What Miami Dolphins Must Improve Most Coming out of Week 5 Bye
What a difference a week makes for the Miami Dolphins.
After losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3, the Dolphins were seemingly in a tailspin with controversy swirling around them after Joe Philbin refused to support Ryan Tannehill as the starting quarterback.
Luckily for them, the Oakland Raiders were on their Week 4 schedule and they in turn responded with a 38-14 beatdown in London.
They now head into their bye week with a much more optimistic outlook but still plenty of things they can work on to get better for the final 12 games of the season.
With that said, let's take a look at the four most important areas the Dolphins must improve upon in order to contend in the wide-open AFC East.
Coaching
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Some people may argue that Philbin's lack of support for Tannehill lit a fire under the third-year quarterback that caused him to play the way he did against the Raiders.
I would argue that those people couldn't be more wrong.
The reality is that Philbin was lucky that he didn't completely lose his locker room as head coaches should be the ones that put out fires in the media, not start them.
It's not a good look when the head coach says one thing and the offensive coordinator, both quarterbacks and the rest of the locker room say the opposite.
It was clear that everyone in the Dolphins locker room was on the same page, except for Philbin and all he did was start a pointless quarterback controversy that the players had to respond to.
There's no doubt that the Dolphins are a talented team—arguably the most talented team in the AFC East—but it's mistakes like this that make me believe that the head coach is simply clueless, which in turn makes it difficult to see the Dolphins succeeding with him at the helm.
However, there is still plenty of time left for Philbin to turn it around and it also appears that the rest of the coaching staff has already started to do the same.
After players were reportedly furious at defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle's game plan against the Chiefs—via NFL.com's Kevin Patra—things went much better against Oakland as Coyle went back to what succeeded against the New England Patriots and the team responded with a dominating defensive effort.
Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor also called his best game since the second half against the Patriots, calling a number of quick passes, rollouts and option plays that allowed Tannehill and the rest of the offense to thrive.
If the Dolphins' coaches can put together more game plans like they had against the Raiders and Patriots and less like they had against the Bills and Chiefs, then the team has a great chance of making a run this season.
Ryan Tannehill
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Count me in as one of the many people that predicted a breakout season from Tannehill heading into this year that have been thoroughly disappointed with what he's done thus far.
Prior to the game against the Raiders, Tannehill seemed to have regressed from where he was last season. His accuracy was way off, his pocket presence hasn't been there and he has made a number of bad mistakes that a third-year quarterback should not be making.
With that said, he was absolutely phenomenal in Week 4 and finally looked like the player many of us expected to see to start the season.
In total, Tannehill completed 23-of-31 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns—at one point completing 14 consecutive passes in the first half—while also running for 35 yards on five rushes.
It was easily one of Tannehill's best all-around games in his career and is something that he needs to build on moving forward in the season.
The fact is that the ultimate success or failure of the Dolphins this season sits squarely on the shoulders of Tannehill.
It will be up to him to put together more performances like he had against the Raiders and become a consistently reliable player that the team can count on week in and week out.
Commitment to the Run
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One of the more pleasant surprises with the Dolphins so far this season has been the sheer dominance in which they have run the football.
It started in Week 1 when Knowshon Moreno put the team on his back against the Patriots—running for 134 yards and a game-clinching touchdown on 24 carries—and has continued even after he went down with an injury.
In his absence, Lamar Miller has been nothing short of outstanding nearly every time he has touched the ball, averaging nearly 5.7 yards per carry—second best in the league, according to Pro-Football Reference.
As a team, the Dolphins rank sixth in the league in rushing yards per game, racking up over 142 yards a week despite only being 11th in the league in rushing attempts with 114.
Right now, it appears the only thing that has been able to slow down the rushing attack has been the coaches.
In comparison, the Dolphins' aerial attack is ranked 23rd in the league in passing yards per game (212), but is sixth in passing attempts (155).
That type of disparity is fine if you have Aaron Rodgers or Peyton Manning throwing for you, but when you have Tannehill and a backfield that has been this productive, those numbers need to be much closer together.
Until Moreno comes back, Miller needs to be much more of a focal point in the offense and should be getting up near 20 carries per game, a number he hasn't been close to yet this season.
In fact, the only time Miller carried the ball more than 12 times this year he went off for 108 rushing yards on 15 carries against the Chiefs.
There's no doubt committing more to the run will not only take more pressure off Tannehill, but it will open up the passing attack as more defenders creep down into the box.
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Consistency
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The biggest problem plaguing the Dolphins so far this year is the same thing that caused them to miss the playoffs last season—a lack of consistency.
The Dolphins—seemingly more than any other team—are capable of looking like Super Bowl contenders one week and then looking like one of the worst teams in the league the next.
We saw it numerous times last year.
They would start 3-0 and then drop four straight.
They would beat the Cincinnati Bengals one week and then lose to the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers the next.
They would win four out of five games, including a thrilling win over the Patriots to put them in control of their playoff lives, and then get embarrassed back-to-back weeks to the Bills and Jets.
The team is back at it again this season, following up a dominating performance over the Patriots in Week 1 with two straight terrible losses against the Bills and Chiefs.
If the Dolphins are hoping to become a legitimate playoff contender this season, they have to find some sort of consistency in their performance from week-to-week.
With the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears the next two games on the schedule, now is the perfect time for Miami to build upon its win over the Raiders during its bye week and strive for more consistently good performances each and every week.
Once it can do that, we will finally be looking at a team with a legitimate chance to not only make the playoffs, but win the AFC East.
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