Dolphins have their 4th bye in 8 weeks

For a team with virtually no bye week this season, it feels like the Dolphins have already had four halfway through the season because of hurricanes and poor play.

When Hurricane Irma ripped through Florida in early September, postponing the Miami Dolphins Week 1 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Week 11, it gave off the impression that both teams would be left without a bye week. After Miami’s 40-0 blowout loss to the Ravens on Thursday night, however, and two other blowout losses, it can be argued that the Dolphins have had four bye weeks just halfway through the season.

The Dolphins have been the most Jekyll and Hyde team in the NFL to start the season. Their four victories were all in dramatic fashion, backed by strong 4th quarter outings. Their three losses, however, have been dreadful. In those three losses, Miami has six points – combined. Those six points came off of a meaningless DeVante Parker touchdown as time expired in Week 3 at the Jets. Without that touchdown, Miami would have been skunked in all three of their losses.

In their losses, Miami has been outscored 80-6. For the season, they’ve been outscored 152-92. While I’m not sure if that’s some kind of record for a team sitting at 4-3, and still just one game out of the division lead, it’s surely not something you see everyday. These blowout losses are the reasons why the Dolphins are viewed as the team least likely to reach the playoffs among the teams with a winning record. Jarvis Landry gave a passionate post-game interview this past Sunday to stop doubting them, but a loss like this gives critics all the ammunition to do just that.

As fans, when we see our team get beaten this badly we get the sense that the team didn’t even bother to show up. As if the team took an extra bye week, but at the cost of another one in the loss column. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s a lack of effort by Miami, but when you’re losing 40-0 it’s definitely a lack of something.

There wasn’t one area where Miami played well last night, but all eyes now seem to be on the offensive line, and even Adam Gase himself for the blame. Previously, it was Jay Cutler that was receiving all the negative publicity. Fans had been chanting “We Want Moore” at any opportunity they got, showing their support for backup Matt Moore over Cutler. Well, the fans got what they wanted last night, but quickly realized that maybe it’s not Cutler that is the problem.

Despite three first round picks, Miami’s offensive line remains one of, if not the, worst in the NFL. During last night’s game, CBS analyst Tony Romo made a valid point regarding how good an offensive line really is – by how well they block on third down. Romo has been a guru since entering the broadcast booth, and this evaluation makes complete sense. Third down is not only the most important, but it’s also when defenses like to blitz a lot. Miami’s struggles on third down are nothing new, and have been a growing problem to sustaining drives.

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Whether it’s been Moore, Cutler, and yes, Ryan Tannehill, the offensive line is not even giving these guys a chance to make a play. And you can argue that they look even worse in the run game. On his first carry of the game last night, Jay Ajayi busted one open for a nice 21-yard gain. His 12 attempts after that though went for a total of two yards. As a result, Ajayi still has not scored a touchdown through seven games, and is averaging just 3.4 yards per carry. Given how bad the line has been, that average is actually kind of impressive.

But it’s not just the line getting the blame today. While we’re not calling for Adam Gase’s job just yet, many believe it’s time he hand the play-calling duties over to someone else. Many of the play calls have been puzzling or very predictable, often resulting in negative yardage or worse. Gase himself even publicly criticized his own play-calling after Miami narrowly escaped with a win at the Chargers in their first game.

Following Thursday night’s game, former NFL standout and current NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders took to Twitter to apologize to Cutler, and point shots at the play-calling in South Florida.

Most of the comments from Sanders post were directed at the offensive line as the problem, but maybe Sanders has a point. Most head coaches hand-off the play-calling duties to one of their coordinators, and maybe Gase should start considering on the doing the same.

Whatever it is, Miami needs to find a way to right the ship and quickly. The good news is that they get a few extra days now to prepare for their next opponent, Oakland, at home on Sunday night. Another positive, and possibly most important, that despite how bad Miami has played in games, they still have a winning record. Unlike last year, when they dug themselves a 1-4 hole that they had to climb out of in order to make the playoffs, Miami sits just one game out of the division and conference lead, pending Sundays results.

They have to find something that works, however, if they want to get back to the playoffs, and make some noise once they get there. No more bye weeks aka blowout losses can be afforded if Miami wants to be taken seriously from here on out.