What Ultimately Went Wrong for Miami? -

With the regular season over and done with, the Miami Dolphins went 9-8, their second-straight winning season, but also missed the playoffs with a winning record for the second consecutive year. This is also Miami’s fifth consecutive season missing the playoffs, and then the third under head coach Brian Flores.

Miami Parts Ways with Head Coach Brian Flores

With that said, Miami decided to part ways with their third-year coach despite a 24-25 record and the two winning seasons under his belt as the team’s head coach.

“I was in the facility just doing my exit meetings and stuff, just going through the out-process and everything (when I) got the news – and it’s just the nature of the beast,” defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said. “I got a lot of respect for ‘Coach Flo’ (Brian Flores). He’s a great guy, great leader. We essentially came in together. I was his first drafted rookie so I got a lot of great things to say about ‘Flo’ and think kindly of him as a person and as a man and as a coach.”

Wilkins continued, “All those other things that go on, those decisions made and things like that, that’s out of my control. I can only control essentially what I do and who I am every day and how I approach just being the player that I am.”

The mood of the overall locker room from the team seemed to mirror Wilkins.

“Yeah, I was definitely surprised,” outside linebacker Jerome Baker said. “I woke up and my phone just kept ringing and kept ringing, and that’s when I found out. I was definitely surprised.”

Dolphins Shouldn’t Have Finished a Half-Game Back of Pittsburgh

There were a lot of disappointments for the Miami Dolphins this season, including the fact that they were one of three teams in the AFC that were just a half game behind the 9-7-1 Pittsburgh Steelers who happened to make the playoffs.

It’s easy to say that a large contribution to the Dolphins’ struggles this season was the seven-game losing streak they went on after starting the season 1-0 after a win against the New England Patriots.

Rushing Woes Again Doom Dolphins

Their losing streak was largely due to their inability to run the ball, as they finished the season as the 30th ranked rushing offense in the league, averaging only 92.2 rushing yards per game. And even that number is skewed due to the resurgence of yards at the end of the year thanks to signees off of waivers or their own practice squad. It just seems like the same deadbeat on the same old drum for Miami.

With no player on the team rushing for more than 625 yards on the season, running back Myles Gaskin was the team’s leading rusher with 612 rushing yards, despite the 330 rushing yards Duke Johnson Jr. put up in just five games to end the year.

There wasn’t too much else holding the Miami Dolphins back this season, though. But when your team struggles to run the ball, they also tend to struggle to control the clock.

Miami Made Mediocre Headlines in Other Team Categories

The Dolphins’ play everywhere else tended to be pretty mediocre, with the 15th ranked defense in terms of total yards allowed and 16th in terms of points allowed, the 17th ranked passing offense in terms of yardage, it would just seem their rushing offense underperformed the rest of the team. While Miami tried to make up for those woes elsewhere on the field, that rushing attack was too much to overcome.

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Additionally, the team also took bad losses on the season, with one being detrimental.

Last-Second Loss to Jacksonville Could Be What 2021 is Known for

After finishing a half-game back of Pittsburgh, after the Dolphins lost on a last-second field goal to the previously winless Jacksonville Jaguars, their inability to close out that game will likely haunt Flores no matter what the rest of his coaching tenure(s) hold. The other, another last-second field goal against the Atlanta Falcons.

Jaylen Waddle is Largest Bright Spot

The largest bright spot of the Miami Dolphins this season, however, was their rookie wide receiver, Jaylen Waddle. Waddle was taken No. 6 overall in the NFL draft and had 1,015 receiving yards this season as well as six receiving touchdowns.

And to top it off, Waddle broke the rookie NFL record for receptions with 104, breaking Anquan Boldin’s former record of 101 set back in 2003.

“It was a challenge. I think they challenged me every week to learn a new role. They put me in different spots, put me all over the place to learn that – it was challenging,” Waddle said. “But it shows they have trust in me and just that I go out there, I can learn it real fast and go out there and compete, try to put it in motion.”

Stephen Ross Doesn’t Have Clear Direction

Finally, Miami’s owner Stephen Ross, said at the time of Flores’ firing, he had no plan for its next head coach. Not a great move for a struggling organization. However, Ross did say he wanted a more offensive-minded coach to help take advantage of the Dolphins’ youthful roster.

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– Christian Chappell is a Sports Contributor for Full Press Coverage Miami Dolphins. Like and follow on Follow @cmoneypc Follow @FPC_Dolphins and Facebook.