Dolphins OC says stay the course
DAVIE — Clyde Christensen has become a Mary Poppins-like character within the Miami Dolphins organization.
Anytime struggles surface, the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator will quickly point out the bright side of the troublesome issue or unit, painting a pretty picture designed to ease panic or tension.
But this week there was no spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down.
Christensen admitted he was trying to find one positive thing about Miami’s struggling offense to point out in the minutes before his his weekly media session, but he came up empty.
Considering the Dolphins’ offense ranks last in the NFL in just about every important statistical category, it’s hard to blame Christensen, who labeled the unit he’s responsible for “dismal.”
“We play this weekend,” was all Christensen could come up with as a positive.
Christensen did follow through with the theme of the week in Davie, which is to take ownership for his role in the offense’s struggles. That’s something everyone has done, from coach Adam Gase down to the offensive linemen.
“I’ve got to do a better job of giving [Gase] what he needs to dial it up [plays],” said Christensen, who sits in the booth to give Gase, the offense’s playcaller, an accurate
picture of what defenses are doing to Miami’s offense.
Christensen hinted that Gase is potentially pressing because of the offense’s recent struggles, evident in Miami‘s 6-point total in back-to-back losses to New York Jets and New Orleans Saints.
In those two games, the Dolphins rushed for 88 total yards, and Miami is averaging 3.2 yards per carry for the season.
“Obviously as a unit, we’re not playing the way we need to be playing,” center Mike Pouncey said. “We’ve got to rush the ball, we’ve got to run for more yards in the first half to give coach confidence in us.”
The Dolphins have converted 2-of-20 third-down opportunities in the past two losses.
“We can’t put ourselves in third-and-12 and expect to make a first down,” receiver Jarvis Landry said.
The Dolphins also committed 19 penalties, most of which occurred on offense, further handcuffing the struggling unit.
The Dolphins have the fewest red-zone opportunities (five) in the NFL.
“There is a frustration level with him,” Christensen said of Gase. “One of my responsibilities is to be a soothing voice. You can’t get frustrated.”
Christensen insinuated that Gase feels like he has to call “perfect plays,” and “dial up the one [play] that turns the whole thing around. At the end of the day, that’s a recipe for things getting worse.”
When asked about Christensen’s comments, Gase said Christensen was “being a little hard on himself,” and downplays the notion he could be pressing. “I think what everybody is trying to do right now is
do more, find ways to help the offense, find ways to see if we can get some consistency going, finishing drives, converting third downs,” Gase said. “As far as guys tightening up, this is the NFL, so we’ve got to toughen up a little bit.”
According to Christensen, making wholesale changes with Miami’s personnel, or the scheme, and changing the team’s approach isn’t the solution to fixing the offense.
“It’s not the system. It’s a proven system. It’s not the players. They’ve won game,” he said. “Do what you do better and tighten it up. You do hope for something to ignite it with a big play. A big run a big throw.
“It’s about us. It’s not about the opponent.” Christensen said. “We need to play winning football.”
The starting point for that is to tighten up on the team’s execution in Sunday’s 1 p.m. game against the Tennessee Titans and win the home opener. According to Christensen, that would help the Dolphins press the reset button.
“We’ve got to find some way to end the first quarter [of the season] 2-2. We’ve been around the globe with circumstances and geographic [issues] and to come out of this first quarter 2-2 and regroup [is a positive],” Christensen said. “We’ve got a long way to go.”
“It’s about us. It’s not about the opponent. We need to play winning football.” Clyde Christensen, Dolphins’ offensive coordinator