A week has passed since the end of the 2019 NFL season and the Miami Dolphins are ready to kick off the 2020 offseason in their effort to rebuild this team from scratch. But before we put the 2019 season behind us, it would be wise for some reflection on the year that was — a successful season by many accounts, but not every account.
How would we grade the Miami Dolphins offense in 2019? Here are some of the key phases of the game and how we’d score these 2019 Dolphins.
Passing Offense
Seeing what Ryan Fitzpatrick, DeVante Parker and Mike Gesicki were able to do over the course of the final 12 weeks of the season is pretty exciting. Or at least we thought it was, although the Dolphins seemed to feel some kind of change was necessary when they relieved offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea. Despite the lack of pass protection and the losses of key pass catchers like Kenny Stills (trade), Kenyan Drake (trade) and Jakeem Grant (injury), this offense still hummed through the air down the stretch.
With Parker making big plays to every level of the field, the work Preston Williams illustrated through the first two months of the season as a bully at the catch point and Gesicki’s prominent growth from year one to year two in the NFL, the Dolphins had plenty cooking through the air this season.
Grade: B+
Rushing Offense
What is the worst grade you’ve ever gotten in school? An F? Can we give something lower than an F? We’d like to.
The Dolphins rushing offense could best be described in one word: pathetic. Ryan Fitzpatrick was the team’s leading rusher and even he had under 250 yards on the season. Not great. Miami’s issues seem expansive here. The backs this year were like porridge: either too indecisive (Kenyan Drake) or too committed to a gap (Kalen Ballage). The offensive line showed an inability throughout the course of the entire season to win gaps in man on man blocks across the board.
We’ll need fresh bodies up front and fresh bodies in the backfield — and even then the change to Chan Gailey as the offensive coordinator may need to play a big role in overhauling the run game.
Grade: F
Physicality
This is a tale of two units: the receivers and the offensive line. The receivers are a nightmare to tackle. DeVante Parker is a winner at the catch point. A healthy Preston Williams was running through press coverage mid-season. Mike Gesicki is starting to play to his size and potential in contested situations, as the Bengals game would indicate. That’s the good.
The bad? The offensive line was physically dominated on a weekly basis. There served no push and on instances when the Dolphins needed a yard (several 4th and 1 situations or the 1st-and-goal from their own 1-yard line against the Giants), the Dolphins got whooped up front.
Miami’s physicality was good on the perimeter. But in the trenches? It was a wreck.
Grade: C
Discipline
The Dolphins were tagged with the 4th least penalty yardage in the NFL this season with 769 total yards over 16 games. That number is very good. The Dolphins, as a team, were popped for just 12 false start penalties in 16 games on the offensive line and 15 holding penalties — both are in the bottom 10 in the NFL.
But the Dolphins also led the NFL in drops this season — and that stat bogs down the grading of Miami’s efforts on the discipline front. Miami didn’t hurt themselves with penalties, but it could be argued that it “Takes No Talent” to ensure the catch, and Miami did have some stinkers in the drops department this season.
Grade: C+
Red Zone
Miami scored touchdowns in the red zone in 56.25% of their possessions this season. That number is up from 51% in 2018 and was 18th best in the NFL. And when you consider Miami was at 16% through the first four games of the season, 56% sounds pretty darn good to us. Miami came a long way in the red zone this season thanks to the legs of Ryan Fitzpatrick, but this team will need to run the ball better going forward to really diversify their red zone consistency.
Grade: B
[vertical-gallery id=420193]