Miami Dolphins week four post game recap: The good, bad, and ugly
In this week’s recap, The Miami Dolphins got waxed in one of the most lopsided games in recent memory. There were penalties, turnovers, mental mistakes, and flat out bad play.
Following the Miami Dolphins match up with the Patriots, we take a broad look at what went well, what needs work, and what should be alarming. The good games and the bad have lessons to be learned and we look at the apparent ones.
The Good:
Bobby McCain: He had the lone bright play in the first half with the excellent interception. Then he smartly went down when Bill Belichick tried some trickery on a first down. Bobby eventually left the game with a leg injury and the only small glimpse of light vanished.
Minkah Fitzpatrick: His energy and big hits were fun to watch when all else wasn’t at all. He will benefit from being on the field more often and polishing his rookie holes, albeit there are few. The glaring mistake in the game today being the pass interference in the third quarter.
The Bad:
Matt Haack: The MVP of the Jets game is becoming inconsistent. He seems to either shank the ball or boom it deep. If he wants to make a career in the NFL kicking balls, he needs to do less shanking and more booming.
Running Game: I don’t blame Frank Gore or Kenyon Drake. What are they supposed to do with a coach that abandons the running game quicker than Saban did to Miami. If the Dolphins can’t get the running game implemented into the game plan they won’t be competing in many games this season.
The Ugly:
Adam Gase (the only recipient): Gase is quickly losing his welcome in Miami. He will retain his job through this year and next independent on how this team performs. His offensive game plans are so bad that it’s alarming how slowly the offense starts. He had four possessions in the first half where he called a first down play with an empty backfield and in shotgun. If you really want a bad defense to put in 7 DBs and let the edge rushers not worry about a run, keep doing that.
I’m not saying I am smarter than Adam or have a better idea of what game planning should be. I’m just noticing two things: 1. First downs in empty backfields rarely lead to good things. 2. Horizontal passes on 3rd and long are a major component on why his 3rd down conversion rate is bad. This leads to his scripted game plan being the worst in the NFL and why Miami is ALWAYS playing from behind.
The Patriots are a bad defense. They are a slow and average tackling team that has many way to exploit. Adam Gase did not exploit a single aspect of that defense and made it easy for them to stop Miami by merely putting in dime packages and giving Ryan nowhere to go.
The reason Miami got shown up this Sunday is because Adam Gase is not giving the Dolphins a chance to compete. This is the 4th game out of 4 that the offense has put zero points and have maintained time of possession at all in the first quarter. There is only one place to look, Gase. If he can’t show ownership that he can create game plans that give the Dolphins chances to compete in the first half, Gase won’t be in Miami in 2020.