Sep

22

Why the Miami Dolphins Must Clean House, Replace Coaching Staff

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How do Miami Dolphins fans feel about their team right now? 

Two weeks ago the Dolphins defeated the New England Patriots 33-20, and everyone was happy, everyone was feeling great. 

Since then, the Dolphins have gone 0-2, and have been outscored 63-25 by the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs. 

Dolphins fans can’t be too happy with what they’ve seen, and because of that, nor can the players and coaching staff be happy with what they have produced. 

With such unhappiness around the team due to their lack of production, a house-cleaning may be in order.

Joe Philbin‘s seat should be hotter than the surface of the sun right now, or at the very least, hotter than a summer day in Davie. 

There have been far too many mistakes made by this coaching staff, mistakes made since day one in terms of getting rid of personnel that “doesn’t fit” in exchange for lesser talents, mistakes in game plans and huge mistakes in what feels like non-existent player-development, which has seen what should be great talent on this team go completely to waste. 

Instead of fitting the game plan to the players’ talents, the staff has continually tried to fit the player to the plan. It doesn’t work like that, nor should it. Good coaches think outside of the box to figure out how to get the most out of players, something you don’t see with the Dolphins, save for when they’ve gone to a 5-2 defensive alignment (which they haven’t done since the Patriots game in Week 1). 

There’s plenty of blame to go around for these horrendous last two games, and while the coaches are a major part of it, the players share the blame, too. Ryan Tannehill has been exactly what his critics thought he was, the linebackers have been a major weak link, wide receivers are dropping passes and the special teams unit has not been special (or even ordinary). 

The main thread, though, has been the coaching staff, a staff that seems to have issues making adjustments, has struggled with play-calling and never even attempts to try anything risky unless they absolutely have to. 

The same coaching staff that saw a shake-up last year after the Dolphins finished 8-8, with offensive coordinator Mike Sherman being replaced by Bill Lazor, and offensive line coach Jim Turner getting replaced by John Benton. 

So far, while the people have changed, the same issues persist. The Dolphins can’t seem to game-plan well, or call the right play for the right time. 

The problem is both on offense and on defense, and they’re problems that could be easily solved but aren’t due to the outright stubbornness of the coaching staff. They can’t seem to get out of their own way, and while the players haven’t played well, they haven’t been put in the best position to succeed either, as the statistics will show you on offense. 

The run game has been a major asset for the Dolphins, at least when it’s used. This season, Miami ranks seventh in rushing yards per game, sixth in total rushing yards and is second in the NFL in yards per carry, averaging an almost obscene 5.2 yards per carry. 

The unfortunate thing is the Dolphins are ranked 22nd in rushing attempts with a paltry 79 carries in three games. Yet they have thrown the ball 124 times, which is second most in the NFL, despite ranking 30th in completion percentage and 27th in passing yards. 

A good game plan has balance but where is the balance in Miami’s offense? Ryan Tannehill is at his best out of the play action but no matter how good your running game is, if you run the ball half as much as you pass it, you’re not going to get many teams to bite on the play-fake. 


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This is something that happened in Buffalo, a game where, despite losing Knowshon Moreno, the Dolphins averaged nearly four yards per carry, with Lamar Miller averaging 4.2 yards per carry. 

Miller only carried the ball 11 times in that game, a game where Miami only ran the ball 21 times. Suffice to say, the coaches should’ve noticed this trend yet didn’t correct it against Kansas City. 

This isn’t the only problem, as the defense has seen horrid play-calling as well. To compound that, they don’t seem to have the right players on the field that can (and have already shown the ability to) produce, either. 

We saw Cameron Wake used in coverage against the Chiefs, covering Joe McKnight out of the backfield. Wake is a talented pass-rusher, and that should be his main job when on the field. Under no circumstance should he be in coverage on passing plays matched up against a player like McKnight out of the backfield. 

Instead, he should be rushing toward the quarterback, for when that happens, good things occur for the Dolphins. Look at their five sacks against the Chiefs, as well as their four sacks against New England. Cameron Wake helped to set up each of those plays with his pass rush. 

That’s on the coaches for handing out such a horrendous assignment. Using Wake in coverage is like asking Kendrick Lamar and Nas to contribute nothing but the hook on a Pitbull song, or like asking Giancarlo Stanton to bunt. It’s a waste of talent, one that a good coach would never allow. 

This play-calling and other factors are why many players seemed none too happy when talking to the Miami Herald‘s Adam H. Beasley. 

When players are questioning the game plan, that’s a bad sign.

Why give players a game plan to question? Miami has a lot of talent on defense, from a front four that should be the best in the NFL, to a secondary that’s sneakily effective. 

Both these very good aspects of the defense are going to waste due to bad game-planning and the insistence of not putting the best players at linebacker on the field. 

The linebackers could be better and will get better once Koa Misi comes back. However, Chris McCain should be playing in Philip Wheeler’s place, yet he has barely seen the field since Wheeler came back from injury. 

This is despite the fact that McCain played a great game against the Patriots, a game that Wheeler missed.

From the look of it, Joe Philbin and the coaching staff have lost the locker room. 

There’s a good chance they lose the season as well, especially if they can’t leave London with a win next week. 

So far based off of their failure to use what works and the stubborn way they stick to what doesn’t (an issue down here the last three years), it’s looking like we’re about to face the truth about this team. 

Joe must go, and the rest of the staff will have to join him as well. 

 

Statistics and rankings provided by NFL.com

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