The red zone scoring is something I have been keeping an eye on since the beginning of the season. In my mind, there is nothing worse than having a scoring opportunity and not being able to capitalize with a td. There is nothing worse than having to settle for a field goal. There is nothing worse than leading for most of a game only to choke when you are up 2 and half scores. I will explain partly why that relates to the red-zone woes that are plaguing this team.

The team is scoring 50% in the red zone this season. That is higher percentage than the opponents they have faced. However, their opponents have almost doubled the opportunities than the Dolphins.

Titans vs. Dolphins: 1 for 2; 1 for 5

Dolphins vs Jets: 2 for 3; 0 for 2

Raiders vs. Dolphins: 2 for 5; 1 for 1

Dolphins vs Patriots: 1 for 1; 3 for 4

Dolphins vs Bengals: 0 for 0; 1 for 4

Total:

Dolphins (so far this season) 5 for 10 on the year

Opponents: 7 for 17 on the year

These stats are foretelling in so many ways. Here’s the skinny on all of it. When you don’t get in the red-zone that puts more pressure on your offense to come up with big plays. Give you a perfect example. The Raiders game. As you can see from these stats, the Raiders were dominating in the red-zone and led for most of the game. But, thanks to some fun, tricked-out plays, the Dolphins were able to come back and beat them. Now, if you are a football fan, who wouldn’t love that?

But, that is not always going to work. When you don’t score in the red-zone, you are putting more pressure on your defense to sort of keep the team in relative distance. You don’t want the opposing team to get too far ahead of you. Eventually, if your offense doesn’t start scoring, your defense will wear out and that is pretty much the ballgame.

The Dolphins may be young, and some players are really stepping up and coming into their own, but no defense can carry a team for an entire game. Tannehill or whoever is quarterbacking needs to take advantage of their possessions when they come their way.

The other issue which is an unspoken truth because I rarely see anyone talk about this is when you aren’t getting into the red-zone enough, it shows you are an offense that can’t drive the ball. If you are a Miami Dolphins fan, it should be no surprise to you why the Dolphins are near in last place in 3rd down efficiency and probably near the bottom in time of possession as well. Now, I am not saying every red-zone possession is the result an offense that can move the ball. Sometimes, the defense makes a great play that puts the offense in the red-zone. But as I stated before, you can’t put your defense in position to always try to bail you out.

The Bengals got in the red-zone four times on Sunday but thanks to some stellar defense by the Dolphins, they were only able to score once. And thanks to some good plays by their defense, they were able to change momentum in their favor and secure the victory. THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. Dolphins should have taken care of the football and ran out the clock till’ it reached zero.

Gase is in his third-year with this team. The excuses are quickly running out. Gase has to grow up and understand that as much as we, fans, all appreciate his vision for this offense, we just want to win. We don’t need explosive plays every week. We need consistent drives which hopefully result in scores. You have a trio of running backs at your disposal. You have a pretty good defense right now. Utilize the things you have and stop trying to make work what doesn’t.

I find the best way to overcome this problem is getting your TEs more involved. True, you don’t necessarily need your TE to score but the role of the TE is primarily create those mismatches that receivers and backs can’t in order to move the ball down the field.

Gesiki is averaging over 15 yards a carry right now. He needs to be a more a part of Gase’s game plan and the Dolphins have got to find a way to put themselves in better scoring positions on Sunday. They do that, and we defeat the Bears. They don’t, and the misery continues.

BE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK  CLICK HERE