It is certainly more difficult to win in the NFL without a proven starting quarterback, but there are certain characteristics of this season’s Dolphin team that have nothing to do with the quality of the QB but have a lot to do with the team’s history.
Believe it or not, the fate of a team depends greatly on the efficiency of the offensive line. If it cannot block for the run or to protect the QB, the result will be long games for a team like the Dolphins. As we have mentioned numerous times previously, the organization has a history of not focusing on insuring the effectiveness of the OL, the result of which has been a weak line and only sporadic successes in the running and passing games.
The defense has also disappointed in a year it was projected to be dominant. Opposing teams have been able to gain significant yardage running against the defensive line, and the opponents’ passing games have gained too many yards passing across the middle and over the top. The defense this year was also thought to be fast and designed to be in an attack mode. The opposite has been true so far in the season. There have been too many missed tackles and there have only been a few glimpses of the promised speed.
Of great concern has been what some have called a lack of effort on the part of the entire team. Perhaps “listless” is an appropriate description. This seemingly weak effort usually presents itself in the early stages of games and would arguably stem from poor preparation for the particular opponent and/or a bad coach-ing decision on how to attack or defend, as the case may be, this opponent’s predilections in its game plan.
In addition to being listless, there appears to be a lack of team discipline. In the most recent game prior to this writing, there were an obscene number of penalties, many by the same players, a blocked field goal attempt, a blocked punt, and the center’s snap of the ball before the QB was ready, to name but a few of the mistakes.
Another disturbing aspect of the Dolphins’ games so far is not only the inability of the runners to run behind the existing offensive line, but also the injuries that seem to beset recent Dolphin teams. Whether this is because of a lack of physical preparation or the runners not being on the same page as their teammates, it doesn’t appear at times that they are playing under the same game plan.
Before signing off, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what would seem to be a cancer that is attacking both college and pro football. That is the apparent effort by the officials to make themselves more important than the players, even if it means intentionally blowing an obvious call once or twice a game. And this intrusion by the administrative staffs in sports, as well as in our government agencies, can only be an intentional path their leaders have chosen to enhance the control of these non-participants over events and participants they have been assigned to manage and control for a few hours a week. Let’s hope that more fans become aware of this subtle change in the games and put a stop to it fast!