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The Miami Dolphins’ losing streak reached three games with their 27-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, a nasty affair where the score didn’t quite reflect how the game turned out.
The Dolphins now find themselves 1-3 and while we maintain that it was not a game to win, it’s pretty clear that the 2021 season is just around the corner, especially with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ahead. . .
Several things seemed clear after watching a really tough game:
– Dolphins players and coaches can talk all they want about execution and mistakes, but it should also be pretty clear that all of those mistakes are magnified because the team might not be as good than everyone thought ahead of the 2021 season and they’re a team that just doesn’t have much room for error.
– The streak of games with at least one takeaway is great and all, but it’s not coming from the defense in the game against the Colts but rather from the special teams. Defense still doesn’t look as good as it did in 2020, although it’s fair to wonder how much that has to do with weak offense and having to lead the day every week. .
– Speaking of offense, here’s a prime example of how stats can lie: Jacoby Brissett finished the game with a 107.5 passer rating. This is due to the fact that he made 66.7% of his passes with two touchdowns and no pick. But Brissett clearly didn’t perform as a 107.5 passer rating as there were clearly a few off-target shots and everything was short in the first three quarters. To be fair, Brissett didn’t necessarily have good pass protection and there were a few drops, most notably by DeVante Parker, who appeared to do all of the contested catches but couldn’t find the easy ones.
– Brissett has now played two full games without an interception, which is good but also understandable since he throws so often, but he has to get rid of his bad habit of trying to shake things up at all costs to avoid a sack. That’s what produced his fumble against the Colts.
– Where Tua Tagovailoa should make the biggest difference once he returns to the lineup – now slated for Week 6 – is the ability to get rid of the ball quickly. This will reduce the pressure on the offensive line and should at least point the offense in the right direction.
– Malcolm Brown starting to run backwards seems odd because Myles Gaskin clearly looks like the better player, but it may be a testament to the lack of confidence in the offensive line to open holes for running play and also the need for full backs to help in protection. Then again, it doesn’t matter who the dolphins use, as the racing game remains largely ineffective and becomes a non-factor pretty quickly.
– Even though it wasn’t a big day for the defense, it was encouraging to see Jaelan Phillips really being a factor for the first time this season. And his performance shouldn’t be tarnished by the face mask penalty he was called up for in the fourth quarter because it was a bad decision.
– Finally, and this is sobering, the expectations were perhaps just too high for this Dolphins team. Maybe producing a 10-6 record in 2020 didn’t properly reflect the talent on the roster and maybe expecting the team to be able to take the next step was too optimistic. It’s obviously easy to say that after the disappointing effort against the Colts, but, yes, there is a lot of football left to play in 2021. It just isn’t looking good right now.
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