The Dolphins are, simply put, running out of gas. This team has played admirably well at times — they’re fighting week in and week out to scratch out wins and make the early-season critics eat crow about just how futile Miami really is. And in that regard, these players should be proud. The win column doesn’t reflect how hot the fire inside the belly of these Dolphins burns — but that was by design all along. The Dolphins weren’t a roster built to be able to compete.
And it’s showing.
Because as the Dolphins prepare for their final 8 quarters of the 2019 season, the lack of depth has reared its ugly head over the course of the last two weeks — leaving the Dolphins scratching and clawing against the inevitable. For 30 minutes against the New York Giants, it felt like a mid-November Dolphins contest. The team had frustratingly left some points on the board but seemingly had control of the situation.
And then the second half happened. And Miami’s defense broke, turning into a porous group that couldn’t buy a stop to save their lives. It wasn’t because the Dolphins quit. The Dolphins are just out of gas. Cornerback Nate Brooks was on the New England Patriots practice squad one week ago today. Yesterday? He was the starting outside cornerback for the Miami Dolphins. The lack of experience showed as Brooks was tried and tested by veteran quarterback Eli Manning with success time and time again.
The Dolphins shuffled the deck at offensive guard on each of their first three possessions on Sunday, including featuring recent waiver wire addition Evan Brown along with Shaq Calhoun at one point. The experiment, as you might expect, went poorly. The Dolphins were blasted up front by the Giants’ physical front of Dalvin Tomlinson, Dexter Lawrence and others. Miami couldn’t buy real estate all game on the offensive line, whether it was 4th and 1 from inside the Giants 10 or 1st and 11 from the Dolphins’ own 1-yard line (which ended in a safety after RB Patrick Laird couldn’t escape the end zone).
Miami is on options D and E at the running back position.
This team’s depth was bad in September. Now? The starting lineup must be pieced together meticulously each week.
No, the Dolphins didn’t quit against the New York Giants on Sunday, not matter how many points they conceded in the second half. But they’ve run out of gas — and they did that a long time ago.
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