Concerns emerge about Chan Gailey’s play-calling during Dolphins’ offensive slump
The offensive linemen couldn’t block. The running backs couldn’t break tackles. The receivers couldn’t get separation.
And the quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, was indecisive and late with his throws.
So yes, there’s enough blame for the Miami Dolphins’ Week 11 offensive woes to go around the locker room 10 times. The Dolphins scored the fewest points (13) since their season opener and were completely ineffective on offense until coach Brian Flores replaced Tagovailoa with Ryan Fitzpatrick in the fourth quarter.
But don’t let the guy who devised the game plan and executed it off the hook, either.
Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey also had a rough game against the Denver Broncos. He owned to up Tuesday when he met with reporters.
Behind the scenes, there was concern and frustration among some Dolphins players about how Gailey was slow to react to Denver’s dominance at the line of scrimmage. A common complaint: Why didn’t the Dolphins open it up sooner when it was clear the offensive line was in for a long day?
“We felt like we had to change from the original thought process and go to a little bit more spread-out stuff, and that’s what we ended up doing to move the ball a little bit more,” Gailey said. “A little bit more play-action-type stuff. We were able to get a few things in there. The problem is consistency. We’ve got to be able to move the ball with consistency. We’ve got to be able to run it better, we’ve got to be able to see what we’re getting defensively and throw the ball effectively as well. We’ve got to be able to adjust. That’s my job.”
Gailey’s job has gotten more difficult since the Dolphins’ quarterback switch. Fitzpatrick might be better-suited for an offense that at times struggles to stay on schedule, due to protection and separation issues.
The Dolphins’ yards, points per drive, passing and running efficiency all have gone down when Tagovailoa is in the game.
His timing and touch skill set is different than Fitzpatrick’s occasional fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants approach.
Has Gailey adequately adjusted?
“Chan’s dealt with a lot more quarterbacks than Ryan Fitzpatrick,” Flores said. “He’s been in a lot of different offenses. He’s coached on defense.
“I don’t want to pigeonhole him to one quarterback,” Flores continued. “... He’s worked with a lot of different players, a lot of different quarterbacks. He’s had success with different quarterbacks. As a team, offensively, defensively and special teams, we need to play better. This team doesn’t point fingers. We don’t make excuses. We don’t place blame. We’re just going to come out and try to prepare better in meetings, walk-through, practice, and try to have a better week of practice and hopefully play better next week. I have a lot of confidence in Chan, a lot of confidence that we’ll play better offensively and defensively and in the kicking game.”
Still, the Dolphins’ offense is holding back its defense at this point.
While neither has been great in terms of total yards, Miami’s defense has excelled with big plays at critical times. The Dolphins are tied for third in the NFL with 17 turnovers and rank second in third-down defense (33.9 percent conversions allowed).
The Dolphins’ offense, meanwhile, ranks 29th in explosive plays, generating one just once every 13 offensive snaps.
Part of the issue: Tagovailoa isn’t seeing his receivers get open like they did at Alabama, and acknowledges he isn’t yet comfortable enough throwing to guys that don’t look open but really are.
“If a guy is on the back hip of DeVante Parker, sometimes he’s not covered,” Gailey said. “You can throw it and he can make a play.
“... So, I think you have to just keep working with the receivers, you have to keep working with the routes and you have to see it time after time after time to know, this guy’s going to come open, I just gotta throw it in the spot and let him go get it,” he added. “And then other times don’t try to force the ball. That’s a fine line. ‘Hey, that’s talking out of both sides of your mouth as an offensive coordinator.’ If it’s complete, ‘great job;’ if it’s incomplete, ‘ah, poor decision, you shouldn’t have thrown it.’ That’s easy to say. We just got to help him get more comfortable with seeing things, more reps at it, and let him keep learning and getting better. Because if he knows that that’s something that that he’s looking at, that’s an advantage for us because at least he knows. There are some guys that don’t even know that.”
▪ The Miami Dolphins’ annual Thanksgiving dinner giveaway lives on in the year of COVID-19. It’s just different. Over the course of three days this week, the team is distributing more than 17,000 Thanksgiving meals that can feed over 21,000 South Floridians.
On Tuesday, the Miami Dolphins Foundation Food Relief Program partnered with Centerplate and Sysco South Florida to hand out 6,200 meals to those in need at Hard Rock Stadium.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 12:18 PM.
