Omar Kelly: Dolphins already buckling to season's pressure. Is an end in site?
Published in Football
MIAMI — It’s officially open season on the Miami Dolphins.
Say what you want about South Florida’s NFL franchise right now because there are no consequences, no repercussions.
Who isn’t looking for someone to blame, someone to fire?
Players, coaches, executives, scouts, the cafeteria staff [which I’m a big fan of for the record], the janitorial crew, and landscape technicians [jazzing up that title] that keep the Miami Gardens facility immaculate, everyone’s getting it because we have plenty of blame to go around.
“Inside the building, inside the facility, a lot of that noise stops,” fullback Alec Ingold said after exhaling a deep sigh when talking about the negativity the Dolphins have submerged themselves in following Sunday’s 33-27 loss to the New England Patriots.
The problem is, Ingold’s lying to himself, and the public.
I see it in this team’s eyes, they are terrified of what’s to come.
This team came into this season absolutely aware of what’s at stake, knowing that everyone’s on the chopping block, and the 2025 roster either doesn’t care or doesn’t have the fight in them to attack all their challenges like a wounded animal backed into a corner.
Either way you answer that question this franchise is screwed. Doomed!
Everyone is responsible for this disappointing, disheartening 0-2 start the Dolphins are on, and that includes the media that’s covering the team.
The fact that nobody predicted this flat-footed start as a possibility, a likelihood after watching them get pushed around in joint practices against Chicago and Detroit hints that the people covering this franchise are just as soft as the team we cover with a gentle touch.
As a result, the lowering of the standards has become a way of life, and that’s THE problem.
A win against Buffalo, the AFC East division champions for five consecutive seasons, would alleviate some pressure, and inject some much-needed confidence. An upset could provide a reset.
But let’s be honest, it would only put a pause on the pursuit of pink slip distribution.
The realization that many in this fan base are rooting for total failure, a complete collapse so South Florida can get the scorched-earth restart — which is about the only thing owner Steve Ross has never done — is where we reside heading into Thursday night’s nationally televised game.
At this point let’s just hope the team doesn’t embarrass itself.
That’s why any claim a critic wants to make, whatever disrespectful statement a skeptic, or hater wants to level on this team can’t be defended.
The Dolphins’ roster is poorly built.
General manager Chris Grier is in over his head, and has proven he isn’t good at his job.
Miami’s finances are a mess, and have been for some time.
Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t proven he’s an elite quarterback, and has lost the poise that made him a Pro Bowler in 2023.
Anthony Weaver’s defense sits atop of the list of problems this team has because it isn’t getting stops.
Miami’s coaching has been sloppy, and the play-calling has lacked creativity.
And the Dolphins players are undisciplined, and the team’s leaders need to do a better job of making their presence felt.
At this point it’s impossible to dispute that Mike McDaniel’s team is mentally and physically weak, which explains why they get pushed around regularly, and typically fold when pressure rises.
That’s why the Dolphins never responded to the 33-8 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in the season opener, and let a fourth-quarter win slip out of their clutches when New England’s Antonio Gibson returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to retake the lead with 7:06 left in the game.
What did the Dolphins do from there?
Like usual, the Dolphins collapsed in the offense’s final two possessions.
De’Von Achane, and the forever disappearing run game, lost 2 yards on a run. Then Miami was penalized for two delay-of-game calls, committing two false starts, gave up three sacks, overthrowing Tyreek Hill deep, and Tagovailoa had a fourth-down pass picked off.
That’s the recap of the 20 offensive snaps the Dolphins had when the offense needed to score a touchdown to eliminate a six-point deficit, winning the game with a touchdown and an extra point.
Like the entire Mike McDaniel era, the Dolphins had their chances and buckled to the pressure of the moment.
They failed at rising to the occasion, which has become the norm.
The only thing left to figure out is when this regime, this flawed rebuild, which began in 2019, stops circling the drain and finally gets flushed.
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