Injuries played a huge part in Miami Dolphins season but no excuse
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins had a horrific season of injuries in 2018 and that has played a big part in their lack of success this year.
When the Miami Dolphins came out of pre-season everyone but MarQuies Gray was healthy. Gray was lost for the year but Miami had three more tight-ends that were expected to make big strides as the season wore on.
Then injuries began to surface. The first big injury came to Josh Sitton, Miami’s top free agent pick-up and their solution to the left guard position. Sitton’s injury was a major blow to the offense and an injury that Miami wasn’t prepared for. Then they lost starting center Daniel Kilgore and again were forced to shuffle around the line.
By now you know all of the injuries that read more like a starting lineup than an injury card. Miami though somehow managed to stay in the playoff chase, remain to some degree alive in that chase, and may even finish at .500 or perhaps even 9-7. That should be heralded as a successful season should it not?
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Not quite. The injuries have made for poor excuses all season. Not be the team or the players but from the fans and the media. Tannehill misses five games and we blame Brock Osweiler. We lose Albert Wilson and Jakeem Grant but Kenny Stills and DeVante Parker can’t step up.
Or is it the coaching? Has Adam Gase took what he had left and turned it into something usable? Or has his bad coaching habits, play calling, lack of ingenuity, inability to make critical in-game adjustments, made the injuries seem more likely a cause?
The truth lies somewhere in between. Injuries have forced Gase to change how things are done and he has had to once again scale back his playbook but there are still serious concerns. It wasn’t due to injury that Gase opted to run the ball late in the game against the Colts needing a first down to keep Andrew Luck off the field. A game they lost on the ensuing Colts drive.
It wasn’t injury that made Adam Gase punt the ball on 4th and one against the Patriots with a tight game late that allowed the Patriots to drive down the field to kick the go-ahead field goal. Those were simply odd and disturbing decisions. Where was the faith in that quarterback who has yet to reach his ceiling? Why was there faith in a defense and a defensive coordinator to stop the Patriots whom they hadn’t really stopped all day?
Injuries happen and this year they seem to have been extreme for the Dolphins but using them as an excuse for why the team isn’t winning makes no sense. If the Dolphins were able to keep pace all game with the Patriots and pull out a last second win why were they so unprepared for the Vikings? After keeping pace with the Colts why were they so unprepared for the Bills the following week?
Those issues have nothing to do with injuries and therefore should not be used as excuses. On the other hand because in most cases there are two of them, did Gase do the best he could with what he had to work with? Is this record a positive thing given the injuries that in reality should have put this team closer to the bottom of the league? Hard to say. But we all have our own opinions on the subject.