In today’s battle of depressing Miami Dolphins facts:
It happened only once in franchise history, in expansion era 1967, when the Dolphins won their season opener then proceeded to lose four games in a row. Now it has happened again in 2021, for the first time in 54 years.
Vs.
Ancient Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, with a single 13-yard run late in the first half Sunday, had more rushing yards than Miami’s entire team total in the half. Headline: 44-year-old Man Outruns Dolphins
So Brady and the Bucs easily handled the visiting Fins on Sunday 45-17, offense and defense working in concert to let Miami down again in the latest embarrassing display of not-very-good. Brady strafed the Fins for five TD passes.
“Everyday he comes to practice he’s 12,” marveled Bucs coach Bruce Arians of Brady’s latest ageless display.
Said Brady: “It’s amazing to see, when everybody’s involved, how much fun it can be. Make [the defense] defend every blade of grass.”
It was a startling display in contrast: The all-time great Brady and a reigning champion playing like it ... vs. a struggling team that looks to be rending at the seams.
“Contrary to what you guys think we’re actually getting better,” said Fins quarterback Jacoby Brissett.
Hmm.
More Brissett: “Find the things that we did [well], do those more. Things that we didn’t do [well], do those less.”
Miami’s record crumbled to 1-4 and the season — one year after 10 wins stoked optimism — is in free fall.
Wait. Has it reached the point where we are grasping for moral victories? I mean, they were close for a while against the reigning Super Bowl champs, right? Against the best QB ever? Yeah, if only it worked that way in the NFL, where the most noble of losses (and this wasn’t) only wishes it were an ugly, lucky win. Where all you get for effort is another chance next week.
The Dolphins competed this time, at least, sort of. For a while. They did not in a 35-0 home loss to Buffalo. They did not in last week’s home loss to Indianapolis. This time they showed some pride, some early fight. Which is sort of the prerequisite.
It still wasn’t close. Four losses in a row don’t lie. Doesn’t much matter how you got there. And this time it was too little scoring and too little defense.
Tampa Bay’s first five touchdown drives were 80, 70, 77, 75 and 61 yards. The sixth was shorter only because a Brissett interception set it up. Antonio Brown twice beat Miami’s best defender, Xavien Howard, for scoring passes. The Fins’ NFL-best streak was 26 straight games with a defensive takeaway ended quietly.
“I’m concerned. We’re a little bit out of of sync,” said Miami coach Brian Flores of his defense. “Obviously in a lot of ways. Run defense. Pass defense. Rush. We’re not seeing the production on Sundays.”
Flores said the team was not able to execute its defensive game plan. “We weren’t really able to execute any part of it.” That’s damning.
Linebacker Jerome Baker, asked about blocking negativity from the lockerrom: “It’s hard. But we believe in Flo [coach Flores] You have to believe.”
Cornerback Byron Jones: “I look in the guys’ eyes and they’ve still got that brightness to it. We want to keep going and fighting forward. Football is a tough game and we’ve got a lot of tough men in that locker room.”
The defense has company on the other side in terms of desperation. Offensively the Dolphins on Sunday failed to reach 20 points for the fourth time in five games.
On the bright side, the Fins have only the third-worst offense in town.
The Marlins finished 29th of 30 teams in MLB runs scored this season.
Inter Miami is dead last in MLS scoring and has been shut out in 11 of 28 games.
See, so the Dolphins are a pinball machine, relatively speaking.
On Sunday, Miami struggled to reach the end zone even with Brissett — perhaps making his last start before the return from injury of starter Tua Tagovailoa — completing 27 passes. Ten were to running back Myles Gaskin, but five Brissett completions of 20-plus yards also indicated an overdue, and welcome, opening up of what has been a dull, constipated attack.
And still it wasn’t close.
The next four games will define this season and tell whether it has a pulse.
A likely loss at Buffalo is surrounded by should-be-winnable games vs. the Jaguars in London next week, vs. the Falcons and vs. the Texans. Miami had better come out of this stretch with a 4-5 record. With a scintilla of hope.
It could be up to Tagovailoa to save the day, the season, his own future with the team, and perhaps that of general manager Chris Grier and coach Flores, too.
Five games into a 17-game season is early for panic and desperation.
But the Miami Dolphins have put themselves squarely there.
The most disappointing team in the NFL is at a loss for answers — at a loss all around.
