Consistency The Most Needed Improvement To Dolphins Rushing Attack
Consistency in the running game is more important than big plays
Big rush totals looks nice, but consistency in rushing brings consistent wins
The NFL is pretty much a passing league. However, that doesn’t mean that the NFL is a one dimensional league. If a team truly wants long term success in this league, then they need to have a balanced offense that runs the football.
During Coach Joe Philbin’s tenure in Miami, and for the first few games of Adam Gase‘s tenure, Miami’s offense was pass happy and with very little rushing attack to speak of. However, Coach Gase acknowledged his mistake and made a concerted effort to get the running game more involved in his offense.
By week 5, Gase decided to lean on its running game by giving Jay Ajayi 25 carries against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Miami Dolphins were rewarded with a dominating victory and a 204 yard rushing performance from Ajayi.
This ignited Miami’s start to their 6 game winning streak, and a three game streak of over 100+ yards for Ajayi. For anyone watching the games it was clear that Miami had transformed themselves into a successful ground and pound offense.
Sure, the offensive line was super healthy for this stretch in the season, but the team also realized they were blessed with having the type of running back that not every team has.
The most dramatic thing the Dolphins can do is bring consistency to their run game
Ajayi is a ferocious runner who enjoys contact and does a terrific job of punishing defenders with his downhill aggressive running style. This style cannot be taught. Running backs are either finesse backs or smash mouth runners… and Ajay is a smash-mouth runner that wears on a defense, especially in the fourth quarter.
This is an identity that Miami must build on this upcoming season.
But they need consistency, and the line needs to do more work, so Ajayi doesn’t have to break 4 tackles before he gets to the line of scrimmage.
Miami must focus on is being consistent, because even though Ajayi had an impressive 3 games where he ran for over 200 yards, he also had 11 games where he ran for under 80 yards, and 6 of those 11 games he ran for under 50 yards.
Sure in games 2-4 Ajayi had a total of only 18 carries over 3 games, which is when Gase was still experiencing a pass happy Philbin hangover. However, there was still 8 other games where Ajayi and the running game were basically a non-factor. This needs to change this season.
The key for any running attack is the offensive line… and for us, this mostly boils down to health ad Guard play.
Betting software for bookmakers are still not convinced that Miami has completely solidified their offensive line issues, because Mike Pouncey is still a huge question mark in terms of health, Laremy Tunsil already suffered a hamstring injury in OTA’s, both Guard positions could be a liability, and Right Tackle Ja’Wuan James has yet to have a complete year that’s not diminished by some poor play or injury.
Consistency could propel this run attack to greatness
None of this is a lock either way. So fans must watch, wait, and pray.
Miami must get a couple of lucky breaks with Pouncey being available for most of the season and some surprisingly above-average performance at the Guard positions to get the consistency they desperately need.
One of the best stories out of OTA’s so far has been the continued improvement of Ajayi, which is downright scary considering that he ran for 1,272 yards and 8 touchdowns last year. However, he can’t do it all on his own and needs help from his offensive line, if he is going put up more consistent 100+ yard performances.
Will he get the help he needs? No one knows. So we must lean on our faith in Gase to believe it will happen. Yeah, this could end up really good or really bad. I’ll roll the dice and say it will work out… of course it’s very easy to do this time of year. It’s a lot harder if the run game is a disaster Week 1. What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans thoughts about whether or not Miami can have a more consistent running attack this season?
WOW, this is going to be a looooooooong 5 weeks!!!
Reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long… but on a good note: I paid 200 buck last year for the package, this year it was 130 with three installments… my wife won’t complain as much, and the three payments of 44 looks a lot nicer to her than 200.
…side note …much as I dislike being stuck with Verizon as the only cell phone provider out here in boonie land, I have to say their NFL cost free/data free game coverage was for the most part excellent …so much so that I won’t be subscribing to either sat TV NFL package this season …once I figured out how to hook up my phone to the wi-fi and my TV, I was in phinfan heaven.
Sweet!!! I’m not in the U.S. these days, so I don’t have that luxury– god for you, though!!! Lucky dog.
Hey!
The questioned is how do we averaged 150 yards rushing?
How do we eliminate throwing interceptions: Considering Tom Brady only threw two interceptions the 2016 season.
How do we incorporate our receiver into proficient blockers?
I would contend that by rushing the football will promote positive health with our offensive linemen longevity and perfecting the short passes will eliminate the interceptions.
Too many passing plays keep our offensive linemen injured.
The one two punch that will hold up this season will be:
Jay Ajayi and the rookie Deveon Smith I really believed are the one two punch we need.
http://www.phinmaniacs.com/news/film-review-new-dolphins-rb-deveon-smith
I just don’t see Smith making the 53 man roster. He could end up on the practice squad if he doesn’t get poached within 24 hours of release. This of coarse is just my opinion, like the WR group, the RB group is locked and loaded at the top 3 spots, Gase really likes the 3 RBs he has and I don’t see them carrying 4 RBs when it would probably make more sense to carry an extra WR with players such as Morgan, Ford, and Scott all vying for 1 or 2 spots!!!
I’ve been wrong before (true story, lol), so you never know. I just don’t see them carrying 4 RBs on the active roster and Gase is not going to make Ajayi, Williams, or Drake inactive for Smith.
I agree with you both:
It will come down to 4 RB’s or 6 Wr’s… I don’t see Smith making it at 3 RB’s… so he would need to out play the other WR’s and make Gase keep 4 RB’s. At this point it’s all hype for the WR’s. They could disappear come preseason. It’s easier for a back to shine early that a WR… but given the Landry situation this could be preventative maintenance. Then there are injuries, which can change everything. Williams was a FA so it’s not unheard of that a FA sticks.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out. And yeah, run games is sweet and would help the D out a lot and limit injuries on the QB.
Great point Admin, Smith probably will get several more opportunities (carries) opposed to the WRs (receptions). It very well could come down to special teams play, and should Smith standout there it could sway the coaches to keep 4 RBs and 5 WRs. As I mentioned several weeks ago, I believe this Dolphins special teams in ’17 is going to be outstanding!
Agree… I’d love to see Smith be a gem.. really, given the wonder of Ajayi’s knee and the need for a lot of backs… and since Williams will likely be gone next year as well.
All good questions and I think they will all be answered by how well our offensive line can play. If they can stay healthy and play consistent then we have a chance to average 150 yards a game, and limit interceptions, but thats a big IF
We still need a better back up center. I believe the guy from the jets is still available(having a brain fart and can’t remember his name). But I don’t think anyone believes Pouncey will play every game and that killed our line Last year. And a good center can cover up average guard play to a certain extent. Consistency on the line will be the main key to the run game and to the win column
Absolutely on the OL… but Mangold is more of a man block guy… the one stretch needs a C who can work the second level. Without it, a lot of big plays disappear. We just don’t have anyone with that skill as a back up. I’m not sure of Larsen on the second level, and if he is better than Urbik. I like Urbik a lot–maybe too much, maybe not– and think he is a solid back up, but he does limit the run game as he is not good on the second level. Honestly, only Pouncey can give Miami the dimension it needs… scary. And with consistency, even if certain players are okay, but the unit as a whole remains the same, that consistency would go along way… but injuries are the big question Samson. Tunsil, Pouncey, and James… they stay healthy for the most part and it will be a darn good season… that though is easier said than done.
Yeah Mangold is still on the market, he would be a nice insurance policy on Pouncey or even someone we could kick out to Guard
1st down incompletions need to be avoided. Seems every time we did that a run would follow, thus putting us in a third and long. That was the biggest concern I had about Gase’s play calling. Coaches have mentioned how we were second to last in offensive plays per game, I believe that staying on the field, offensive plays will be there priority. We did rank near the top in big plays, so I guess that could be considered. All this talk about offensive plays, time of possession, yet we are implementing the no-huddle offense again. No huddle and 3 ‘n out will again put our defense on the field longer than necessary. I don’t mind the no-huddle, but if you are not moving the chains and shortening the game you will wear the defense out by mid season.
That and zero or negative run plays. First down is huge… we sucked 1st half and first down quite often. The big play covered up a lot of failings at consistency. But on the bright side, if they could add consistency this could be an amazing O. No huddle I think is really about tempo. When it’s clicking turn the tempo up. It takes a good feel to know when and where.
So true, I like the up tempo-no huddle, however; like you mentioned if first downs and/or negative runs accumulate that would put a lot of pressure on this defense. In some ways this offense can dictate some of the defenses success. I really look for this offense to be flirting w top 5 🙂 🙂 🙂
Those first down misses or drops are killer like you said… consistency would be so radical for this club!!!
…what would truly be radical would be a healthy, talented OL …including the guards
…Larsen has been cut by 4 teams before he landed here …he never sought FA on his own, the teams that had him just decided he wasn’t quite good enough to keep them from looking elsewhere …not bad enough to cut right away, but not the answer in the long run …so what is it about him now that makes anyone think he’s more than what he has always been …a career backup?
…thing is, this offense really has some talent at RB and WR …possibles at QB and TE …and then there is the OL …to be consistent, the OL has to gel and do so game after game …not necessarily great, but necessarily consistently good at both pass and run play …and to beat a dead horse to death once more, where is that going to come from? …seriously?
Unfortunately that horse is going to continue to get beaten until we finally see something that will make us believe that we finally solved the O-Line issues. At the moment I dont see it, and then when you add in injuries this could get very ugly very fast