Dolphins offensive line steering headlong into season opener will be a wreck early
You want a chemistry test wrapped in a social-science exercise, then booby-trapped by facts and circumstances that make succeeding practically impossible? I present to you the Miami Dolphins’ offensive-line situation for the start of the 2020 NFL season.
It’s gonna be messy.
You probably don’t want to read this, acknowledge this.
The Dolphins have not had even one padded practice in preparation for the season’s start, and someone is already predicting a degree of early season failure for the most important unit on the offense.
I’m terrible.
But I’m also honest. I’m telling you what everyone seems to understand but won’t say.
Clearly, Dolphins coach Brian Flores isn’t entertaining the possibility of his offensive line struggling
“Look, this is going to be the least amount of work for all teams, least amount of practices, no preseason games, in the history of the NFL,” Flores said Monday. “Everyone knows and understands that. Is it enough? It’s going to have to be enough this year.
“We’re going to do our best to build camaraderie on the offensive line, on the defensive line and the quarterback room, the [defensive backs] room, as a coaching staff — and not make excuses about it only being this, only being that.
“We’re going to do our best with the time we have. Again, every [repetition] is that much more important. Every meeting is that much more important. That’s the message we’ve conveyed to the players.”
This is a damn-the-torpedoes approach. And maybe it’s inspiring.
But even this recognizes there are, indeed, torpedoes ahead. And for the Dolphins, those are far greater in number than most other NFL teams.
Why?
Forget that all NFL teams will have only 14 padded practices, beginning Aug. 17 for most, and no preseason games before the regular-season opener. That’s not the problem, or at least not the entire problem for the Dolphins.
The problem for Miami is the added burdens that they carry that many other teams don’t. Such as:
That the team wants to install rookie Austin Jackson at left tackle. And it wants to install rookie Robert Hunt on the right side, either at tackle or guard. And the team has to integrate new presumptive starting center Ted Karras into the new Chan Gailey offense. And the team has to integrate new presumptive left guard Ereck Flowers into the new offense but only when he comes off the COVID-19 reserve list that he has been on since Aug. 2.
Said another way, every player who factors into a starting role for the Miami offensive line now comes with uncertainty. A couple of guys have never played in the NFL. A couple of guys have never played in this offense, and one of them has been away from the team for a week. And even stalwart Jesse Davis doesn’t know (and neither do the Dolphins) if he’s starting at right tackle or right guard.
So go get that group dressed and ready to play at a high level by that Sept. 13 season opener against the New England Patriots, Steve Marshall.
Marshall is the Dolphins’ new offensive-line coach. He is also the Dolphins’ third offensive-line coach in the past year.
Marshall was available after a stint with the Memphis Express of the now defunct Alliance of American Football and was intriguing to Flores because he was the New York Jets’ offensive-line coach under Gailey in 2015 and ‘16.
“Steve obviously, once we went with Chan, I thought it was important to go with someone with that style of play so that played a role in hiring Steve,” Flores said. “He’s a good coach. He’s a very good teacher of O-line play.
“I had a good feeling and good vibe when we had, let’s call it our interview process. He works well with Chan. He works well with the offensive staff. He’s a good coach, he’s a tough coach, he asks a lot of his players. And so far it’s been good. Obviously, we haven’t ... it’s been all walk-through. But we’re pleased with that.”
Marshall doesn’t seem too worried about having to protect either a right-handed Ryan Fitzpatrick or left-handed Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback. He also isn’t too worried about the team’s blocking scheme, although one isn’t really set yet.
“Right now, we haven’t really even answered that question yet with just walk-thoughs and meetings,” Marshall said. “But we’ll see what direction we go when we start getting the pads on and things like that as far as schematically. We will be multiple in the things that we do.”
What Marshall does worry about, and rightly so, is finding some way to get all his line’s disparate talents in the right place and make them play like they’re experienced and cohesive when they’re not.
“Well, if they were in three preseason games, four preseason games or zero preseason games, it’s the nature of the business when you have rookies playing for the first time in the NFL that we are going to feel a sense of trepidation,” Marshall conceded. “... But I’ll be worried for veteran guys in their first game.
“... When the first ballgame is the New England Patriots on the road, we certainly have a challenge there. Whether you’re a rookie or a four-year guy, my job is to get them prepared to play the best they can play.”
Right away? The first couple of games?
Hard to imagine.
This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 12:46 PM.
