Dolphins offense still has time
By Brian Miller
The sky in Miami is still a beautiful blue dotted with puffy white clouds and despite the consistent afternoon rain showers, it hasn’t fallen. The Miami Dolphins fan base need to know this.
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Following the teams Saturday night intra-squad scrimmage head coach Adam Gase was not to thrilled with his side of the balls performance. Gase said there was “no juice” and it was clear from those who attended that the entire unit looked lethargic and was simply going through the motions. Or as Gase called, running a “walk-through”.
The Dolphins opened training camp on the 29th of July. It’s now the 7th of August. In other words, camp is ten days old. Traditionally it’s far easier for defenses to elevate early in practices while offenses struggle. It’s harder when a new system is being implemented.
Yes there is an off-season of workouts and practices but those three-day mini-camps and OTA’s are far from implementation of a system. They are the walk-through’s and terminology classes.
The NFL allows only 22 padded contact practices under the current CBA. Not 22 during training camp, 22 for the entire season including camp and the regular season. That’s not a lot. Take out the two-a-day practices which are no longer allowed and it’s a fine balance between conditioning, class work, and full contact.
Add a new system and it’s tougher.
Eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, the light switch will click to on and the Dolphins offense will get it. They will know their assignments, know the projected defensive fronts, and then, the offense will slow down while their play speeds up.
The Dolphins have four pre-season games in front of them and there will be much more to critique than a simple scrimmage with their own roster. The sky isn’t falling and it’s not even getting close.
The offense just needs to flip the switch.