Phins MUST end the season strong to validate hope
The Miami Dolphins 2022 Season has been another rollercoaster season, but the good news is at least this year there has been plenty of good moments to add to the turbulence. But even though close loss on the road in Buffalo to the Bills offered plenty of hope, in the end, it was a still a loss. The good news is with three games left Miami can have a strong finish, make the post season, and confirm the hope for this season and the future. So, a victory over the Green Bay Packers is an absolute must and no excuse or moral victory will be good enough.
Phins are in the make-or-break moment for this season… and maybe more.
Green Bay is a must, MUST win!
You can bet with the best pay per head that Green Bay isn’t as bad as their record may indicate. They have the 15th ranked passing offense and 12th ranked rushing offense with a slowly healing Aaron Rodgers. Miami struggles against the pass and facing a balanced offense is always tough, but thankfully the Phins are excellent at stopping the run. On the flip side, Rodgers is mobile and savvy enough to beat the zero blitz. Still, I like our matchups of our offense vs their defense because Green Bay is 20th in scoring offense with only 20 points per game.
The match up of our offense vs their defense is a little more concerning because of what we’ve witnessed over the last three games.
Packers are middle of the road in total yards allowed on defense, but the bulk of that comes from their 29th ranked rush defense that allowed 148 yards per game. The Packers have the 2nd ranked passing defense and over the last three weeks have only allowed 158 passing yards per game. Much of this comes from their 9th ranked pressure generated. This could pose a problem for Miami for a couple of reasons.
First, the Dolphins struggle to protect and a sizable book has come out on how to slow the Dolphins new offense. Second, Mike McDaniel has done some great things this season, but adapting and committing to the run game even when it is clearly demanded isn’t among them.
Just like 49ers, Chargers, and Bills, Packers demand Phins run the ball
The 49ers game we ran the ball 8 times, against the Chargers we didn’t start to run the ball until the middle of the 2 Qtr and never with the volume we needed. The Bills game screamed for running on short yardage situations, in the Red Zone, and late in the game when the snow began to fall. We ran a bunch early and on some short yardage situations… and even in when the snow fell. But there weren’t enough runs overall, far too little in the Redzone, not nearly enough late on 3rd and short, and in the snow, we ran wide zone instead of inside zone, which wasn’t smart.
This is another game that will likely demand runs in volume, in the Red Zone, in short situations to win. But McDaniel and OC Frank Smith have said over these three losses that they don’t feel they could have done better in their gameplans, and play calls over the last three losses. They have marked execution from the players as the primary problem. So, fans need to keep their eyes on this situation and how it plays out as it will be critical for evaluating the future going forward.
I think if you have eyes, it’s clear as day we should have run the ball more and that McDaniel shy away from the run game especially in critical situations. But coach knows best… until he doesn’t. Come what may, let’s get this win and keep hope alive!! Go Phins!!!