Joe Philbin, Miami Dolphins Starters Should Be on Hot Seat Following Week 3 Loss

Epic fails. Epic failures up and down the organization from top to bottom, from the general manager to the head coach to the players and everyone in between.

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross pegged the 2015 season as playoffs or bust before his team had even suited up for their first preseason game. Fast-forward to Week 3 of the regular season, and following an embarrassing 41-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills, everyone is on notice.

If the Dolphins do not dramatically improve between now and the end of the season, heads will roll. The plural is important, because there's no way that this can all fall on one person. 

It all will probably start with head coach Joe Philbin, whose 24-27 record speaks for itself. And why not?

His teams have never been better than mediocre, but this year, the owner pinned much-greater expectations on his team than in the past (via Around the NFL):

Ross has poured his money into this team year after year since Philbin arrived. In 2013, it was wide receivers Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline and Brandon Gibson, linebackers Dannell Ellerbe and Philip Wheeler and cornerback Brent Grimes. Two years later, nearly all of those players are no longer suiting up for the Dolphins (with the exception of Grimes).

This year, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was the splash signing. The Dolphins also signed tight end Jordan Cameron and cornerback Brice McCain.

Some of the signings have worked out better than others, but none have achieved the ultimate goal of putting this team over the hump and into the playoffs. The coaching staff has failed to maximize the potential of its best players, and Philbin admitted as much after the game.

"

...It certainly starts with me, the accountability, and the responsibility to get the team to perform up to their potential. It was not a good performance so certainly I take responsibility. We're a team, so players and coaches, we need to do a better job, both of us. It starts with me.

It's really simple. We've got two ways to go. We can start saying, 'You're the problem, I'm the problem, he's the problem, we're the problem', or, 'We'll work together and come up with some solutions and play better football'. That's really where we are as a team. I don't think it's very complicated.

"

But make no mistake, Philbin can't go out there and play the game. The coaching staff can only do so much if the players aren't executing the plays as they are scripted or if they are committing boneheaded penalties that negate what little success they have achieved. The Palm Beach Post's Andrew Abramson noted accumulating penalties was an out-of-the-ordinary situation for the Dolphins:

Through three games, the Dolphins have committed 25 penalties for 187 yards. According to NFLPenalties.com, that's the ninth-most penalties in the NFL. Compare that to 2014, when the team committed just 81 penalties for 635 yards on the season and you can see why the sudden lack of discipline is a problem.

The problems aren't just mental, though. They're also physical.

The vaunted defensive line, comprised of two All-Pro linemen, has notched just a single stack on the 2015 season, and that sack was tallied by rookie Jordan Phillips, who wasn't even active for Sunday's game against the Bills. 

Year	Completion %	TD	INT	Passer rating
2012	58.3	12	13	76.1
2013	60.4	24	17	81.7
2014	66.4	27	12	92.8
2015	61.4	5	3	85.4

But for all the problems the Dolphins have had over the years, one constant has been quarterback Ryan Tannehill's improvement. Every year, Tannehill has improved in every key metric of quarterback efficiency: completion percentage, passer rating and touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Through three games, though, that streak appears to be in danger. Tannehill is now up to just five touchdowns against three interceptions, 61.4 percent completions and a passer rating of 85.4. Those numbers are all a step back from his numbers last year.

This is gut-check time for everyone. Not just Tannehill, not just Philbin. Unless the entire team begins playing better and finishes out the season on a strong note, the Dolphins could be watching the playoffs from home for the seventh straight season. If that happens, some of them could also be watching the 2016 season from home—no longer as members of the Dolphins organization.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release.