Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dolphins success should continue
It must feel good to be a Miami Dolphins fan these days, watching as two of your AFC East rivals self-destruct while your 10-win team gets ready for the postseason.
The Buffalo Bills fired Rex Ryan on Tuesday, and benched quarterback Tyrod Taylor three days after he led them to a franchise-record 589 yards of offense in an overtime loss to the Dolphins.
And New York Jets fans must feel discouraged watching their aged, quarterback-deprived franchise bicker and point fingers in a dismal season that followed a 10-win campaign in 2015. The Jets had a successful first season under Todd Bowles, who was a rookie head coach last year,, just like the Dolphins this year in Adam Gase’s rookie campaign.
Miami’s resurgence this season is reminiscent of what the Dolphins did back in 2008 in Tony Sparano’s first season.
That 2008 team produced the biggest one-season turnaround in NFL history back, transforming from a 1-15 squad the previous year into the 11-5 team that won the AFC East that season. However, Miami was back on the mediocrity merry-goround the seven years that followed.
But this turnaround under Gase is different, because Miami’s success should be more sustainable going forward.
These Dolphins found a way to rebound from a disastrous 1-4 start, and won nine of 10 games to earn the franchise’s first playoff
berth since 2008. And the most impressive part is that they consistently overcame adversity, getting to 10 wins with clutch performances from different players.
That 2008 team was propped up by quarterback Chad Pennington, who completed 67.4 percent of his passes that season, and threw just seven interceptions, helping the Dolphins be one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL.
His ability to transform Miami into a respectable NFL team earned him the league’s Comeback Player of the Year. The next season, Pennington’s throwing arm gave out in the third game of the season. Chad Henne was handed the starting job and produced two consecutive 7-9 seasons.
Behind Jay Ajayi and his 1,213 rushing yards, this year’s Dolphins have a more efficient run game than the 2008 Wildcat-assisted ground attack that was led by Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.
Miami’s secondary in 2008 was good (77.0 passer rating for opposing quarterbacks), but the unit lost starting safety Renaldo Hill and cornerback Andre Goodman in free agency in the offseason. Miami’s secondary in 2016 is young and blossoming, and has had a significant amount of success without Pro Bowl safety Reshad Jones, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in October.
Without Jones the Dolphins found a way, which is the theme of 2016 season.
“It’s really more about our players, the fight that they’ve shown,” Gase said. “A lot of people doubted those guys as far as how we would react when we were 1-4. They did a great job of ignoring the noise outside our building and focusing on the task at hand, which was that one week, and they slowly found ways to improve each week.”
While the turnaround this season has been like a dream, Miami can’t become the Jets in a year.
The best way to prevent that from happening is to make sure all the key components on the offensive side of the ball – quarterback Ryan Tannehill, the starting o-line, Ajayi and Miami’s receivers – remain intact next season, allowing that unit to take another step forward.
And the Dolphins have to find a way to improve a defense that was ravaged by injuries and has struggled most of the season.
This season, no matter the problem, Gase’s Dolphins have found away to win.
Miami found a run identity against Pittsburgh, and it carried the offense for most of the season.
Then Miami’s secondary stepped up against San Diego, and blossomed into a top-10 unit.
And then Tannehill showed his maturation against the Los Angeles Rams, leading the Dolphins back from a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter. He went on to carry the team until spraining two ligaments in his knee against Arizona.
Gase’s team kept growing throughout the season and the end result was a playoff berth. Hopefully this franchise’s transformation doesn’t take a step back next year.