Dolphins have yet to close gap on Pats
Tumultuous season in Miami provides sharp contrast to New England consistency.
The spring and the summer
BOSTON — are good times for bravado.
And so when Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh told ESPN before this season, “I think the Patriots are definitely beatable,” and told NFL Network, “We’ve never been scared of the New England Patriots. We never will be,” there was hardly a shrug.
But are the Patriots beatable? Las Vegas doesn’t believe so, installing New England as a 17-point favorite over the Dolphins in today’s game at Gillette Sta
dium.
“The last time I checked, the Russians were supposed to beat the Americans and the USA hockey team,” Dolphins associate head coach Darren Rizzi said this week, a reference to the 1980 Win-
ter Olympics.
It was a somewhat lighthearted remark. But an accurate reflection of the Dolphins’ attitude.
Before this season, receiver Jarvis Landry told Sports Illustrated, “I have all the respect in the world for the Patriots, and I respect Tom Brady tremendously. But they’re not our big brother anymore,” and there was a slight shrug, but certainly not a shudder.
But are the Dolphins still Brady and the Patriots’ little brother?
Until proven otherwise, yes.
As the cold, harsh reality of winter sets in for the good folks in New England, the cold, harsh reality for Dolphins fans seems to hit home again.
Despite a 10-6 record last season and an unlikely playoff berth, no, the Dolphins have not dramatically closed the gap with the evil empire. Miami has won one playoff game since coach Bill Belichick’s arrival (and it was in his first New England season, in 2000).
Meanwhile, the Patriots have won 14 divisional championships and five Super Bowl championships. The last time Belichick failed to win double-digit games was 2002. Miami may be spiraling toward a 10-loss season.
What the Patriots (8-2) have had, and have had for more than a decade, is stability and consistency.
The Dolphins, in 2017, have had no stability and no consistency.
Ryan Tannehill’s injury, Hurricane Irma, Lawrence Timmons’ brief AWOL, Raekwon McMillan’s injury, the Jay Ajayi trade, Rey Maualuga’s arrest, these are all contributing factors to Miami’s disappointing 4-6 record.
To his credit, coach Adam Gase hasn’t leaned on excuses.
“That’s what the NFL is,” Gase told Boston-area media this week. “There’s going to be distractions and when you get to this part of the season usually, if you’re good enough and have an opportunity to get a chance to play in the tournament, that’s all it is. It’s distractions and things going on and injuries occurring, that’s what it is. The teams that handle it and can keep moving forward and not sit there and wonder why something’s happening, those teams usually have success. The teams that get consumed by that, they fall off.”
Ah, to be a Boston-area media member. Sure, you have to deal with Belichick’s lack of tolerance for many questions. But you get to ask other teams’ coaches and players why they’re not like the Patriots.
Because all the Patriots do is win.
Belichick was asked by South Florida-area media this week what he’d say to any coach who was having a what-could-possibly-happen-next type of season, and he didn’t really have an answer. Because Belichick doesn’t really have that type of season.
While Gase and this Dolphins regime want to do some things slightly differently than the Patriots (such as an overt emphasis on valuing the person, not just the player), they want to emulate some things New England does well. Dolphins coaches notice how the Patriots have long had systems in place, identified which players fit the systems in the draft and free agency, taught the systems the same exact way, and replaced departed players with virtual clones of the former players.
“The continuity is a huge thing,” Dolphins offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen said. “I don’t know how many years I’ve been going up there, but it feels like forever. It’s been 20-something years and it’s the same coach, it’s the same defense, they still play with great leverage, they still (play) two-gap. Maybe they change a face ... but the next guy comes in and plays exactly the same way. It looks the same. He shoots his hands, puts his head on the right side, crosses faces.”
Of course, New England’s quarterback has almost always looked the same. And while Brady will be under center again for the Patriots today, Matt Moore gets the call for the Dolphins, in relief of Jay Cutler, who was in relief of Tannehill.
The Dolphins fell behind by 20 points in each of two losses to New England last season, and so to have any chance to pull off a monumental upset, they can’t dig an early hole. Miami also can’t turn the ball over and commit its regular slew of penalties.
Belichick said this week that points and then turnovers are the two statistics he values ahead of penalties. Bad news for Miami. They stink in all three categories.
The only teams with worse plus-minus scoring margins in the NFL this season are the Browns (0-10) and Colts (3-7).
The Dolphins have been outscored by 97 points.
They’re also 29th in the NFL with a minus-9 turnover margin. And 31st in the NFL with 8.4 penalties per game.
Is this season an aberration, a blip in Gase’s track as the next Don Shula?
Maybe. One thing is for certain. It’s been a humbling dose of reality for the franchise. Until Brady retires, until Belichick retires, until the Dolphins get more of the right players in place and more firmly establish their planned methods of championship process, Miami is no closer to closing that chasm with the Patriots.
Asked about the reasons for the Patriots’ success, Gase this week spoke about how every Patriot who walks into the facility knows what to expect and what is expected of him. To be honest, Gase, whose rebuild was ahead of schedule in 2016, does not yet have that in South Florida.
“Once you get used to how things operate, it only gets better,” Gase said. The Patriots “have done a great job of when they started that thing, of finding their core guys, building on that and then whether it be free agency or draft, they’ve brought in enough guys over time that have fit their culture and fit their program, and they’ve been able to keep the key guys long enough to where they just keep building off of that.
“When guys know what to expect every day when they walk in the building, it makes their job easier in the aspect of they’re learning every day.”