In Turning Season Around, Miami Dolphins' Biggest Obstacle May Be Themselves

If anyone on the Miami Dolphins roster is looking to assign blame for the team's slow start, the first place they should look is the mirror. 

Nearly everyone can take some level of culpability for the team's 1-3 start that has subsequently resulted in the firing of head coach Joe Philbin and defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle. That means that nearly everyone can help turn it around, but no one can do it alone.

The bye week may be just a quarter of the way through the season, but it couldn't come at a better time for the Dolphins, as it allows the Dolphins to self-scout all the problems that have led to the lackluster on-field product we have seen through four games.

The first thing the Dolphins must do is find out how to get out of their own way.

Some of their problems have been self-inflicted. According to NFLPenalties.com, the Dolphins have averaged 8.5 accepted penalties per game, which is currently the seventh-highest average in the NFL. 

But make no mistake, it's not only physical problems that manifest on the field in the form of penalties on Sundays; it's also the mental aspect of their preparation and game-planning from Monday to Saturday that seems to be getting in their way.

They lack aggressiveness on defense and variety on offense. Of course, the only people who can fix those problems are interim head coach Dan Campbell and interim defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. 

On offense, the easy fix would be more balance between the running game and the passing game, which might finally help the Dolphins offensive line to protect Ryan Tannehill. 

Through four games, the Dolphins rank dead last in both rush attempts and rushing yards. They could help the passing game a great deal by running the ball more on first down. According to Pro-Football-Reference.com, they've averaged 4.65 yards per carry on first downs, which is the seventh-highest average in the NFL. 

2015	Dolphins	NFL rank
Points	65	30
Yards	1259	26
Pass attempts	171	3
Passing yards	982	17
Net yards per pass attempt	5.4	30
Rush attempts	65	32
Rushing yards	277	31
Yards per rush attempt	4.3	10
Third down %	26.9	30
Red zone %	50	T-20

It's actually kind of ironic, because the Dolphins average 7.71 yards to go on third downs, which is the 10th-highest average in the NFL. If only they would run the ball more on first down, maybe they wouldn't face so many 3rd-and-long situations that have resulted in a 26.9 percent conversion rate, second-lowest in the NFL. 

A little balance could go a long way on offense.

Defensively, Anarumo may not completely change the scheme or the balance of things, but perhaps his presence will create a spark in the defense—and don't completely rule out some adjustments. 

The easy fix on defense would be to transition to a more attacking style of play, which would finally allow defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and defensive end Cameron Wake to play to their strengths. Through four games, the Dolphins have logged just one sack as a team—the only team with fewer than five sacks at this point in the season. 

But perhaps one of the most important changes that could take place on defense is instilling more toughness. That's a process that has already begun at Dolphins practice as the team has participated in Oklahoma drills, according to Jeff Darlington of NFL Media.

"To me, if you start tweaking those things a little bit and [create] the competitive environment, you force those guys to where now they can get exposed a little bit or they'll rise to the top," Campbell said at a press conference after his first practice. "That stuff bleeds out into your offense and defense, bleeds out into your offensive and defensive linemen. It bleeds out to all those guys, but to me that's kind of where that starts."

That's perhaps the biggest step the Dolphins can take toward changing their fortune in 2015. That being said, it's also not a step that can be taken overnight, or even over the span of a week. It's going to take a season-long commitment from everyone to enhance the toughness of this team. 

Whether or not it's too little too late, we won't find out until it's already too late. 

Unless otherwise noted, all stats obtained via Pro-Football-Reference.com or ProFootballFocus.com.