Will the Miami Dolphins be able to produce a total team win this season? Week after week, we see one unit of the team take a step forward while one or both of the other phases seem to take a step back. This inconsistency continues to haunt us, and it will be our downfall if we cannot figure it out. The question is: can this team stabilize and find its rhythm in the final four regular-season games? Arguably, their greatest test in this stretch will come this week when they take on the Houston Texans, and the outcome could set the tone for the remainder of the season.
But the biggest hurdle to all that starts with the defense — more specifically, the lack of defense. While the offense has excelled in recent weeks, the defense has struggled, allowing significant yardage due to poor tackling and not getting pressure on quarterbacks.
That is not to say that the entire defense is a failure. Calais Campbell, when playing, is a real threat, and Zack Sieler is the literal energizer bunny in a Dolphins uniform. But overall, the defense has not been able to string together enough solid performances. Most notably, the safeties have probably been the biggest disappointment for this team, especially since we cannot blame the lack of success on health. Jevon Holland, a player with high expectations — especially in a contract year — has been underwhelming this year. And Jordan Poyer has been even more of a letdown.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, we are starting to see a decline in our cornerback group. As mentioned above, this is likely a result of opposing quarterbacks having all day to throw, but it’s certainly something that needs addressing.
Unfortunately, that is not where the holes end, as the same can be said about our special teams unit. While they had a standout performance last week against the Jets, which actually helped save us from a terrible loss, they have been inconsistent. There have been too many muffed punts, penalties for avoidable mistakes, and significant returns allowed. It seems to be more of a pattern than an outlier in recent years under Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of effort from the team or a lack of proper preparation (or both).
In hindsight, Crossman seems to have the right answers during his post-game press conferences, but is he adequately preparing these guys each week? I’m not so sure the numbers would back that up. However, if we can make last week’s performance the standard, then we do have a shot at playing three-phase football.
Especially since our bright spot in recent weeks seems to be our offense, since Tua Tagovailoa’s return from injury, this unit has been carrying the team. Surprisingly enough, this may be the first since Tua has been our franchise QB.
Don’t get me wrong, our offense was great last year, but so was our defense, as we had a top-ten unit under Vic Fangio. We are now seeing the offense win this team to victory each week (outside of the Packers game, which was a total team failure). However, if we continue to see this level of play from our offense and it galvanizes the rest of the team, there is no reason we cannot win the next four games.
People In the NFL are Monitoring Miami to see if Ross Fires McDaniel
