How bad is the Dolphins’ offense? Some points to consider. And co-coordinators weigh in
Dolphins coach Brian Flores and his assistants won’t be cajoled into performing an autopsy on the 2021 season, not with another game left on the schedule.
“Really not ready for that,” play-caller George Godsey said Tuesday.
So if Dolphins coaches are lamenting the team’s offensive shortcomings, it’s mostly being done in private.
Look up any offensive statistic, and it’s difficult to find Miami in the top 10 of anything significant. In most cases, they’re in the bottom 10 heading into Sunday’s finale against visiting New England (4:25 p.m., CBS).
The Dolphins are 25th in yards per game at 307.6.
They’re 24th in points at 19.3 per game.
They’re 31st in rushing yards at 85.8.
They’re 27th in yards per passing attempt at 6.5.
They’re 29th in yards per play at 4.8.
They’re last in yards per carry at 3.4.
They’re 30th in yards per completion at 9.1.
Only 10 teams have had their quarterback sacked more than Miami, which has allowed 39. And it could have been worse without Tua Tagovailoa’s nimbleness avoiding sacks.
Because of Jacoby Brissett’s ineffectiveness and Tagovailoa’s struggles on Sunday, the Dolphins have fallen to 19th in the league in completion percentage - a category that Tagovailoa briefly led the league in at one point.
Offensively, Godsey made clear Tuesday he wasn’t going to blame any of his players for the ineffectiveness, certainly not by name.
But he mentioned one area that troubled him Sunday: “We didn’t really perform well in the two-minute scenarios. We have three of them and we didn’t get any production out of it.”
Scoring in two-minute situations has been a problem all season; Miami has averaged an AFC-low 4.1 points in the second quarter, partly a byproduct of the inability to consistently score before halftime.
In eight of 16 games this season, the Dolphins have failed to muster even 300 yards - an ignominious achievement, to be sure.
“I think it’s maintaining the ball, time of possession,” Godsey said when asked about that stat. “Holding on to the ball will help us get more yards, get us into the scoring range, get more points and get us into the red area where we’ve actually been above average.”
Asked Tuesday if he might have been able to call more downfield throws this season if the Dolphins had a more experienced line, Godsey - for the first time - seemed to acknowledge that was a factor.
“That’s where most of the passing game starts is protection,” he said. “Whether it’s a back, lineman or tight end – that group has got to give the quarterback enough time for the receivers to get open too.
“If we’re having to get the ball out of our hands because we’re getting pressure, then we can’t get the ball downfield. A lot of that plays into how the game is being played and how the matchups end up being.
“We had some guys in there moving around a little bit, Liam Eichenberg is learning and improving each game. Austin Jackson is going inside. We’ve had some rotation going on at center. The right side has seemed to be pretty consistent as far as health-wise…. We want to make sure we give our guys the best opportunity to execute that play.”
This is telling: Only two quarterbacks who have started most of their teams’ games have attempted fewer than 30 passes that traveled at least 20 air yards: Tagovailoa (14 for 28 on such throws) and the Giants’ now-injured Daniel Jones (8 for 24).
By comparison, Tom Brady has thrown 79, Joe Burrow 68; all but four NFL starters have thrown 42 or more. That explosive element has been missing from the Dolphins’ offensive game.
Co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Eric Studesville remains sensitive about blaming the offensive line for the running game deficiencies.
He has said all season - and reiterated again on Tuesday - that “I don’t necessarily think it’s one unit that’s responsible for” the delinquent running game.
Asked if any NFL offense can be successful averaging as few yards per carry as the Dolphins have (3.4), Studesville said: “I don’t know what that magic number is. We’ve got to run the ball better.”
The Dolphins have run on first down only 25 percent of the time (second lowest in the league) and have gained modest yardage on most of those first down runs, to the point that their 2021 highlight video could be named “Second and Long.”
The Dolphins are the only team in the league that haven’t had a run of more than 30 yards. They’ve had only three over 20, second worst behind Atlanta.
Among categories where the Dolphins are not in the bottom half of the league offensively: third down conversion percentage (they’re 13th at 40.4 but just 33.3 percent the past three games) and passing yards per game (15th at 221.8) and 15th in red zone touchdown percentage (60.9).
But elite in the league in anything offensively? You won’t find that.
“You’ve got to score points to win games,” Flores said. “We’ve got to do a better job from that standpoint and that starts with me.”
Here’s my Tuesday piece on a problem that has worsened for Tagovailoa and notes.
Here’s my Tuesday piece with coaches assessing 10 of the team’s young players.
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 5:14 PM.
