Dolphins still have no answers but plenty of questions

The Miami Dolphins lost on Sunday to the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers and in the process left the game with more questions left unanswered.

Miami didn’t get blown out for a change. The score shows a ten point difference but that last touchdown came on a flubbed attempt at a last second kick-off lateral. It didn’t work. Where Miami lost this game was on the defensive side of the ball.

The Dolphins needed a stop in the closing minutes after having tied the game on a second half rally by back-up Matt Moore but when push came to shove, the Dolphins defense let Ryan Fitzpatrick drive the field for the game winning field goal.

Miami has to ask what exactly they learned from Sunday afternoons fourth loss in a row. Unfortunately not much.

Jay Cutler or Matt Moore

The question is simple. Which quarterback really gives the Dolphins a shot to turn this around, this late in the season? Cutler went down with a concussion and Moore led the team to a rally. We know that Cutler has one game this season that he played well in. The Raiders game. We also know that Matt Moore’s only start was an abomination.

So who do you start moving forward? Cutler three interceptions in the first half of Sunday were not all his fault but it was very clear that the offense moved much faster and seemed more energized with Moore under center.

In Moore’s only start, a blowout loss to the Ravens, the team never got the offense moving which has been the only thing consistent this season. While Moore tossed two interceptions on the day and failed to throw a touchdown Miami still moved faster.

What we do know is that as soon as Cutler is cleared from the concussion protocol he will return to the starting lineup. We also know that neither quarterback really gives the team a chance to turn this around with time to make the post-season.

The offensive line

We learned yesterday that it really doesn’t matter who is at quarterback the offensive line can’t block for a full 60 minutes. Jesse Davis made a couple of nice plays but then seemed to disappear. When Sam Young entered the game at right tackle the entire right side of the line fell asleep. Miami has problems here.

Laremy Tunsil had a decent game from the plays that I actually watched but Ted Larsen didn’t look all that good. Maybe he is just out of shape or maybe he just isn’t that good. Remember when he was signed he wasn’t penciled in as the immediate starter and was more or less signed for depth.

The ongoing line issues are not going to get fixed this season so you can expect Miami to draft lineman early in 2018’s draft. 

Defense

On Sunday Miami didn’t lose because the offense played poorly in the second half. They lost because the defense couldn’t stop Fitzpatrick. Miami failed to get a sack from any of their edge rushers (Jordan Phillips had one) and failed to really get much pressure on him all day.

Miami was also unable to cover the tight-ends, a problem that has plagued the team now through three different full-time head coaches dating back to Tony Sparano. Making matters worse is that again the Dolphins are not playing tight coverage on the outside. Miami’s corners give far too big of a cushion and that takes away their physicality.

Linebackers

Hard to fault undrafted rookie Chase Allen. Allen had a big role in the game on Sunday and the more he plays the more chance he has to develop but Miami needs to retool their linebackers but then again the question has no answer.

Miami has had linebacker issues for years now and three regimes can’t fix the problem. How can three different head coaches, three different GM’s, and two football “czars” (Tannenbaum and Parcells) not fix the linebackers? Oh nevermind, the same haven’t fixed the offensive line either.