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After starting the season a red-hot 3-0, the Miami Dolphins are now 4-3 and headed to Houston to take on the Texans on Thursday Night Football.
There are many factors that led to the Dolphins 1-3 skid.
Poor offensive line play.
Inability to convert third downs.
Poor quarterback play.
Non-existent pass rush.
Poor play-calling.
Injuries.
The list goes on and on.
But no matter what the issues have been, the Dolphins had a chance to separate themselves from the rest of the AFC on Sunday. Instead, they fell flat on their face, allowing 248 yards on the ground.
Snap counts from yesterday’s game surfaced, and helped paint the picture of why the run defense struggled vs Detroit.
Snap counts for Dolphins-Lions. Amendola was a damn warrior. Too much McMillan and too little Taylor for my tastes. pic.twitter.com/BvOyGNpROz
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) October 22, 2018
McMillan played 84% of the Dolphins defensive snaps. That is not good for a guy that has shown time and time again, his inability to shed blocks. More so, he remains a liability in coverage. I don’t think his career has been defined, because the skill-set is there for improvement. But he has struggled early on in 2018.
Another factor, and probably the most important, is defensive tackle Vincent Taylor only played 23 snaps (36%) on defense. Up until this point, he has been the Dolphins best interior defensive lineman, and was greatly needed on Sunday.
Offensively, Brock Osweiler continues to look the part of a NFL quarterback. Osweiler completed 22/31 passes for 239 yards and 2 touchdowns. Again, this is more than adequate play from your starting QB and had the defensive played better, we might be talking about the 5-2 Miami Dolphins.
Kenyan Drake made the most of his opportunities, rushing for 72 yards and a touchdown on just 6 carries.
According to the fine folks at Pro Football Focus, here were the Dolphins top offensive performers from Week 7
Top #Dolphins offensive grades from Week 7:
— PFF MIA Dolphins (@PFF_Dolphins) October 22, 2018
WR, Danny Amendola - 81.5
WR, Jakeem Grant - 80.0
TE, Mike Gesicki - 77.2
QB, Brock Osweiler - 75.3
TE, Nick O’Leary - 73.2#DETvsMIA #FinsUp
In Albert Wilson’s absence, the Dolphins might have to call upon DeVante Parker. Parker was a healthy scratch in Week 7 and his agent took to Twitter to combat the decision made by head coach Adam Gase.
DeVante Parker was inactive for the Miami Dolphins today. Here is a statement just provided to the PB Post from his agent, Jimmy Gould. pic.twitter.com/eXLxTtCFwA
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) October 21, 2018
The Dolphins will look to turn their season around against one of the NFL’s hottest teams on Thursday. A win vs Houston, could have playoff implications late in the season. Yes, Miami has struggled on the road. But against a banged up Texans team, the Dolphins have as good of a chance as ever to turn things around.
On this week’s episode of Phinsider Radio, Matthew Cannata and I discuss the real identity of the 2018 Miami Dolphins.
*Just click the play button right above this and enjoy! Phinsider Radio is excited to be a part of the SB Nation network of podcasts. Only 7 podcasts were chosen for the initial unveil, and we were one of them!
This article was written by Josh Houtz. Follow him on Twitter!