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Dolphins Can’t Shake The Soft Label

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Ryan VanHoover | Last updated Nov 15, 2024 3:38 PM ET

For years, many experts around the league have perceived the Miami Dolphins as a soft football team. They have been perceived like that under head coach Mike McDaniel, with their offense relying on big plays. When the weather gets colder, the passing game tightens up, and they can’t have those physical games where they grind it out in short-yardage situations.

They also are considered not mentally tough because of when adversity hits, they seem to crash and burn. I think the Dolphins have gotten better in this in regard to even though they are 3-6, they haven’t quit and have 8 games to go to try to turn around and salvage their season.

The soft label came to the forefront this week when former Dolphins Safety and now current Pittsburgh Steelers Safety DeShaun Elliott talked about how different the Steelers are compared to last year’s Dolphins, his only year with the team. He said the Steelers are a tougher team, and the one he was on last year was soft, meaning the Dolphins.

This isn’t something new because Safety Jordan Poyer, who was with the Buffalo Bills for years before coming to the Dolphins this offseason, said the Bills felt the Dolphins were a weak team and would wilt under pressure. The team knew they would collapse last year. He and the Bills were right, and things haven’t changed.

No football team likes to be called soft. The Dolphins, unfortunately, can’t seem to get rid of that label. Why are they portrayed as soft? Well, one area they are considered soft is in the short yardage area.

When the Dolphins have a 3rd or 4th and 1 in critical situations, they don’t make it because they don’t have that tough runner who can get them a few yards to keep drives going. The Dolphins have tried to make a concerted effort this year to shed that, and at times, it’s worked, giving it to fullback Alec Ingold, but teams are figuring it out. The Dolphins need to find a tough physical runner this off-season. They also need to get tougher interior offensive & defensive linemen as well.

The offensive line has been laughed at for years, and they are better than what people give them credit for, but they are better run blockers than pass blockers, and the Dolphins need to find tougher linemen that can do both. The Dolphins have also lost a step on the defensive line this year because of free agent losses, and in my opinion, the Dolphins need to rebuild the trenches next year with tougher players because both sides of the line of scrimmage have about ten players whose contracts are up after the season and there is no way the Dolphins can’t keep them.

The Dolphins were a tough team under former head coach Tony Sparano, but after the team parted ways with him, the team lost its physicality, and one reason is too many regime changes as the Dolphins have gone from Sparano to Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores, and now McDaniel. This doesn’t help because each coach is different by nature, whereas the Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens have had continuity and stability in the head coaching position with Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh. Elliott, playing with Tomlin, obviously sees the difference because it’s an established culture and has been that way since 2007.

The same goes for Harbaugh, who has been with the Ravens since 2008. Those teams pride themselves on tough physical football; when adversity hits, they get off the canvas and keep fighting. Tomlin hasn’t had a losing season in his 17 years with the Steelers, which is amazing, and he hasn’t had great success recently, but his teams are tough and well-prepared. The same goes for Harbaugh, his team started 0-2, including an embarrassing loss at home to the Las Vegas Raiders, but the team fought back and are in the thick of the AFC race in the North and the conference. The Steelers and Ravens play this Sunday, and it’s going to be a tough, physical game, as always.

Those teams are what the Dolphins should look to aspire to become by nature. There is nothing wrong with the big play on offense, but with defenses catching up to McDaniel’s offense, he has to find a different and tougher approach.

This article first appeared on Dolphins Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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