Ugly Win Shows Dolphins' Flaws, Proves Playoffs Are Far from Reality

The Miami Dolphins are not a playoff team.

Yes, they beat their rival New York Jets on Monday Night Football, 16-13, on the road. Yes, they have a theoretical chance to edge one of the six other AFC teams with at least seven wins but not leading a division for a wild-card spot. No, it's not happening.

For four quarters, the hapless New York Jets all but announced they had no intention to pass against the vaunted Dolphins front seven. The Jets ran roughshod over them anyway.

The Dolphins tried putting seven in the box, eight in the box, nine in the box; nothing changed. The Jets, now 2-10, physically bullied the Dolphins. They ran the ball an astounding 49 times and averaged a stonking 5.7 yards per carry.

Wayward tailback Chris Johnson flashed his long-lost CJ2K form and notched his first 100-yard game since December 29, 2013. Chris Ivory piled up 62 hard yards on 16 carries. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg dialed up a brilliant run-heavy game plan full of exotic sweeps, motions and fakes that got eight different Jets involved in the run game and kept Dolphins defenders scrambling.

Despite the Jets all but conceding the passing game to Miami—New York quarterback Geno Smith threw only 13 times—quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins couldn't keep up.

Of course, the Jets' front seven did plenty of their own bullying. They notched a low-for-them total of two sacks but stuffed the Dolphins' run game. Tailback Lamar Miller led the way with just 13 carries for 56 yards, and Tannehill's four runs for 13 yards were next best in both categories.

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Over and over again, the Jets did everything they could to hand the game to the Dolphins: Smith threw an interception, Jets kicker Nick Folk missed two field goals, Jets punter Ryan Quigley had one blocked and the Jets committed seven penalties for minus-57 yards when the Dolphins committed just three for minus-20.

A team with only two wins in nine games spent the whole matchup trying to give the lead away, and the Dolphins didn't even take it until there was 1:57 remaining in the contest.

Not only did the Dolphins not play playoff-caliber football, they didn't play winning football.

On ESPN's Monday Night Football postgame show, analyst Steve Young asked Tannehill why, when the Dolphins are stocked with talent on both sides of ball, they're capable of struggling so mightily.

"We gotta be more consistent," Tannehill replied. That's true, of course, but this performance was much more than an off week. They were pushed around, physically dominated for 60 minutes. This from a Dolphins team that ran for 191 yards against the New England Patriots this year.

That's not just inconsistent, it's schizophrenic. 

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Small credit goes to Tannehill for putting together the game-winning drive, and to this defense for getting the ball back into his hands. Good teams find ways to win when they aren't at their best, and the Dolphins technically did that. When asked what he thinks he has to work on to join the ranks of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, he was quick with the same answer.

"Consistency," he said. "I gotta keep improving week in, week out." Tannehill talked about looking at the best quarterbacks in the NFL and seeing how they always play well. But a lack of poor plays isn't the only answer.

Tannehill completed 25 of his 35 attempts against the Jets; it was his fifth straight game completing at least 70 percent of his passes. However, he averaged a mediocre 6.7 yards per attempt and threw no touchdowns to offset his third-quarter interception. He was lucky Calvin Pace didn't come up with a second pick:

"It was frustrating," Tannehill told ESPN, "for us to keep have to dinking and dunking down the field. The Jets did a great job of getting underneath our deeper passes." If the Jets truly clamped down on downfield passes, it's the first time this season; coming into the game, no secondary in the NFL had allowed more passing touchdowns, per Pro Football Reference.

The difference between Tannehill and an Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady isn't just that they don't make as many mistakes. They make big plays against every level of competition, and no matter the pressure.

If Tannehill and the Dolphins melt on the road against one of the most inept teams in football, how can they hope to beat the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14? How can they beat the Patriots in Gillette Stadium the following week?

They closed 2013 with two winnable games against the Jets and the Buffalo Bills, needing just one victory to be in the playoff mix. They helplessly capitulated, getting outscored 39-7. Now, they're poised for a case of deja vu. A repeat of this week's performance wouldn't top the Vikings in Week 16; the Week 17 rematch against the Jets isn't a gimme, either.

Any AFC team is going to need at least 10 wins to make the postseason, and there's no way this soft, scatterbrained Dolphins squad takes three games out of those four.

They haven't been mathematically eliminated, but they're physically out of contention.