Miami Dolphins: Believe it or Not, The Team is Improving

Despite the blowout losses, despite the constant shuffle of the deck, and despite the injuries, the Miami Dolphins are improving. No, really, they are. Well, at least their defense is. The Dolphins would go from allowing 59 points against the Ravens, to 43 points against the Patriots, to 31 points against the Cowboys.

Anyone who covers the team has pointed out the gross point differential of -117 points and are only pointing out how much worse it’s going to get. No one is pointing out how close the games are going into halftime. The Dolphins kept it close in the first half against both the Pats and Cowboys, both are also playoff favorites early in the season. Going into week four they’ll face a banged up Chargers team with some hope for improvement. While everyone else points out the sky is falling, Dolphins fans should have hope. Reshad Jones has been hit with injury and should be back soon. His recent comments about wanting to be in Miami and wanting to help the team wherever he can is encouraging.

The problem defensively is the offense can’t give them a break. An offense that can’t stay on the field gives the defense no time to rest. But there’s a bright spot there as well. As bad as an 18/39 for 200 yards and zero TD’s look for quarterback Josh Rosen looks, he did make some good passes that were dropped by their receivers, a couple would’ve been touchdowns. Right now, their offense looks so terrible because of a the shift of lineman around due to injuries but also so much is timing.

This Miami Dolphins team is young, and inexperienced. Typically rookies who come in and make an immediate impact are surrounded by talent that plays to their strength as well as compensates for their weaknesses. Unfortunately, with a young team that talent just isn’t there. But that doesn’t mean the sky is falling on Brian Flores’ time in Miami.

Yes, it’s bad but tossing him on the “hot seat” this early on is a bit premature. Call it tanking if you want, but Miami is firmly entrenched in breaking their on-field and off-field bad habits. Of course, there’s the same mistakes being made that past regimes have made but Flores might be getting to the root of these problems.

How far removed are we from the famous “No one wants to play in Miami” yet the team leaders are saying “trust the process” and proclaiming their desire to do what’s necessary. How different is this year when safety Reshad Jones infamously quit on his team, to this year him “I love the guys in the locker room”? It could just be posturing for the sake of the media, but buried in the trenches of this year’s Dolphins team is the foundation for a strong football team.

Make no mistake about it, this year’s Miami Dolphins team is terrible. They might be tanking, they might not. Everyone can pile on a bad team when the bad is in their face, but despite the doom and gloom every analyst is throwing in your face, there’s a bright spot deep down in the muck. It’s up to Brian Flores and his staff to keep it growing as this season goes on.