With seven games done, Dolphins still trying to jump start offense

Written by Matthew Cannata at 1:45 PM EST | Twitter: @PhinManiacs

The Miami Dolphins offense is truly an enigma because of their struggles the entire season so far during the first half. The thing that makes it so puzzling is the fact that they are one of the best teams in the NFL in the second half – offense included. That’s why the questions still linger as to how the team can start off faster in the first half. Count Ryan Tannehill as one of the guys who is just as puzzled as everyone else.

 

“No, I don’t have a theory. It just has to be taken care of. We have to come out and play with urgency, play with that fire that we play with in the second half and just not make mistakes. You look at it, it’s not the same guy, it’s not the same group. It might be a bad throw, it might be a missed block, a sack, might be a drop. It’s a collective thing. We’re all in this thing together and it’s going to take all of us playing well to execute.” 

 

“It’s tough when you play good and then you come out and have a first half like we did in Jacksonville. I see the good things this offense can do and the good things that we can do as a team. I’m not letting a bad half of football or a bad game deter us from our goal.” 

Against the Chicago Bears, the Dolphins came out firing on all cylinders and put up 14 points on the board in the first half. Against the Jacksonville Jaguars though, the offense couldn’t put together more than 50 yards in the first half.  

“It’s frustrating, yeah,” Tannehill said. “The offense as a whole, we played well in Chicago and then didn’t play well. But I don’t think it matter who we played or how we played the week before. You expect to come out and play well every game, every first half. So we didn’t do that and it has to be better.”

Joe Philbin is still trying to figure things out and some have suggested it’s the pre-game routine that needs to be changed. However, Philbin says he doesn’t believe that’s an issue and has no plans to change the way they prepare for a game.

“I would like to start faster, sure. We look at it every week, and we’ve done some things on the practice field. But in terms of how we are preparing for games, I like the way we do it. I watch the film, look at the execution and some of the schemes that we have utilized. I think it is a joint-thing. We have to do a better job. I have to do a better job. We have to do a better job putting the players in a position to be successful. They have to do a better job executing. I don’t think it’s one thing. I’m being serious. If I thought it was a lousy pep-talk, I would give a better pep-talk. If I thought it was a bad pregame warmup, I would do something different. Again, every week is different, and I’ve been in this a long time. I’m not saying I absolutely know because sometimes teams respond differently. I like the way we prepare for a game. I concur we have to do better, but I’m confident we will.”

Let’s hope the Dolphins offense somehow clicks on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers and comes out firing in the first half. If they don’t, the Chargers might put up too many points on the board early, thus putting the game out of reach.

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