5 Dolphins to blame for embarrassing loss to Packers on Thanksgiving

The Miami Dolphins couldn't keep up with a much better football team, and the loss they suffered on Thursday night will be glossed over in the media. The Dolphins still have a chance at the playoffs, but let's be real: they don't deserve it.

Miami has looked great beating the Rams, Raiders, and Patriots. They looked good losing to the Bills, but this is still the same football team that lost to the Titans, Colts, and Seahawks, and the same problems keep coming up.

On Thursday, the Dolphins had a chance to show the last few games were not simply a talented roster taking advantage of teams that are rebuilding or a mess. Instead, they showed more than enough reasons to separate from a few players when the season ends.

Dolphins players who deserve the blame for loss to Packers in Week 13

Cam Smith

Smith doesn't look good as an NFL professional. He has enough moments to think that he would be a good fit on the practice squad, but the fact Miami has to rely on him to actually be on the field is troublesome.

Chris Grier's drafting of Smith should remain questioned. A teammate of his own son at South Carolina, Smith was over-drafted by the Dolphins, spent his first year in the Vic Fangio doghouse, and has done little to show that Fangio was wrong.

Jevon Holland

I have been saying for more than a year that Holland isn't elite, and while he has elite tendencies, he has yet to take the next step great safeties make. Holland is good, but he is not $12-15-million-a-year good. Another team might pay that price, but it shouldn't be the Dolphins.

Holland looks good against bad quarterbacks, but he isn't good enough to carry a poor secondary, and that is what the Dolphins have right now. Miami needs to be better at safety and not overpay for an athlete who has shown nothing more than potential for four seasons instead of consistency.

Jordan Poyer

There was a time during training camp when former Bills safety Poyer told the media that Miami was an easy win because all they had to do was get them down, and they would practically fold.

Poyer is part of the Dolphins' struggles this year, and the only time he shows any fight is when he is off the field trying to get back on it. It turns out he forgot how to tackle. Poyer has talked up a lot, but he has not performed well throughout the year. A player who was supposed to be a hard-hitter isn't hitting very hard and isn't lifting his team with his "experience."

Julian Hill

Hill is inconsistent in catching the ball, inconsistent in blocking, and reliable for at least one penalty a game. He is still far too raw to be on the field of play, and it is confusing that he is taking snaps away from Durham Smythe, Jonnu Smith, and that guy who is drunk in the stands. Hill had as many false-start penalties as he did catches on Thursday.

There is something the Dolphins see in him that no one else does.

Odell Beckham Jr.

As a bonus, we have to put OBJ on this list. He has done next to nothing since he came off the injured list. Being out all training camp wasn't his fault, that was the fault of Mike McDaniel and Chris Grier working so hard to get him. Beckham caught one pass for nine yards. That's it.

Maybe they should have worked that hard to keep Andrew Van Ginkel.

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