Miami Dolphins made plays on offense but struggled to score points

The fact that the Miami Dolphins have struggled to put points on the board has been a running theme throughout the season. More specifically, they rank towards the very bottom of the league when talking about scoring touchdowns in the red zone. On Sunday against the New England Patriots, the story was no different.

“You have to execute, you know, I think Coach [Bill] Lazor puts us in some good positions to make plays. We just didn’t do a good job of executing,” Ryan Tannehill said. “We didn’t come out and score enough points. I think we moved the ball well offensively in the first half, didn’t score a touchdown on the first drive, got the blocked kick and then didn’t score again when we got it down there inside the 20 again. So, you can’t do that and then obviously the second half we didn’t perform well, we didn’t move the ball well, we didn’t execute really in any phase of the game. So, you can’t do that and win.”

Tannehill said they felt good coming into the game but they just weren’t able to put it all together when it mattered the most.

“It’s tough. Like I said, we didn’t make the plays. We had a lot of opportunities. [We] felt good coming in, thought we matched up well. We were right in there. I felt like we outplayed them in the first half. You look at the blocked field goal for a touchdown and then miscommunication on the coverage and the pick and [we] put them inside the 10. You take away those two plays and we were definitely out-playing them. I think we came into halftime confident and what happened in the second half is totally on the players and kind of unexplainable. We didn’t perform.”

The Dolphins offense was aggressive throughout the game, taking numerous deep shots against the Patriots defense. Tannehill said it was more of a result of the man coverage the Patriots were playing.

“We just called more today. I think we played [against] a lot of man so it was pretty simple to see. I think later in the game they started mixing a lot of more zone, but early in the game we kind of knew what they were going to be in and wanted to challenge them downfield and we did that,” he said. “I’ve felt confident all year that we can make the plays. We had a few more opportunities today, we just didn’t make them. “

The Dolphins are lacking a big body that can make plays in the end zone. Hopefully, they’ll address this need in the offseason and get Tannehill the help he needs when it’s time to put points on the board.

This story was written by Matthew Cannata. Follow him on Twitter: @PhinManiacs

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