The other day I was reading what Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase had to say and one thing I have to say he is correct about is his teams offensive penalties are stalling the offense. The offense is last in most offensive categories, but the numbers could be better if not for some drive killing penalties. I have to say I agree with coach Gase.
A couple weeks ago when the Dolphins played the Oakland Raiders on Sunday Night Football, they had a nice opening drive going and then Jay Cutler hit Jarvis Landry for a 1st down in Raider territory, but it was called back by penalty for illegal formation on JuWuan James. The penalty in all honesty was very nit picky because James appeared to be on the line of scrimmage pretty much line up with the waist line of offensive line. I officiate high school football and if it’s not that obvious we don’t call it, talk to them that’s what I have been taught. This wasn’t an obvious call and very nit picky, but regardless the penalty brought back a play and the Dolphins ended up punting after a 3rd and long. The drive was going well and the Dolphins were on their way to at least a FG attempt. Then in the 4th quarter after the Dolphins got the ball off a Raider turnover at mid field, Cutler hit a pass to Damien Williams and he got all the way to the Raider 25 and in field goal range, but the play came back because of a holding penalty on Landry and once again the Dolphins ended up punting. That play could have given them a field goal or maybe even a touchdown and a win.
The other day against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Dolphins had a first and goal at the 1. Matt Moore hit Anthony Fasano for a touchdown, but offensive pass interference on Julius Thomas. Then you look at the replay and Thomas didn’t do anything, but run his route and he didn’t make contact with anybody. The Dolphins also had a 49 yard pass to Landry wiped away by a penalty earlier in the game. Once again the game ended up in a loss that could have and should have been a win, but we shot ourselves in the foot.
One of the differences between this years team and last years team is that this year we are making too many stupid mistakes, such on Sunday we had 6 pre snap penalties. That is totally unacceptable. Gase is right that these penalties are correctable, but at this point in the season I don’t know how you can change these bad habits it’s been the difference between winning and losing games this year.