The streak continues for the Miami Dolphins. After last night, the Miami Dolphins have lost three consecutive night games that were nationally covered this year. I tried to research such a streak and to no avail, it seems Miami may be the first team to do so.
I sat down with a neighbor, also a Dolphins fan, cracked a brew and was ready for a tough, physical, and strategic game that never came. Even when the score was 10-7, I could still see the struggle, the lack of effort, and the timid coaching strategies, that has plagued the Miami Dolphins in their last three losses.
The Panthers lead early in the second quarter, generating a 10-0 lead. Miami was able to cut that lead to 10-7 on a Julius Thomas touchdown catch from Jay Cutler. Prior, Miami only gained 46 yards through three drives. The scoring drive took 4:47 seconds and the Dolphins offense drove the ball 75 yards. This was the last glimmer of any spark Miami would show for the night.
The Panther route started when Jay Cutler threw an interception on the first play after Miami's defense forced a punt. None other than “all-world” linebacker Luke Kuechly was on the receiving end. This was with 47 ticks left on the clock until halftime. Maybe offensive coordinator/head coach Adam Gase should’ve considered taking a knee. The interception gave the Panthers the ball back on the Dolphins 35 yard line. Tack on an extra 15 yards for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Julius Thomas and Cam Newton’s offense was now on Miami's 20 yard line.
Cam Newton found Ed Dickerson in the endzone for his first, but not last, passing touchdown with :19 seconds remaining before halftime. Once again, the Miami Dolphins found themselves chasing the lead going into halftime. Out of all nine games this season, in only one game did Miami have the lead going into halftime. They are 3-5 this season when another team leads going into the half.
If your are wondering if Adam Gase or a team veteran would give a motivating speech to help the team recover, seeing as they were only down ten, I am guessing that did not happen. When you have a team who believes in their abilities or in their coaching staff enough to rally around them, you see it transpire on the field. The Miami Dolphins Did not rally around their coach and maybe did not pay to much attention at halftime to the adjustments. Its obvious the Panthers planned on keeping the foot on the gas coming out. The first drive out of halftime for Carolina was similar to Miami’s first scoring drive and ended after a 75 yard stroll down the field. Three minutes out of halftime and the Panthers were now on top of the Dolphins 24-7.
Just like that you could see the deflation in the entire Miami team. The cut became a gash and the bleeding began for Miami, and never stopped as one announcer pointed out in the game. Miami turned the ball over on downs and the Panthers bullied their way back into the endzone on their next drive thanks mainly to the rushing attack from Cameron Artis-Payne, John Stewart, and Newton. The trio, along with a little help from rookie Christian McCaffrey, rushed for 294 yards and two touchdowns. The Dolphins, whose offensive line did not like as bad as previous games, only gained 100 yards on the ground with a big chunk of that coming on a Kenyan Drake 66 yard run that stopped the bleeding for the Dolphins. It was an impressive run by Drake who continues to show potential as being a number one running back but it came to late in the game for Miami.
With the score now 14-31, it looked like the Dolphins might mount a comeback. But the defense was to worn and could not hold back Cam Newton and the explosive Panther offense. The first play with the ball back, Can Newton took what seemed to be a quarterback draw play 69 yards to the Miami Dolphins 18 yard line. Three plays later, Newton threw his third touchdown of the game to McCaffrey, the score now 38-14. The Panthers would go on to score on their next drive which solidified Carolina scoring on all of their second half possessions, neither punting the ball or turning the ball over. Unless you count the last drive in which the Panthers took a knee to end the game.
Jay Cutler found Jarvis Landry for one more score to close the defeat margin but the Dolphins once again failed to win a primetime game this season. No only that, Miami's defense gave up nearly 600 yards to a Panthers team who had a solid running back but mediocre receivers. Those receivers were able to make bigger plays than Miami’s all star group led by Jarvis Landry.
The Dolphins organization as a whole has failed over the course of the past few weeks. I mean they have failed the fans many times before, but it seems this may take the cake. In a year where we had our most potential of making a solid playoff and maybe championship run, we seen our top running back from last tear traded in what seemed like a “personal” move for Adam Gase(we only got a 4th round pick for him). We had an offensive line coach on a live feed sniffing what looks to be(and pretty sure was) cocaine. We have had Adam Gase continuously stick up for Cutler and not taking charge at anything that was actually wrong with the team. Not to mention he took a Jerry Jones approach to the NFL flag protest and told his players of you “don’t want to stand” then “stay in the tunnel”. We, as Dolphins fans, have been failed for a lot of years but none like this year.
The defense looked gassed and linebacker Kilo Alonso stood out the most. Missing tackles and getting juked by Carolina’s swift backs. The cornerbacks could not cover receivers who could not match up with what the Panthers had in Calvin Benjamin. Jay Cutler threw off his back foot almost every pass play, decreasing accuracy in his passes. Cutler also made critical mistakes that kept the defense on the field more than any coach would want their defense on the field.
While its true the Dolphins can still win out to make the playoffs, they may be to broken to recover. A game like Monday’s against the Panthers sets a team apart from where they are and where they want to be. The Miami Dolphins are not sure of where they are and not sure of where they want to be after Monday's loss. The Dolphins are up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week. And while the Buccaneers sit at 3-6, they have enough talent to upset the bruised and beaten Miami Dolphins. Not to mention Miami should be on a bye week this Sunday. But due to Hurricane Irma, the Dolphins have to play out the rest of the season without a break. Do you think the Miami Dolphins have what it takes to still have a successful season? Let me know what you think in the comment section.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-6) @ Miami Dolphins (4-5)
Sunday November 19, 2017 1:00 p.m.
Hard Rock Stadium; Miami, FL
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