| I'm Talking To You, Frustrated Dolphins Fans |
I know how hard it was to watch that loss against the Steelers. It was almost unbearable to see a loss, and it was incredibly hard not to break or throw something in anger.
But now that you have had a day to recover I want you to hear me out.
The Miami Dolphins still have a great chance at making the playoffs this year. Heck, they even have a good chance to make some noise in the playoffs, too.
Miami was playing one of the five best teams in the NFL in Pittsburgh, and they only lost by one point. They lost to the Jets in a close game in Week 3, and the game against the Patriots in Week 4 was also a lot closer than the score reflected.
The Dolphins can run with the best of them. The thing that is holding them back is their inability to finish off drives with touchdowns. It has been a problem all season, but this week's game against the Steelers brought it to the forefront as a glaring weakness.
My belief is that this weakness is the fault of offensive coordinator Dan Henning.
Henning has had terrible play calling so far this season, and his inability to call the right play at the right time has resulted in many drives that ended too soon. Miami's offense runs the ball when they should pass and passes the ball when they should run it.
I sometimes wonder what Henning is thinking up there in that booth. Maybe he wants to go against all conventional football wisdom sometimes with the hope that they will catch defenses off guard.
I can't be sure, but the Dolphins had a chance at beating both the Jets and Steelers if Henning was able to call the right plays at the right time, but he didn't and they end up losing both.
Miami's offense in incredibly talented with great receivers, great running backs, a great offensive line, an underused tight end, and a more-talented-than-most-Dolphins-fans-think quarterback.
I think that the Pittsburgh game will make Dan Henning finally realize that he needs to make some changes to the play calling. Sure, you can argue that at least the Dolphins were able to score on 6 different drives, but that isn't good enough.
I am actually very confident that Henning is going to change the play calling, and here is why.
Earlier in the season there were a lot of complaints that Miami was depending too much on passing the ball and weren't running the ball enough. The Dolphins basically became one-dimensional, and it showed with two losses in a row to the Jets and Pats. So, Dan Henning changed the offensive play calling up and called more run plays, and they worked out well. Running the ball may not have worked well against the Steelers, but no running game works well against the Steelers, so his attempt to infuse the running game more has still worked out very well.
What that proves, though, is that Henning can make changes, and he can do something right. I know that some of you may not always feel that Henning can do something right, but he is an NFL coordinator for a reason. He will make the necessary changes to help the Dolphins score more touchdowns when Miami is in or near the red zone.
Just be patient. I promise it will come. The fact that the Dolphins would have won against one of the best teams in the NFL if the referees hadn't stolen the game from them is a good sign. Imagine how good they can be if Dan Henning starts to call better plays and Chad Henne develops even more. This team is actually shaping up to be really, really good. We just need to give them time.
That's pretty much all I have for now. I urge you to be patient, though. Things will get better soon. I promise.
One more thing, and I want you to be honest about this. If I had told you the Dolphins would score on 6 different drives against the Steelers would you have thought that they would have won? I know I would have, but too bad 5 of those drives were field goals. This game can be summed up by wasted opportunities, I think.
Subscribe to DolphinShout