Five questions (and answers) the Miami Dolphins carry into season’s second month
The NFL’s season’s first month is over, with the exception of Monday’s Night’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. So what have we learned about the Miami Dolphins in September?
And what does it all mean for this team as it moves on to October, November, December and January?
Some questions asked and answered about the Miami Dolphins:
What is this 2020 season about?
If you thought it was primarily about Tua Tagovailoa going through his growing pains, that apparently is not it.
This Dolphins season so far is about trying to win as many games as possible to get as close to a post-season berth as possible. And that’s a fair goal considering the enormous expenditure in resources the team made in both free agency (approximately $250 million in new contracts) and the draft (11 selections).
It’s also fair considering each conference is adding an extra wild-card team this year. So perhaps 9-7 or even 8-8 will get the last playoff participant into the tournament in January.
But, if you recall, the Dolphins have had other pressing business for the 2020 season and that is the development of Tagovailoa.
So far the Dolphins have put that business on the proverbial back burner -- at least in the obvious sense of giving the No. 5 overall selection playing time. Yes, Tagovailoa is being tutored in meetings and on the sideline during games some.
But starter Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to get the great majority of practice repetitions each week and even after Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions in the season-opener against New England, the Dolphins didn’t long consider a change at quarterback.
When might Tua Tagovailoa get a chance?
He’s one play away. He is, after all, the backup quarterback.
But a tangible plan? It would require a combination of things, including Fitzpatrick showing significant inconsistency over the span of a couple of games and coaches gaining more confidence Tagovailoa is capable of performing at a relatively high degree in a game.
Tagovailoa isn’t starting Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks and I’ve heard no whispers the team plans to unveil him at San Francisco Oct. 11.
So not yet, folks.
What exactly are the Dolphins after one month?
They’re a third-place team in the AFC East. They’re a team that couldn’t overcome two division rivals but are in better shape than the sinking New York Jets.
In short, the Dolphins have the look of a middling team right now. They’ll be underdogs at home against the Seahawks. They’ll be underdogs on the road at San Francisco even though the 49ers have an uncertain quarterback situation because Jimmy Garoppolo has been nursing a high ankle injury.
If the Dolphins can be at .500 after the next three games at home against Seattle and then back-to-back road trips to San Francisco and Denver, that will be a very encouraging sign. The Dolphins, by the way, originally planned to fly from San Francisco directly to Denver on their trip out west. That is not the plan anymore as Covid changed all that.
What are the Dolphins’ strengths so far?
I’m not going to roll out a string of stats to prove anything to you here. I’m going to give an answer based on what my eyes and my instincts tell me.
On offense I believe the Dolphins are very multiple in that they can do different things and go to a number of players to get those things done.
So, for example, they are not necessarily a right- or left-handed running team or an outside zone or inside zone team. They can do some of all of that.
And they are doing it to some acceptable degree with different players -- mostly Myles Gaskin and Matt Breida. Are they great at this? No. But acceptable.
In the passing game, they can chase the mismatch quite well. The Buffalo Bills had two practice squad linebackers in their game at Miami, so tight end Mike Gesicki feasted that week. Last week, six different receivers caught every single pass Ryan Fitzpatrick threw to them and Gesicki only caught one pass.
“We’re not a one-man show,” coach Brian Flores said.
On defense, I like the resiliency and mental toughness of the group. Understand there were reasons for this unit to be rattled after two games. They got trucked at New England. And Buffalo roasted them through the air.
There aren’t many other ways to fail.
And I think no one withered amid the pressure. Folks who failed the previous two weeks responded against Jacksonville. Now, perhaps that’s a product of facing an inferior opponent. But it might also be because work was done and guys kept battling through some adversity.
The defense, by the way, might be facing a ton of adversity the next two weeks because Seattle and San Fran are no joke.
What are the Dolphins’ weaknesses so far?
I’m still not completely convinced by the secondary, especially with cornerback Byron Jones trying to get healthy.
The cohesion still isn’t totally there and that was apparent even against Jacksonville when Gardner Minshew missed on two throws that could have been long touchdown passes and then on another throw that turned into a Xavien Howard interception.
Russell Wilson isn’t going to typically miss so often. Wilson is coming off consecutive 5-TD games. That makes him the first Seattle quarterback to ever do that and first NFL quarterback to do it since Ben Roethlisberger did it in 2014.
This story was originally published September 27, 2020 at 9:25 PM.
