Right off the bat, I’m starting in with some “Same Old Dolphins” stuff. We’ll get to a few positives later. But for now, I’m hitting the ground running with the Same Old Dolphins.
- Jeff Hafley is a liar. Like other coaches before him, Hafley promised to use our best player, De’Von Achane in our offense. Same Old Dolphins. Remember he said that he’d have Achane run the ball until he was exhausted? Achane got only 11 carries. A paltry 11 !!
That’s not even 3 carries per quarter. Achane should be getting at least 3 carries per drive. 3 carries per possession AT LEAST. Not a ridiculous 11 carries the entire game. New OC Bobby Slowick gets a dishonorable mention here as well, but his boss, Hafley, has to take the blame for this really bad game plan. (and please don’t defend Hafley with the old McDaniel nonsense about “We fell behind so we HAD to pass the ball.” Nonsense. We fell behind, so we had to score. Achane is our best chance of sustaining drives and scoring. - We don’t have a running QB. Same Old Dolphins. Yeah, I know Malik had a nice TD run, but Tua had a couple of those in his career too. I saw nothing special from Malik’s running ability. In fact, I saw negatives. He had NUMEROUS opportunities to tuck that ball away and burst for a first down, but instead, he stopped short and threw the ball to covered receivers. Numerous times. Nerves? Poor directions from his coaches? Who knows, but his incorrect decisions ended several drives.
- We have the worst special teams in the NFL. Again. Same Old Dolphins. New coordinator, same results. I thought a new ST coordinator might make a difference, but no. When kicker Riley Patterson is your leading tackler on special teams, you know the scheme doesn’t work. When punter Bradley Pinion has more tackles than your two gunners, you have a bad scheme. When your kick returner bursts past everyone but then easily gets caught from behind, that is terrible use of personnel. (I give Jalen Wright credit for a nice return, but he’s not a speedster. A KO returner needs to have lightning speed and afterburners once he clears the kicker. Wright is not that guy, and that is Hafley’s fault for using him there.
- Dolphins lack situational awareness on important plays. Same Old Dolphins. This falls on coaches and players alike, but the Dolphin players have a terrible history of not grasping the game around them. Here’s a point: Early on, we faced a 2nd-and-26 at the Raider 47. Malik threw a nice pass to rookie Caleb Douglas, who made a nice move and was about to pick up the first down. But no. Lacking awareness and lacking the presence of mind to know where the marker was, he ran out of bounds a yard short, when he could have easily lowered his shoulder or dived for a few more yards and a first down.
I seriously hope that Hafley makes him watch that play 500 times. At this stage in their careers, professional football players should not have to be taught “try to get to the first down sticks,” but apparently they do. It’s okay, because Douglas’s mistake resulted in a 3rd-and-1. An easy conversion to make, right? No…see next - Dolphins cannot pick up one single yard when needed. Same Old Dolphins. On the ensuing play, we ran Achane up the gut into a stacked box. I like using Achane there, but try a pitchout and use his speed. Designing a play for him to run straight into 11 Raiders is ridiculous. Slowick needs to get better and fast.
- No pass rush. At all. Same Old Dolphins. No need to expand. This says it all. No one came near journeyman Kirk Cousins all day.
As promised, I will end with a few positives. We had some good plays on defense, including two interceptions. Both were horrible passes by journeyman Cousins, but at least we caught the ball. The offensive line did slightly better than expected. In our live chat during the game, I noted that Austin Jackson had neutralized Max Crosby. Max came alive in the 4th quarter, but for the most part, the line wasn’t a disaster all day long like I thought it might be. I’d say in general, all the rookies did well, and that’s a positive. Some mistakes, some nice plays, but no game-changing fumbles or gigantic gaffes. That’s a moral victory for us!