Miami Dolphins defense gets called out by coordinator

The Miami Dolphins put up a very ugly game last Sunday. On both sides of the ball. Vance Joseph knows where the blame is to be laid and he is letting it be known.

Miami lost the biggest game of the season after securing their playoff future in their own hands. Now they will need a lot of help, and luck. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph knows that his players need to play better and that’s exactly what he told local media.

"“At the end of the day, Joe [Flacco] got hot, and we couldn’t stop it,” Joseph said. “We couldn’t cover them. We couldn’t chase them. We played zone; it was too soft. We played man; we couldn’t chase them. It wasn’t good.” – via the Miami Herald."

It’s not the first time that Joseph has seen a problem with his defense. He benched Byron Maxwell earlier in the year as well as Mario Williams. Through the Herald article, Adam Beasley points out that Joseph has no intentions on changing his personnel this weekend.

The problem for Joseph is simply a lack of talent. His top safety, Reshad Jones, is on IR. Mario Williams is a huge bust, Xavien Howard is still injured, Koa Misi is on IR, Jelani Jenkins is still out, and now Kiko Alonso may miss Sunday as well.

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While most teams can and should be able to deal with injuries, the problem with the Dolphins is that most of those players are not permanent members of the franchise as a long term solution. Making it worse is the fact that depth has been a problem for over a decade.

In place of Jenkins is Neville Hewitt and now Mike Hull is getting extended time with the Alonso injury. A lot of inexperience exists on the defensive side of the ball which doesn’t help the situation either.

Nor does the lack of a pass rush. Miami must find a way to get Cameron Wake off the edge faster to stop opposing quarterbacks who are taking advantage of the Dolphins secondary with quick passes.

Miami may take a long look at this side of the ball during the off-season but for now they have to stay the course and hope that the players can continue to develop and play above their experience. Sunday is going to be yet another big test for this unit.