise would conduct a coaching search led by Mike Tannenbaum, executive vice president for football operations, and Campbell would be a candidate for the full-time job.
However, Campbell has led the Dolphins to a 4-7 record, so it’s doubtful he’d get the job.
So the Dolphins will likely start from scratch Monday, trying to find answers for their seventh consecutive season missing the playoffs. This is their seventh consecutive non-winning season, and their fifth double-digit loss total in the past dozen years.
The Dolphins have been especially lackluster the last two weeks in losses to San Diego and Indianapolis. Since being officially eliminated from playoff contention they’ve constantly talked about their motivation for playing out the season.
“Being a professional you got [to go] out there and produce, make plays and enjoy the opportunity because it’s a blessing to play this sport, and go from there,” Suh said.
But no one can get away from the ugly truth about this season.
“It’s been pretty disappointing,” linebacker Jelani Jenkins said. “We didn’t get the goals we wanted to, that we set for ourselves.
“We know we’ve got to do a lot of evaluating in the offseason, see if we can do better.”
Matthews on IR
The Dolphins signed linebacker Mike Hull. To make room on the roster, the team placed wide receiver Rishard Matthews on the reserve/injured list.
The 6-0, 237-pound Hull rejoins the active roster after five weeks on the team’s practice squad.
Matthews started 11 games this season and set career highs in receptions (43), receiving yards (662) and touchdowns (four) before a rib injury.