Today wasn’t quite an ordinary day.  My fiance woke me up at 6:45 today and I was able to catch the start of the Arsenal v. Brighton & Hove Albion game.  Dare I say, for the Arsenal, they’ve looked pretty good in their last 4 EPL games, which is shocking giving the buffoonery that Arsene Wenger is capable. of.  The Gunners won 2-0, and after the game we celebrated our pit/lab’s 6th birthday.  She went with her mom and sister to go to a craft show for the day and I was able to throw together some eggs and potatoes for breakfast before the kickoff of the Dolphins game.  Things went downhill from there.

First, I’ve got to say it’s pretty cool that Jay Ajayi has represented the Dolphins so well, and even cooler that he’s the face of the NFL U.K. and is now the first player with his own emoji.  He’s a budding star and Miami are lucky to have him.  Unfortunately for Miami, none of them shown brightly on offense today in what was a downright offensive performance.

This all feels somewhat familiar.

Recall last year that Miami had a rough start to the season, stumbling to a 1-2 record with an OT win over the Browns.  Yours truly was there for the Thursday Night Football showing in Cincinnati that ended in a 22-7 loss.  The next week was even worse.  Laremy Tunsil’s showering habits caused him to miss the game and Miami put Billy Turner and Dallas Thomas on the left side of the line to do anything but protect Ryan Tannehill’s blind side.  Miami were embarrassed at home by the Titans so much so that the fans booed and called for Ryan Tannehill to be replaced by Matt Moore.

I won’t lie.  Today I even tweeted about bringing in Matt Moore.  Adam Gase said after the game that there’s no looming QB switch.  But there ought to be a few guys switched out.  Much like the defense replaced Byron Maxwell with Cordrea Tankersley, who I thought played pretty well, there’s a few guys on the offense that just aren’t up to snuff.  That includes Jay Cutler, but we know he’s not seeing the bench next week.  But, guys like Julius Thomas, Jermon Bushrod and Jesse Davis (unless he’s replacing Bushrod) all should.  Julius Thomas is a shell of his former self.  Bushrod seems to be the main culprit any time there’s penetration allowed in the run game or Cutler is pressured.  Jesse Davis simply hasn’t been good and stunts bewilder him.  I’d like to see his strength used at RG over Bushrod (I’d even be okay with Isaac Asiata getting a look there).

I’d like to see Miami do away with the receiver screen.  No matter the combination, our receivers, save for Jakeem Grant, can’t block anyone and our QBs – be it Tannehill, Moore or Cutler – can’t throw the ball out there accurately enough or with the correct velocity.  Scrap it.

Gase’s vaunted 3×1 formation that was written about by Andy Benoit pre-season hasn’t proved fruitful, at least not with Julius Thomas.  This team needs to draft a TE in the worst way.

There are other things that need fixing as well.  Gase’s play-calling has been appalling thus far and has no rhythm whatsoever.  There aren’t any PA shots downfield.  There aren’t constraint plays.  The whole things is flat.

Much like last year, Miami was coming off playing two of its worst football games of the season.  A big, bad physical football team is coming to town.  It was the Pittsburgh Steelers last year.  They were 4-1 and had come off back-to-back demolitions of the Chiefs 43-14 and the Jets 31-13.  Jay Ajayi was unleashed that day and “The Streak” happened.  There probably wasn’t a time in my life as a Dolfan that I’ve had as much fun than during that 6-game win streak.  Travis (Aqua4ever04) and I had just started the “Phinalysis” Podcast on Perfectville – Sam (Samphin) and Chris’ (SICK) site Perfectville.  Ryan Tannehill took a step and played his best football and Miami gashed teams on a weekly basis.

Miami could use such a run now.  Tennessee, a big, powerful, nasty football team is coming to town.  The same Titans team that saw arguably Miami’s worst game last year (I wouldn’t argue if you said Baltimore either).  Surely Adam Gase hasn’t forgotten.  Tennessee lost a close one to the Raiders in week one and then proceeded to run all over Jacksonville and Seattle.  They’re currently getting throttled by the Texans, 54-14, right now.  They’ll be pissed.  Miami should be more pissed having scored just 2 TDs in the first 12 quarters of their season so far.

The good news, at least from my perspective, is it seems Miami’s found themselves a capable Defensive Coordinator in Matt Burke.  Miami’s been able to stop the run more effectively through three games than in any such stretch a year ago.  This without Raekwon McMillan, Lawrence Timmons for two games and T.J. McDonald.  Miami’s getting some nice play from Charles Harris, Davon Godchaux and Vincent Taylor along the front.  Cordrea Tankersley probably should’ve been starting over Maxwell from week one, but better late than never.  He held his own today.  Getting another round of free agents, draft picks, the return of McDonald, McMillan and Tony Lippett should help.  What’s even more impressive, with this defense, is that even though Miami couldn’t slow down Philip Rivers or Josh McCown passing, they have STILL played well enough that they should be 3-0.  Miami’s offense hasn’t been able to play complementary football.

I think conditions may be ripe for the “Come to Jesus” moment and Miami finally gets a home opener to hopefully snap out of this funk.  I won’t make any grandiose predictions this week, other than Miami will score a TD.

 

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