The sputtering Dolphins offense has drawn a lot of attention over the first three weeks of their season, which is to be expected when you’re scoring eight points a game and averaging 249 yards a game.
There’s been less attention paid to the defense, which has done pretty well given how little support they’ve gotten from the offense. They have yet to allow more than 20 points in a game and have kept the Dolphins in games even as their offense misfires, to name two things that could lead to animosity between the units once the game is over.
Defensive end Andre Branch said he saw that happen during his time with the Jaguars, but that the vibe in Miami has been different.
“It can spiral downhill pretty fast,” Branch said, via ESPN.com. “You got a lot of people pointing fingers. But that’s not the feel that we have on this team. This is a brotherhood. This is a family. Those teams weren’t, and that’s not a good feeling when it’s really not one team. You’re an offense, a defense and a special team. It’s just that unit, like us against them. We know we’re fine and we know those games are over. We can’t do anything about those but get better.”
It’s been three games and there could be less understanding if things continue the same way deeper into the season, but they can focus on fixing the offense and not a divided locker room for now.