Poor Coaching Ends Miami Dolphins Winning Streak

On any normal Sunday, and when I say normal I mean on any Sunday, I don’t rush to the computer to write up a post game piece. I like to digest what I saw, re-watch it sometimes, and either wait until my excitement has waned or my anger. Not today. I’m ending that self-imposed cooling off period because frankly the Miami Dolphins should have won today. They didn’t.

Good teams can overcome poor execution and great coaching can overcome very bad execution but solid play can not overcome poor coaching and it’s safe to say that for the 2nd time this season Joe Philbin’s “coaching” cost the Dolphins a victory. Does Green Bay ring a bell? If it does and you haven’t seen today’s game you don’t need to. It was the exact same thing.

The Dolphins started out by being manhandled. The Lions defensive front was so powerful that the team posted negative yards on four consecutive plays and barely made it into positive yards in the first quarter. This is where good coaching comes in. Instead of waiting for half-time offensive coordinator Bill Lazor made in-game adjustments that sped up the Dolphins offense and while they couldn’t generate more than three points in the first half they were making positive plays and slowing down the Lions pass rush.

That is a good coach.

The Dolphins eventually would take the lead in a very close game that was dominated by both teams defenses. A blocked field goal late in the 4th quarter was returned to the Lions four yard line by Dion Jordan and it led to the only Miami Dolphins touchdown on the day. Later, Charles Clay dropped what might have been the game winning touchdown. The Dolphins settled for a field goal and with two timeouts to Detroits two and just over three minutes left in the game, the Dolphins were looking at putting the final touches on a great victory.

The ensuing drive by Detroit ended with a three and out and put the ball back into Miami’s hands. The Dolphins ran for five yards on first down and Detroit called a timeout. The Dolphins gained nothing on 2nd down and Detroit used their 2nd timeout. A bull rush by the defense caused Ryan Tannehill to scramble and an incomplete pass on 3rd down led the Dolphins to a punt. Detroit would have one final attempt with one timeout and 74 yards to win or attempt the tying field goal. There was 3:13 seconds left when Matt Stafford took the Lions snap.

And then Joe Philbin decided to play head coach.

The first five plays brought the Lions to the Dolphins 38 yard line when time stopped for the two minute warning.

The next two plays were short completions of five and six yards and the clock ticked down to 1:28 when Joe Philbin used his 2nd time out of the half. On first observation it appeared that maybe he might be trying to conserve some clock but then after four more plays that dropped the play clock to 43 seconds, Philbin used his 3rd timeout. Two plays later the Lions scored the winning touchdown.

This was the exact replay of the Green Bay game where the Dolphins held the lead, stopped the Packers gave it back and then used their own timeouts defensively allowing the opposing team time to draw up a play that would move the ball towards the goal of winning and both times winning the opposing team did.

Philbin hasn’t learned to use timeouts yet and if he had, the Miami Dolphins may very well be facing a flight home with cheering instead of staring blankly out the window. They will have four days to get ready for Buffalo on Thursday night and the winner of that game will be the lone challenger to New England. A loss by the Dolphins to the Bills will put them out of any head to head finish in December. Let’s hope the coach figures out how to let his team play.

Now I am finished venting…let’s see if my opinion changes after a few hours.