Miami Dolphins coaches got too complacent in second half
Players did their jobs in the second half but the Miami Dolphins coaches did not.
This game was clearly a tale of two halves. The first half saw Miami Dolphins OC Chan Gailey call a great game. The second half was a different story.
Before I start with what will be viewed as a ‘negative article’, let me just say that Thursday’s 31-13 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars was a good overall game by the Miami Dolphins. The 18 point victory was the first Dolphins win decided by 10+ points since December of 2017. (Stat courtesy of NFL Network.)
With that said, this game was clearly a tale of two halves. The first half saw offensive coordinator Chan Gailey call a great game. The Dolphins ran 17 times and passed 14 for 214 yards and three touchdowns on the offense’s first three drives and the Dolphins took a 21-7 lead into halftime.
The second half started out much the same on the first drive. Miami ran the ball three times, and Fitzpatrick completed four passes, moving the ball 36 yards and taking 5:26 off the clock. However, the drive ended when Miami declined to run a play on 4th down and one from the Jaguars 40 yard line; choosing instead to punt.
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It was a ‘curious’ decision considering that Flores had elected to “go for it” (and succeeded) in a similar spot on the Dolphins third/final touchdown drive of the first half. Thankfully, linebacker Kyle Van Noy was able to “strip-sack” Jaguars QB Minshew on the ensuing defensive drive. That led to the Dolphins’ final touchdown of the game and put Miami up 28-7 with 2:05 left on the clock in the third quarter.
From that point on, the Dolphins went into a “shell” for the rest of the game. The defense went into a “soft zone” allowing Jacksonville to march 57 yards in 2:23 and would have had a touchdown if Minshew hadn’t missed a wide-open Chris Conley in the endzone.
The Dolphins then ran three plays before punting. This time the Jaguars would cash in their 50-yard drive with a touchdown to make it a 28-13 game. A Ryan Fitzpatrick scramble and two runs later and the Dolphins were punting the ball again.
With the Jaguars gaining momentum and 5:46 still left on the clock, Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer finally got aggressive again and dialed up some pass rush. Unlike the past two weeks, when the Dolphins could generate ZERO quarterback pressure, Emmanuel Ogbah and Zach Sieler got to Minshew for a 9-yard sack and Andrew Van Ginkel added another on 4th down that effectively put the game out of reach. Xavien Howard’s interception with 2:34 left was the icing on the cake.
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While the victory was satisfying, it doesn’t erase the fact that, in the final 17:05 of the game, Miami’s offense ran 15 plays (12 runs and 3 passes) while the defense allowed the Jagu
ars to amass 155 yards in the 4th quarter alone.
Individual players came up big when it mattered but the coaches did them no favors with their ultra-conservative playcalling.
Playing well for 40 minutes was good enough to beat the rebuilding Jaguars but if the Dolphins coaches, and Chan Gailey in particular, take their foot off the gas against upcoming opponents like Seattle and San Francisco I fear that it will be a totally different story.