Dolphins offense shows positive signs. There’s reason for optimism on and off the field
And now the good news: The Miami Dolphins offense is not terrible.
It’s not great or anywhere close where it wants to be, ranked 22nd in total yards. But it’s not terrible.
It’s ...
It’s ...
A hopeful work in progress.
While you’ve been reading the first two weeks of the season how the defense couldn’t stop the run against New England, then got lit up by the pass against Buffalo, and the coaching on that side of the ball has been questionable because adjustments have been bad and preparation didn’t meet standards, you haven’t heard similar critiques of the Miami offense.
The Dolphins offense was desperately lacking in the opener, granted. It scored only one touchdown and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions. But last week against Buffalo was an improvement, and we’re not just pointing to the unit’s three touchdowns as evidence.
“I was proud of the way that we came out after a really disappointing game in New England, and showed some better focus, resiliency or whatever it was in the second game,” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “We’ll just continue to try to build on that. Short weeks are tough for everybody – physically, especially, but the mental aspect too. We’ll get into that. We’ve got only a few days to get into our preparation. Hopefully that will help in terms of the focus this week.”
Beyond focus and resiliency, this unit has shown tangible signs it is trending in the right direction. This signs:
1. The offensive line, manned by four new players to the team, including rookie left tackle Austin Jackson and rookie left guard Solomon Kindley, is solid.
They are not a premier offensive line at this stage. But for a group that has been together, working in pads, just over one month, they’ve been pretty impressive. And the group is seeing reason for being something much better.
“I think the identity of us is we want to be respected, we want to be feared,” starting right tackle Jesse Davis said. “When we go into a game, we want to be able to do our job and do it well. Moving forward, I think we are starting to build that chemistry, I think we are starting to gel well nicely together. I think every week, just keep putting it on tape and doing what we’ve been doing.”
I don’t love the current running back rotation. Dolphins coaches believe Myles Gaskin should be their lead back while Matt Breida is the change up and Jordan Howard is the short yardage guy, although he starts games.
I believe Breida, more explosive than the others, should be getting the most carries with Gaskin next and Howard as the short-yardage guy. But that’s merely a difference of opinion where I don’t get a vote.
The important thing is the whole rotation thing is so far accepted by the players.
Gaskin said Sunday he still has “a lot to prove” in the NFL and he does. It’s good to have someone that hungry carrying the football.
Breida, a proven explosive back, is accepting of his role so far. And that’s a big plus that speaks to the player’s team-first thinking and clear messaging from coaches who have apparently explained to him their plans.
“Like I’ve been saying before, we’ve got a plan every week,” Breida said. “I trust in the plan. I trust in the coaches. All of us have a role to play on the team and whatever our role is, we’re going to play it to the best of our ability.”
One thing I really like about this offense: Roles will change week to week.
The Dolphins do not necessarily have any superstars on offense. You, the fan, might think some of these guys are superstars. But they’re not. None of them.
So offensive coordinator Chan Gailey can pick and chose who he feeds the football to and no one will complain about it to any great degree because Julio Jones, Travis Kelce and Ezekiel Elliott are not in Miami’s huddle.
“I think it’s supposed to be an offense that changes every week but an offense that tailors to our strengths,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’ve got different skill sets and different guys here that we want to try to get involved, whether it’s the big guys on the outside, whether it’s our quick guys on the inside – Isaiah Ford had a great game last week – or continuing to get the running backs more involved.
“I just think as we’re going here, he’s going to continue to figure out what’s going to make us a good offense, a dynamic offense, and we’ll keep feeding those parts. I think part of the charm in his offense is how multiple it is and the ability for it to look different from week to week.”
An aside: Last week tight end Mike Gesicki had a career day. He caught eight passes for 130 yards with a touchdown and believe it or not, the Dolphins wanted to go to him more often. The 11 targets he had shows that desire.
Well, the reason for this is the Dolphins saw a massive mismatch against the Bills linebackers. With Matt Milano and Tremaine Edmunds out injured, the Bills signed two practice squad linebackers and asked them to somehow cover Gesicki part of the time.
They couldn’t.
The Dolphins expected that well in advance of the game and had planned to go after Buffalo’s weak link. It worked.
But this week? It will probably be different. It might be different week to week.
Gailey and his assistants have taken the measure of the Jacksonville Jaguars defense and will try to hurt their weaknesses. The Jaguars, by the way, have been unable to mount much of a pass rush so far this season so perhaps more downfield passing will be available.
The point here? While the Miami defense, under new defensive coordinator Josh Boyer and the watchful supervision of coach Brian Flores (it’s his defense, after all), have had trouble figuring it out so far, Gailey and his more veteran staff have ....
...Gotten the offensive line down the road to cohesion.
....Improved the offense’s production significantly from Week 1 to Week 2.
....Made certain playtime decisions for players have worked -- unlike the defense having Kyle Van Noy play only 64 percent of downs in week one and having to correct to 95 percent last week.
I can only point to experience in the staff as one reason for the difference between Miami’s offense and defense.
Gailey has been doing it in the NF for 21 years. Offensive line coach Steve Marshall is in his 11th NFL season, running backs coach Eric Studesville was a star assistant in Denver, was a big get for Adam Gase in 2018, and has been a rock on this staff. Tight ends coach George Godsey, meanwhile, is in his 10th NFL season.
Compare that experience to the defensive staff and the difference is stunning.
So the different trajectories of the Miami offense and defense so far this season probably should not surprise.
“We made improvement from last week this week but it’s going to take more improvement for us to get to where we want to get to,” Gailey said. “I thought we did some good things. Our two-minute offense, the first half, second half, last week has continued to be positive. I hope we can run the ball a little bit better in the future, but Ryan’s one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever been around. He’s a great leader and made some great throws [against Buffalo].
“I hope that will continue and we’ll get rid of the bad stuff and keep the good stuff going.”
