By Andres Cruz

After an Impressive season opening win against the San Diego Chargers, the Miami Dolphins were on the road to success. Jay Cutler had over 200 passing yards, Cody Parkey dominated the field with four successful field goals, and the defense was consistent in containing San Diego’s offense.

After the game, most Dolphins fans were sure the momentum was impenetrable and they were clearly on the right track to a playoff season. Well, once again the Dolphins have proven those assumptions wrong with two embarrassing losses in the past two weeks.

#Dolphins last 19 drives:
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
Int
Downs
Downs
Int
TD
Int
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt

— Ian Hest 🟦 (@IanHest) October 1, 2017

The trail of embarrassment started on week 3 when the Dolphins faced off against the New York Jets at MetLife stadium. Right from the get-go, it was obvious the Jets were going to dominate the field all day long. Even though neither team hadn’t put up any points on the scoreboard during the first quarter, The Jets moved down the field tremendously while on offense, and stopped the Dolphins from gaining yards while on defense. At the end of the second quarter, the Jets led the game 10-0 and allowed the dolphins to gain only 49 yards. 49 YARDS! It’s hard to decide whether that’s more embarrassing or shocking, but it sure is both.

Jay Cutler’s passing or Jay Ajayi’s rushing can’t even be blamed for such a sad statistic, because the offensive line played horribly. Cutler threw 2 interceptions, was sacked two times, and hit many more after throwing passes that all eventually landed on the ground. Ajayi’s tricky footwork only took him so far against an onslaught of defenders who were constantly being let free by a tired offensive line, which is why the Dolphins only rushed for 30 yards.

The performance of the Miami defense was even worse, especially when talking about their backfield. Their linebackers and safeties were completely garbage. They barely tackled, deciding that it’d be better to skid on the ground whenever the ball carrier came their way or simply jump out of the way. The Jets offense had a field day, pun intended, ending up with a total of 336 yards at the end of the game. They left MetLife with a 20-6 victory in the bag. Adam Gase, head coach for the Dolphins, was at a loss for words simply saying “they beat the *explicit* out of us”.

Week 4 was no better. If anything, it was worse for the dolphins who lost 20-0 against the New Orleans Saints at Wembley Arena in London, England. The offensive line for the Dolphins was once again horrific, with Cutler being sacked once in the game. The Miami defense allowed the Saints to end the game with 261 passing yards, with a total of 347 yards.

What Dolphins could really use right now is a home game back in Miami. So far, all their games have been on the road and the team has been feeling the negative effects worse than they should be. Even so, that’s still no excuse for such poor performance from a professional team. What the Dolphins should focus on repairing is their offensive line’s stamina and how they run a zone defense. Their rugged execution of the zone has resorted in terrible coverage of the ball and has been factor in the backfield’s poor performance.

The Dolphins are still resilient as ever, as offensive linemen Mike Pouncey stated: “Anytime you lose a football game, if you’re not mad, something’s wrong. That shows you have a really good football team—guys that really care—when they come in and they’re pissed off about a loss.”

That being said, Gase and the Dolphins seriously need to kick it into high gear during practice. Another horrible loss, especially by nearly twenty points, will only lessen morale and hopes of every reaching the postseason this year.

If I'm Matt Moore, I'm recalling the end of last season and thinking, seriously, you don't think I can do better than this? #dolphins

— Craig Davis (@CraigDavisRuns) October 1, 2017