Despite Miami Dolphins win, problems still exist in chase for playoffs

The Miami Dolphins won in magnificent fashion on Sunday but there is still areas that need to be addressed as they continue a post-season drive.

On Sunday the Miami Dolphins pulled off a miracle win with no time left on the clock but issues remain that need fixed sooner rather than later and it starts on both sides of the ball.

Keeping the Patriots out of the end zone was a big key in the second half but Miami still managed to give up over 400 yards to the Patriots and the team’s defense is struggling to get their assignments in line. Matt Burke is not being heralded today for yesterday’s win.

For as much as anyone hates to admit it the Patriots did more to stop themselves than the Dolphins did to win. At least on defense. The Dolphins dared the Patriots to run the ball but the Patriots didn’t appear to have planned to take advantage of the porous defensive line. Miami held the Patriots to only 77 yards on the ground but consider that the Patriots only ran the ball 30 times in the game compared to 43 passing attempts.

New England was set to test Minkah Fitzpatrick who didn’t have one of his better games. Rob Gronkowski went over 100 yards receiving, Julian Edelman had 86, and Josh Gordon posted 96 yards receiving.

Miami has to do better against the pass and again failed in third and long situations. At times receivers were not only wide open but standing with no one around them.

Offensively the line is again struggling to protect and while Ryan Tannehill had a very solid game again at home against New England his inability to make quick reads and recognize the blitz puts him on the ground taking sacks. He has to do a better job of getting rid of the ball and recognizing where the open receiver will be when a blitz is coming.

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We can chalk the special teams play up to simply a bad game. In this 70 years (no I’m joking) John Denney had one of his worst games and two plays gave up two blocked punts.

It is hard to find fault in a game that ends the way yesterday did but facts are facts and the Dolphins didn’t win the game as much as the Patriots lost it. A missed field goal and an extra point by one of the best kickers in the NFL. A quarterback who is headed to the Hall of Fame can’t manage the clock at the end of the first half leaving another potential three points off the scoreboard.

The one thing Miami has going for them is they never quit. Never. That has been one staple of the Adam Gase era. This team always believes it has a chance. Still, Gase has to do a better job with his play calling.

On Sunday it appeared at times that he wasn’t calling the plays but after a great start to the game offensively, the Dolphins play calling suddenly slumped back into questionable calls that went nowhere. A third and one turns into a sack instead of feeding the legs of Frank Gore.

There are three games to go and Miami has to play as though their season hangs on every one of them because it does. There is no room for error heading down this final stretch. The toughest opponent for the Dolphins will be the Vikings and if they can find a way to win in Minnesota they will have to face the Jaguars and then a Bills team in Buffalo who would like nothing better than to spoil the season.

The win on Sunday was a great team win but Miami has to do a better job to not put themselves into that type of position. The good news of course is that this team doesn’t know how to stop playing and because of that resilience they were able to pull out the unimaginable and improve to 7-6 and delaying the Patriots 10th consecutive division title.

Now back to our celebrations on victory Monday.