The Dolphins have allowed 24 sacks through the first five weeks of the season, the most in the league and a number that puts them on pace to allow 77 sacks over the course of the regular season.
It’s no big surprise, then, to learn that providing better protection for quarterback Ryan Tannehill is one of the team’s main focuses during their bye week. Tannehill said all the sacks haven’t affected him mentally, but that the team is going to have to try to do different things to ensure that his physical health isn’t compromised.
“I really don’t feel a mental toll,” Tannehill said, via the Miami Herald. “Obviously, we have an issue. It’s been well-documented. We talked about it a lot inside the building. It’s something we’re going to continue to work and use this bye week to lock in some ways, screens, quick game, moving the pocket. We’ll use this time to really do that, move forward and cut down those numbers.”
Different approaches to throwing the ball is only one of the solutions being bandied about in Miami. The Dolphins haven’t had much of a running game in the opening weeks of the season, leading them to throw almost twice as often as they run. Center Mike Pouncey thinks more balance is essential to better pass protection.
“We have to get our running game going. We’ve got to stop letting teams tee off on us when they know we’re throwing the football,” Pouncey said, via the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “If we can fix our running game our passing issues will go away.”
It’s going to take a little from Column A and a little from Column B to get things moving in the right direction for Miami. And that’s still not all the battle. Tweaks to the scheme and the play calls are only going to help so much if the actual play of the offensive line doesn’t improve at the same time.
If all that comes together, the Dolphins offense will be in much better shape. If not, that 3-0 start may feel like it happened years ago by the end of October.