The Miami Dolphins had just tied up the game in overtime against the Las Vegas Raiders, hoping to get their defense back off the field and claim a chance to go win the football game. But if you blinked in that moment the Raiders took possession of the ball with the score tied at 28, you likely missed Las Vegas suddenly finding themselves in scoring range.
There was a chunk play to WR Bryan Edwards in overtime that came at the expense of safety Brandon Jones and linebacker Sam Eguavoen, but the true backbreaker came in the run game as RB Peyton Barber ripped off a big gain to put the Raiders into the red zone.
It marked yet another troublesome chunk play for the Dolphins on the ground — which has been something of a sore spot this season. Miami conceded a 35-yard run to the Patriots to open Week 1, gave up a 40+ yard touchdown run to Devin Singletary in Week 2 to Buffalo and then the backbreaking run to Barber in overtime in Week 3.
So what gives? Why is Miami getting gashed so much in the run game? Head coach Brian Flores offered his perspective on Monday afternoon.
“I think we’ve done a good job in spurts. We were actually just talking about this. I think when everyone is taking care of their responsibility and doing what they are supposed to do, it’s good. We’ve run into some issues, especially in a game like that where everyone is trying to make a play and everyone is trying to help the team win. It’s genuine, it’s sincere. But we had a couple guys get out of their gaps trying to make a play several times, I would say, in the second half and it was to our demise,” said Flores.
“That’s something we need to learn from and we just need to – even though everyone is trying to help the team and make a play, it’s always best to handle your responsibility, be in your gap, be where you are supposed to be and as a team and as a unit, we will handle the run game.”
The struggles of inexperience and youth appear to be biting the Dolphins early on this season — a frustrating byproduct of a team that has plenty of physical talent but needs to settle into winning football sooner rather than later if the team is going to keep their season afloat. According to Flores, it starts with doing your job and not trying to do too much else, instead.