DAVIE, Fla. (AP) - Miami Dolphins coach Adam Gase talked trash Monday describing his team’s offense.
“Just garbage,” he said.
That might be unfair to landfills.
Gase said the Dolphins’ 20-6 loss Sunday at the New York Jets matched their worst offensive performance since he became head coach in 2016.
After reviewing the videotape, he threatened a lineup shake-up.
“I’m tired of watching it for two years,” Gase said. “We’re going to figure something out. … I’ll find the guys that want to do it right, and those are the guys that will play.”
Personnel changes are most likely up front, where the Dolphins were manhandled by the Jets. When asked what he liked about the offense’s performance, Gase said “nothing.”
Gase is usually quick to take blame when things go wrong, but this time he’s casting a wide net for culprits. The plays he calls have produced two touchdowns in two games despite an abundance of apparent talent at the skill positions.
Miami netted only 225 yards at the Jets and didn’t score until the final play - against a team that had showed the potential to go 0-16.
The Dolphins are 1-1 only because they escaped with a 19-17 victory in Game 1 when the Los Angeles Chargers’ Younghoe Koo missed a 44-yard field goal attempt with 5 seconds left. They hit the road again to face the New Orleans Saints in London on Sunday.
Last year, Gase simplified the playbook after the Dolphins started 1-4, which contributed to a turnaround that helped them make the playoffs for the first time since 2008. But after quarterback Ryan Tannehill was sidelined in December by a season-ending knee injury, the offense again struggled.
This season, mental mistakes have been a problem for a unit led by quarterback Jay Cutler.
“It’s just surprising some of the stuff we don’t do right,” Gase said. “We skimmed it back as much as we could over the last year to try to make it where we could play fast and win one on one. We’re not doing it.”
Cutler came out of retirement when Tannehill reinjured his knee in August, and might now be wondering if he made the right decision.
The Jets stuffed Miami’s ground game, allowing Jay Ajayi only 16 yards in 11 carries. That repeatedly created long-yardage situations that allowed them to put heavy pressure on Cutler. He was hit seven times and sacked three times, and his unit went 1 for 15 on third and fourth down. How did the veteran play?
“Not as well as I’d like him to,” Gase said. “He took a couple of vicious shots early. He’s 34. It’s a little different when you’re 25.”
Cutler went 26 for 44 for 220 yards and had several passes dropped.
“I believe we’re a good offense,” Cutler said. “We just laid an egg.”
Players said the Dolphins practiced poorly last week, but Gase disagreed. Regardless, more intensity in drills is a certainty this week.
“I think anytime you go out there and play like that, you’re going to go back and look at what you did at practice and refine some things and change some things and try to get better,” Cutler said. “I believe we’re a good offense. We have a lot of talent. We’ll go and look at this game and figure things out and go back to practice. That’s all we can do.”
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