Miami Dolphins offense attempting to drive momentum into next year

The Miami Dolphins offense has been looking much better over the past few weeks, especially compared to the sloppy play that occurred within the first couple of weeks. One thing that has constantly been talked about is the fact that offensive coordinator Bill Lazor's offense is a very complicated system, and now near the end of the season, the team has finally figured it out, despite certain struggles.

“It looks better. Watching the tape, being on the sidelines, we’ve gotten a lot of first downs. We have to play better in the red zone on offense as well. I think we may have as many red zone possessions as anyone in football." said head coach Joe Philbin. "We’ve got to do some better things on offense in the red zone as well. I think the film is better. I think the guys have played better. There is still a lot of room to go though.”

The improvement was perfectly shown last Sunday, when the Miami Dolphins found themselves in a deficit in the fourth quarter and quarterback Ryan Tannehill showed just how much he's improved throughout the year by marching the team down the field for a much-needed score.

“I think it’s big for the whole football team. I think the thing to take out of the game is, when you have seven or eight point lead evaporate to a seven point deficit in eleven seconds, to be able to keep the team, especially him as the quarterback of the offense, to go back out there, I think it was an 80-yard drive after that I believe." said Philbin. "We overcame, it wasn’t his fault necessarily, but we had a 13-yard sack in there I believe. I thought it was good for him, good for the offense and for the football team, for that matter.”

Even the team is excited for how the offense is developing, with players at every position quickly becoming important members of the offense. Tannehill, running backs Lamar Miller and Damien Williams, tight end Dion Sims, and of course wide receiver Jarvis Landry. All of these young players have become very good players over the course of the season.

Mike Wallace, who ironically enough was one of the biggest critics of the offense whenever it didn't work, had some very nice things to say about Jarvis Landry in particular.

“He’s going to be a great player. He’s a hard worker, a guy who is really crafty and really smart, tough, energetic." said Wallace. "He has everything you are looking for in a football player, and he’s going to be a good one, confident. Whatever you can think of, he has.”

With even Wallace praising the growth of the offense and its players, it's clear that the future is bright for the Dolphins, and they would like to end the season off on a good note and beat the New York Jets in what is most likely Rex Ryan's last season as the Jets head coach. They hope that a victory on Sunday will carry momentum into the next season and keep things going strong despite what changes are made in the offseason.

"What you hope is, as I’ve said to our guys many times, is the jersey numbers change many times in the National Football League. Every single team in the league has transition." said Joe Philbin. "What you hope is when you have a good team, a good program is that some of the enduring characteristics of the team, be it resiliency, be it the work ethic, the character, those things live on in the next group even though each schemes change, personnel change, et cetera, et cetera.”

This story was written by Luis Sung. Follow him on Twitter: @FLSportDebater

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