Nice to hear Ajayi's perspective and passion, and a perhaps the biggest issue for the offense highlighted in this piece from Adam Beasley: "“Two games, really — I mean, to put it, three games. And even in Los Angeles, we didn't, like, score in the red zone. We're not putting points up. It's frustrating... Our defense is playing well and they're keeping them not scoring, and we're not helping them out. And I know that sucks for the [defense], because we're supposed to play together as a team. And we're not helping them out.”" "This is a running team that hasn’t been able to run. Ajayi had 46 yards on 12 carries Sunday. He’s averaging just 3.6 yards per carry this season. But it probably isn’t his fault. The line isn’t blocking well enough for him. According to Pro Football Focus, all but two of Ajayi’s yards Sunday came after contact — and 148 of his 184 on the season have come after he’s been hit. That means he’s getting hit, on average, just two feet beyond the line of scrimmage when he carries the ball." "“I just know that we have a standard of running the ball,” Ajayi said. “We know how it's supposed to look when we're playing up to that standard. And for the past couple of weeks we haven't been doing that. And so whatever we need to do to get back to that standard of what we believe we can do on the ground, we need to get there.”"
The line is definitely in shambles and not playing as a cohesive unit, but it's also the abysmal play calling. In crucial situations, Gase is making some really puzzling calls that are reminiscent of arena football. 3rd and 1, in shotgun formation? The Wildcat, with Jay out wide - wait, what? 1st and goal at the 2 yard line, and he dials up a fade pass to Julius? Julius Thomas is slow, out of shape, and his vertical jump is about on par with a geriatric bullfrog at this stage. No idea why he tries to get cute when your RB is named Jay Ajayi. Bring in Gray and Fasano (you know, one of the best blocking TE's you paid for in the offseason) and smash them in the mouth from the I-Formation. Gase is trying to squeeze rocket science out of common sense, game by game.
Thus far this season, from what I've seen (Didn't watch Sunday's game...doing a little protesting of my own) Miami is doing what it had done for years before Gase arrived last season...and that's abandoning the run too early. We forget that we have a running back that has the ability to gain as much, if not more yards in a single running play as some of our receivers do in passing plays. We need to get back to the run and actually commit to it.
Wow. 148 of his 184 yards after contact. That pretty much sums up how pathetic the OL has been. Want to identify the key problem on offense, that's what you should be starting.
They were trying to run the ball when they had no business the other day, 1st down with 10 men in the box and we dont get out of it to a pass play. They are just pounding Ajayi into a wall with that. My biggest issue is the predictability of it, 1st down run, 2nd down run, 3rd down pass. Nearly every possession. They need to throw a deep strike every now and again just to keep the defense honest. Some play action. just something so we are not that predictable.
I don't think anybody respects our play-action right now, and I don't know if the OL can protect long enough for a deep pass. But I agree with your sentiment.
You are of course correct about that. Our oline play has been so bad its scary. I dont know what the solution is going to be there but even the return of Pouncey hasnt helped.
Meanwhile, Tunsil had his best game of the season, while James had his worst. The interior has been downright awful from games 1-3.
