Jordyn Brooks gets brutally honest about Dolphins' 'soft' performance vs. Packers
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins got punched in the mouth on Thursday night and then kicked when they were down. Jordyn Brooks had something to say about it.
Brooks told members of the media after the game that the Dolphins played "soft" and that the elements controlled the way they played. He is the first player or coach to say as much.
Miami looked lost and beaten from the start. The defense missed a whopping 20 tackles. Maybe they should have retained Shaq Barrett. Brooks didn't mince his words when asked about their play.
"I feel like we let the elements control the way that we played. I thought we were soft. Simple as that. I thought we were soft today," said Brooks. "I don't know if guys were too cold. I don't know what it was."
Jordyn Brooks admits the weather was an issue for Dolphins
Brooks isn't lying. The team is soft and they lack physicality. What is more interesting is that he said the weather conditions played a role in how they played. Was it a physical response to the weather or a mental one they could not overcome?
When Tua Tagovailoa took to the podium, he was asked about the weather and dismissed it as a problem. Mike McDaniel did his typical dance around the question. It didn't take fans long to see that, at least early on, the weather was a problem.
Tua's passes were not crisp early in the game, and he missed two receivers who were wide open on third downs and at least two others with throws that soared and died early, hitting the ground. Tagovailoa looked like he was struggling early on. He walked onto the field with no sleeves on his arm. It was as if he was trying to prove a point rather than be smart. It takes nothing to wear an arm sleeve.
The Dolphins are now two games out of the final Wild Card spot pending this weekend's action and have put themselves into a deeper hole, but the bigger problem remains: This team isn't built to be physical, and as a result, they get manhandled.