Miami Dolphins

Miami Dolphins: Season Review After Five Weeks

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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We’ve reached roughly the one-third mark in the Miami Dolphins season and it’s been most disappointment. Let’s break down just how bad it’s been.

I don’t think it would be unfair or hyperbole to say that the Miami Dolphins 2015 season was an unmitigated disaster. Through five weeks last season, the Dolphins were 1-3 and had just fired their head coach, Joe Philbin, during the bye week after returning from their London trip. They had also fired their defensive coordinator and named Dan Campbell the interim head coach.

The team finished the season at 6-10, once again bringing up the rear in the AFC East. Wholesale changes were made in the offseason in an effort to rebound from the disaster that was the previous season. Fast forward to 2016 and so much has changed.

Adam Gase, heralded as a quarterback guru, was brought in to be the team’s head coach and offensive coordinator. The move signified a doubling-down on Ryan Tannehill as the face of the franchise going forward. On the defensive side of things, Vance Joseph was brought in from the Cincinnati staff to fix the defensive woes that plagued the 2015 team.

So much has changed—and yet, nothing has changed. Through five weeks in the 2016 season, the new version of the Miami Dolphins is 1-4. The fans have grown restless, tired of losing, and have begun to voice their displeasure. The crowd could be heard chanting their support for backup quarterback Matt Moore during the last game, a 30-17 crushing defeat against the Tennessee Titans.

Just how disappointing has the 2016 season been? Let’s break it down.

Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Offense

To say that watching the Dolphins on offense in 2016 has been disappointing would be an understatement. There was a lot of hype when Adam Gase was named the new head coach that the offense would be better, and deservedly so. Gase led the great Peyton Manning to all-time numbers. He’s the guy who “fixed” Jay Cutler, or so football media would have had you believe.

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But the product on the field just has not reflected that. The offense is ranked 29th in the NFL and that’s giving it a significant boost from defenses playing conservatively in second-halves. Look at the second half of the New England game, for instance.

The Patriots jumped all over the Dolphins in the first half, let off the gas pedal in the second half and Tannehill ate them alive. It nearly cost New England the game, but it skews the stats pretty markedly.

Even with the second-half boost this offense gets, it’s still one of the worst in the NFL, which is telling. With the weapons this offense has and the talent that we’re constantly led to believe Tannehill has, to see the team sputter week in and week out is depressing to say the least.

This week, the team made some big moves on the offensive line. They released Billy Turner, Jamil Douglas and Dallas Thomas, signifying an awareness that the O-line play has not been good enough and needs to change. Will those changes come any time soon? That remains to be seen. For the foreseeable future, I don’t like the prospects.

Overall grade: C+

Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports

Defense

For as bad as the Miami Dolphins offense has been thus far in the 2016 NFL season, the defense has been an even bigger disappointment. The Dolphins franchise has a storied history of great defenses, carrying the team to Super Bowl titles. Those teams are a far cry from the present-day version.

It’s not for lack of talent, either. The Dolphins boast one of the most talented defensive lines in all of football. Cameron Wake has been a dominant pass-rushing force in this league for years. Ndamukong Suh has arguably been one of the best defensive tackles in the history of the NFL. Mario Williams has been a pass-rushing force for other teams. On paper, this unit should be dominant.

On the field, however, it’s been a completely different story. The line has not been able to generate any pressure this season, allowing opposing quarterbacks to exploit the weak linebacker and cornerback units. In the running game, things have been even worse for this front four. The Dolphins are one of the worst teams against the run this season, allowing just over 150 yards per game.

To put that in perspective, if a running back were to go up against the Miami Dolphins defense every game for a full season, they would break the single-season rushing record by nearly 300 yards. To say that Miami has been weak against the run would be an insult to poor rushing defenses everywhere.

The woes of the pass defense have been much publicized. Everyone and their brother has had something to say about how poor the talent is in both at both the linebacker and cornerback positions. Byron Maxwell was brought in during the off-season to bolster the position. That move has backfired spectacularly with Maxwell even having been benched for a game.

That being said, the Dolphins defense has, somehow, managed to be average against the pass, coming in at 15th against the pass. When you’re consistently gashing a team on the ground, the need to air it out 50 times a game just isn’t there. Anyone who’s watched the games can see that the pass defense is worse than the stats would have you believe.

Overall grade: D-

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Special Teams

The special teams unit might be the lone bright spot in an otherwise terrible season for the Dolphins. Punter Matt Darr ranks in the top 10 in the NFL in most of the relevant punting statistics. Kicker Andrew Franks has the eighth-lowest average return yards allowed per kickoff, when removing kickers with fewer than 10 kickoffs. The coverage unit is doing their job when it comes to covering kicks and putting opponents in a hole.

But that’s only one aspect of the special teams game. Kick and punt returner Jakeem Grant is holding up his end of the bargain on special teams, as well. Grant ranks in the top 10 in kickoff return average, and is just outside the top 10 in punt return average. That average is bolstered tremendously by the 74-yard return he had Sunday against Tennessee, but it’s solid nonetheless.

Where the Dolphins special teams unit takes a major hit is in field goal kicking. Though to be fair to them, that’s more a product of a struggling offense than it is any real knock on Franks as a kicker. But the fact remains that the Miami Dolphins have only made four field goals all year. They’ve only attempted five, so they’re connecting at 80 percent, which is only 18th in the league.

Overall grade: B-

Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Coaching Staff

The coaching staff is, for me, the biggest source of disappointment in the 2016 season. Which is saying something with just how disappointing the season has been to this point. When Adam Gase was brought in to be the coach, he brought with him promise. He was supposed to bring a high-powered offense to a franchise who has been struggling for years. The addition of Vance Joseph was supposed to light a fire under a talented, but under-performing defense.

And yet, all we’ve seen so far is disappointment. Gase hasn’t been the “quarterback guru” fans have been led to believe. Tannehill has improved in some ways, yes, but he’s regressed in others. The offensive line in front of Tannehill is still a disaster. The revolving door at running back has made the offense completely predictable.

The offense is one of the weakest in the NFL, ranking 31st in the league in rushing at only 72 yards per game. Their passing offense is only slightly less anemic, coming in at 24th in the league. All of that adds up to the Dolphins being 29th in the NFL in terms of total yards per game.

Perhaps most disappointing, however, is that when things are seemingly starting to get on track, Gase makes an executive decision that completely derails the momentum and stalls out the offense (see the first few minutes of the Cincinnati game vs. the rest of that game).

As for Vance Joseph, it has not worked. At all. Nothing he has brought to this team, as of right now, has done anything but backfire. The Dolphins are 15th in the league against the pass, giving up only 250 yards per game. That doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, it is when you consider why they only give up 250 yards a game through the air.

The Dolphins rank dead last in the NFL against the run in 2016. The Dolphins front-four has been touted as one of the best in the league, and they can’t stop a running back to save their lives. They’re not getting pressure on quarterbacks, either, exposing a lackluster secondary and linebacker corps.

It’s only five games into the new regime, but as of right now, the coaching staff has been a resounding failure on both sides of the ball.

Overall grade: D+

No matter how you slice it, the 2016 season has, to this point, been a complete failure for the Miami Dolphins. It remains to be seen whether the sweeping changes the team made will have any effect going forward. I would not be surprised to see more drastic changes on the horizon should this poor play continue. Here’s to hoping the next third of the season is an improvement.

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