Defeat exposes Miami Dolphins’ needs. And quarterback is just part of long list
What Brian Flores was saying Sunday afternoon after his Miami Dolphins laid an egg in losing to the Buffalo Bills for the second time this season is correct. And it makes all the sense in the world.
Flores was feeling the sting of a 37-20 loss and talking about the moment, the performance, the “disappointing” outing as he described it.
“We have to do a better job protecting the quarterback, getting the ball out quicker,” the coach said, noting the seven sacks the Dolphins allowed. “We didn’t play well there, but it wasn’t just that. We didn’t play well collectively as a team all the way across the board.
“It starts with me. Got to coach it better, got to play better, fundamentals, technique, communication, all the way across the board we got to do it all better.”
All true. And correct.
But incomplete.
Because what I was thinking as I heard all this is Flores was talking about failing to hit a target but not mentioning he didn’t have enough ammunition. Which he didn’t. And doesn’t.
So, breaking news, the Dolphins don’t have enough talent. And it showed more in this game than any game the team has played since the season-opening blowouts in September.
The Dolphins showed this game their offensive line isn’t good enough.
Their secondary isn’t good enough.
Their linebacker corps isn’t good enough.
Their defensive line isn’t good enough.
The running back corps definitely isn’t good enough.
And, obviously, they’re not good enough at quarterback.
Yes, of course, the Dolphins have to play better and coach better and communicate better and all that. But the players with which that is done need to be better. So basically the real problem is this:
The Dolphins have to personnel department better.
That’s where the focus needs to be for anyone believing in this team’s future. And that’s where the hard, perhaps impossible work, needs to be done over the next couple of years with a success rate so high that it makes one wonder if these folks are up to it.
Specifically:
The Dolphins have 14 draft picks next season (perhaps 15 if an extra compensatory pick for Aqib Talib manifests). They another nine picks scheduled for 2021.
The team has three first round picks next year and two more in ‘21. The team has two second-round picks next year and two more in ‘21.
And that huge bounty doesn’t feel like nearly enough. Because what we’ve known for much of this season was obvious on Sunday:
The Dolphins need to draft that quarterback everyone has been freaking about. But there’s also a need for a starting left tackle. There’s a possible need for two interior linemen. There’s an urgent need for a play-making edge rusher. There’s a need for a starting caliber cornerback. There’s a need for linebacker help. And someone will eventually have to carry the football for the Dolphins, so there’s a need for a productive running back.
Now, here is where someone might quibble that the Dolphins have left tackle candidates already. Because Julien Davenport and J’Marcus Webb are on the roster.
Except Davenport started the regular-season opener and got injured in practice the next week. And he returned from the injured reserve list last week, started on Sunday, and left the game with a knee injury.
So counting on that kind of durability for the next couple of years, from a player who has yet to prove himself is, unwise. And thinking Webb, a 31-year-old backup, is the answer is wrong, too.
That sounds to me like the Dolphins need a cornerstone at left tackle.
The team has a cornerstone cornerback in Xavien Howard. He’s on injured reserve now but is expected back for next year.
But you can never have enough good cornerbacks and at best, the Dolphins need a complementary starter to team with Howard. At worst, the team needs multiple starters because Howard’s knee issues have flared multiple times over his career, costing him and the Dolphins swaths of games at a clip.
And, yes, the Dolphins have made due with Nik Needham, Eric Rowe and others. But those guys saw inconsistent, often inaccurate Josh Allen complete nearly 64 percent of his passes with thee touchdowns and no hint of an interception on Sunday.
So they feel like Plan B rather than Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins Plan A.
By the way, the Dolphins yielded seven sacks against Buffalo. They came into the game rated 30th in sacks allowed per pass play and then tied their season-worst mark. So upgrade is needed at right guard at minimum and that’s assuming left guard Michael Deiter and center Daniel Kilgore are keepers.
The Miami defense, on the other hand, mustered zero sacks of Allen.
Zero.
Taco Charlton missed the game with an injury and that was it for Miami pass rush disruptions. So, yes, the Dolphins need to find a capable, consistent pass rusher somewhere to fill the role Charles Harris obviously has not.
Harris tries hard. But he’s getting fewer and fewer snaps and not doing anything notable in those diminishing opportunities to earn more work.
Speaking of work, the Dolphins insist -- insist! -- Kalen Ballage is not the reason Kalen Ballage hasn’t really factored since he became the starting running back. Ballage on Sunday rushed nine times for 9 yards and that was unproductive enough that it actually hurt Ballage’s meager 2.1 yard per carry average which dropped to 1.9 yards per carry.
So, again, the Dolphins need running back help.
Have you noticed not one word has been uttered yet about Joe Burrow or Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert? Those guys are quarterbacks. And I have no idea if the Dolphins will be in position to draft one or any by the time the 2020 draft order is settled.
But it currently looks as if the Dolphins might be in play for the second-best QB prospect unless Cincinnati unexpectedly rallies and knocks itself out of the Joe Burrow pick at No. 1 or No. 2 overall.
That means the Dolphins had better be doing some great work on Tagovailoa’s hip injury, which required surgery on Sunday, and what that means to his draft status. That means the Dolphins had better get a great read on the 6-foot-6 and 240-pound Herbert -- finding out if he can play the part as well as he looks the part.
All these needs must be filled over the next two years, but it’s about more than just filling space. The Dolphins personnel department has adopt Flores’ words and not just do the work but, “do it all better” than it ever has.
This story was originally published November 17, 2019 at 6:32 PM.
