Miami Dolphins offense struggles against the Jacksonville Jaguars

Written by Matthew Cannata at 11:15 AM EST | Twitter: @PhinManiacs

The Miami Dolphins offense didn’t have its greatest day against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite the fact they put up 326 yards of total offense, they averaged 5.8 yards per play and struggled to move the ball for the majority of the game. 

Joe Philbin gave credit to the Jaguars defense for making a lot of plays and getting the Dolphins off the field quickly during their first few drives.

“I think we were running our seventh or eighth play with six minutes to go in the second quarter. I’ve been coaching a few moons now, but I don’t remember being in a game where it was that few plays. You have to give Jacksonville’s defense a lot of credit. They were playing fast, they were playing well, they had a good defense. They played very well on defense last week. I think I said early in the week that we didn’t talk about this team’s record, we talked about watching film of the last three games. I think they were averaging giving up 13 points the last three games. It was a good defense that had negative yardage plays and sacks.”

Ryan Tannehill, who had 196 passing yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception, wasn’t pleased with his performance and the rest of the offense.

“We didn’t perform up to our standards in any phase of the game, offensively. Defense played well, defense made plays and sometimes that’s the way it works out. I’m not happy about how we played offensively, it has to get better. The offense has to get corrected Monday, Tuesday. I’m proud of the way the defense played, they made big plays, scored 14 points for us and I don’t know how often that happens but those guys made big plays for us.”

Tannehill made things happen with his feet once again, rushing five times out of the read-option for 48 yards, averaging 9.6 yards per carry. However, most of these yards came in the second half because the offense was struggling so much in the first half.

“We weren’t playing well and I don’t know exactly the stats but we didn’t get a first down until the end of the first half and that’s unacceptable. They did a good job of getting pressure but we didn’t execute up front and we didn’t play well at all. We didn’t get the running game going and we were in some long yard situations due to sacks. It could never happen. We can’t depend on the defense to make big plays and score points, that’s our job. That’s what we get paid to do.”

Winning in the NFL isn’t easy so when you get one, it’s important to recognize that and enjoy it. However, it’s also good to see that Tannehill will lead the charge this week in not letting the players get complacent heading into the showdown on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers.

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