Do we blame Ryan Tannehill for offensive struggles or the whole unit?

Written by Matthew Cannata at 11:50 AM EST | Twitter: @PhinManiacs

As we all know, the offense was highly ineffective against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Fortunately, they didn’t need to worry too much because the defense did most of the work for them. However, was it Ryan Tannehill’s fault that the offense was struggling or was it the offense as a whole? Joe Philbin walked us through it in his post-game press conference.

“It was kind of like the whole offense. I think there was some good there and some room for improvement. I think offensively we weren’t in great rhythm throughout the entire day. There were some good drives there, more in the second half in than in the first. I think it’s a unit thing. We did some good things, but we have to do better.”

Offensive lineman Daryn Colledge was battling migraines early in the game and ended up coming out towards the end of the first half. His replacement, Nate Garner, then got injured shortly after and left the game for precautionary tests in relation to a possible concussion. Philbin said that had a part in impacting the ineffectiveness of the offense.

“I think we have to play better up front. There was a little too much penetration in the backfield in the running game. The quarterback didn’t have ample time he needed to have a high level of execution in the passing game. We have to play better. We have to perform better. I don’t have the halftime stats in front of me, but let’s face it – offensively, we didn’t really do a whole lot in the first half. We have to play better. I think we could play better in all phases, but certainly in the first half the offensive performance. Fortunately we got to kick the field goal with a minute or so to go, which gave us a one possession lead. It didn’t feel like that in the locker room at halftime. I told the players that this happens sometimes in football, and another unit has to step up.”

In the second half, the offense began to make some noise and were able to run the ball a bit to keep the Jaguars defense off balance. Tannehill credited that for sparking the offense a bit in the second half.

“We need to be able to run the football and it’s a big part of our game. We have good backs, we have a good front. We were able to get that going a little bit in the second half. It was good to get some first downs that way. I feel good about where we’re at and obviously offensively we have to play a lot better. We didn’t put those points up today, the defense did. We have to be able to go out and execute no matter who we are playing. We didn’t perform up to our standards today in any aspect.”

With all that said, at the end of the day, the Dolphins put a win on the board and walked away with a 4-3 record. While Tannehill is happy with that aspect, he understands the Dolphins need to get back to work right away in preparation for the San Diego Chargers.

“We’re moving in the right direction and I think we just need to put it together and show up every week. We can’t come out and have a first half like that and expect to win week in and week out. We can’t just do it.”

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