We have experienced almost half a season of NFL Football, and the negative comments about the Dolphins and its coaches have already reached a crescendo. I can’t blame the fans, who have been hoping for more for years.
Many of us were upset by the play of our interesting lefty QB, and rightly so, but not to the point of adopting the slogan “TurnoverTua”. That may be accurate up to now, but not fair. In the second half of the New England game, adding motion to the offense helped and made fans wonder why that change had not occurred earlier in the game.
There were many other bothersome issues. As it has been for several years, the offensive line was not up to par and permitted pressure on the quarterback and also failed to block for runs up the middle. On the positive side, the line opened several holes on sweeps, providing the running backs with decent room to perform.
Very upsetting, however, has been the defensive line. The hype during the pre-season was how good they were at putting pressure on the quarterback and blocking down the inside running game. We have seen little of either so far this season.
In the pre-season, we were warned that the secondary was young and inexperienced, and they were right. They will need quite a bit of time to correct their execution or else the players will be “executed” by the fans.
Finally, the entire team has lacked the energy displayed by the opposition and have often looked confused about the play-call and their proper positioning. Often, the energy comes from the coaches and staff, and that has not been visible. To the contrary, the demeanor of the head coach on the sideline reminds one more of a sleepy sloth than an excited coach. But maybe we should not be calling for a new head coach since Mr. Ross seems unwilling to make that decision; rather we may need to be asking for a transition to a new owner.
Finally, in the first few games, there were scenarios that made the games resemble high school competitions. First, the announcers could not stop yapping as though we turned on the contests to hear them hold a roundtable discussion of anything on their minds. Second, the number of penalties called in the games made it evident that the players on both sides lacked self-discipline. Next, something is wrong throughout the NFL when players put more energy into their endzone touchdown performances than the actual game. Finally, in the Patriots game, CBS could not find consistent sound to track the game, to the consternation of its listeners. How the world has changed.
Photo Courtesy Of The Miami Dolphins