Xavien Howard sat at his locker Sunday after the Dolphins misplaced to Minnesota, 24-16, and frustratingly rattled off the phrases he’s been taught his complete athletic life. Injuries aren’t an excuse for dropping. Everybody has accidents. Nobody cares when you’ve got accidents. It’s the subsequent man up. Howard, the Dolphins All Pro cornerback, went via your complete listing of sayings.
Guard Robert Hunt mentioned the identical issues. So did linebacker Jaelan Phillips, and even coach Mike McDaniel.
But sooner or later it’s now not true for the Dolphins or some other workforce. At some level, and maybe at this level proper now, the accidents do make a distinction, and the personnel losses attributable to these accidents go away a mark. No workforce has an limitless quantity of depth.
At some level you want good well being otherwise you received’t win. That’s the NFL reality.
The Dolphins are attempting to battle via that NFL reality. They’re making an attempt to persuade themselves they’ve sufficient, they will discover a method.
“We can’t keep using that excuse that everybody is injured,” Howard mentioned. “People don’t give a [expletive].”
He’s proper, in fact.
But the Dolphins, who’ve now misplaced three consecutive video games after beginning 3-0, are on the finish of the road on the subject of depth.
You can’t anticipate to thrive while you go three consecutive video games the place the quarterback who begins the sport doesn’t end it resulting from damage, you don’t have your beginning offensive tackles, and also you don’t have a beginning cornerback.
Worse, the Dolphins misplaced a number of key gamers to accidents throughout Sunday’s sport together with rookie beginning quarterback Skylar Thompson (proper thumb), cornerbacks Nik Needham (Achilles) and Keion Crossen (knee), and linebacker Trey Flowers (foot).
You don’t wish to make excuses, however you additionally don’t wish to ignore actuality.
Look on the key numbers.
The Dolphins, who had been minus-3 in turnovers Sunday towards Minnesota (5-1) with two interceptions and a misplaced fumble, are actually minus-5 in turnover margin for the season. They had been plus-2 after three weeks. They’re minus-7 the previous three weeks.
“The No. 1 indicator in wins and losses has been, and forever will be, turnovers,” McDaniel mentioned.
The Dolphins had 10 penalties for 97 yards towards Minnesota. Last week they’d 11 penalties for 102 yards towards the New York Jets. That’s 21 penalties for 199 yards the previous two weeks.
Pass safety is missing.
Dolphins quarterbacks had been sacked six occasions Sunday and absorbed 13 hits. Last week they had been sacked twice and absorbed 16 hits. That’s eight sacks and 29 quarterback hits the previous two weeks.
And particular groups errors, some the results of accidents, have been coming in abundance the previous few weeks. It’s not essentially the missed or blocked discipline aim makes an attempt or additional factors, however somewhat the lengthy kickoff and punt returns.
When you play numerous backups, unhealthy issues typically occur.
But not all the time.
The Dolphins protection type of did its factor. The protection held the Vikings to 234 yards, pressured 10 punts, recorded three sacks, seven quarterback hits and 5 passes defended. They pressured three-and-outs on Minnesota’s first 4 possessions. But they didn’t produce a turnover for the third consecutive sport, maybe one other signal of enjoying plenty of backups.
“Even though we get three-and-outs and [expletive] like that, it ain’t enough,” Howard mentioned. “And we see that now. I don’t want people to go out there chasing plays but, [expletive], we’ve got to get better.”
It’s robust when groups should grudgingly acknowledge they’ve exhausted the subsequent males within the “next-man-up” philosophy.
But that’s the place we’re at with the Dolphins. Few NFL rosters can take this sort of attrition.
On prime of all the things else, penalties are creeping up and affecting technique.
Penalties, or the big quantity of penalties, pressured McDaniel to attempt to rating on the Dolphins’ last possession of the primary half. They bought the ball at their very own 11-yard line with 28 seconds remaining, trailing, 7-3. They suffered an interception two performs later and Minnesota kicked a 34-yard discipline aim to take a 10-3 halftime lead.
McDaniel mentioned the big variety of penalties pressured him to attempt for the factors.
“It feels on the field when you’re getting a slew of penalties, it feels like it’s out of your control,” he mentioned.
The penalties aren’t doubtless a product of the personnel losses resulting from damage. But they’re one other factor going improper and inflicting stress.
Most doubtless time is the most important issue within the Dolphins getting again on the profitable monitor. Time, theoretically, will deliver good well being. Until then, the Dolphins will proceed to attempt to persuade themselves they’ve sufficient to win. The Dolphins, in different phrases, will proceed to battle towards the NFL actuality that accidents do trigger losses.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Phillips mentioned of the seemingly limitless line of accidents the Dolphins have sustained prior to now three weeks. “But it doesn’t shake our confidence. Our eyes are on next week already.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com