The Dolphins have fired offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea. That’s a surprise, considering the way that team came on in the second half of the season. Strictly off the numbers, you could argue that O’Shea did one of the better coaching jobs in the league.
Miami didn’t have a lot of talent. It was a lesser team to begin with, and they went into this season tearing apart the roster. They didn’t re-sign JaWuan James and traded away Laremy Tunsil – moving down from one of the league’s best pair of young tackles to pretty much nothing at the position.
They ranked last in rushing, but they didn’t really have much at the position. They went with Kenyan Drake for a while (before trading him) then cycled through Mark Walton, Kalen Ballage, Patrick Laird, Myles Gaskin and Samaje Perine – lesser backs running behind the league’s cheapest offensive line.
They plugged in journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback.
Yet, despite having modest talent, the Dolphins played surprisingly well once they got things going. Miami averaged 25.4 points in its final nine games, 9th-most in the league. They also went 5-4 in those games, beating a pair of playoff teams (New England, Philadelphia).
SCORING (final nine games) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Pts | OTDS | RTD | PTD |
Baltimore | 35.2 | 36 | 11 | 25 |
New Orleans | 32.7 | 33 | 8 | 25 |
Tennessee | 31.2 | 36 | 16 | 20 |
San Francisco | 30.2 | 29 | 10 | 19 |
Tampa Bay | 29.1 | 28 | 9 | 19 |
Kansas City | 27.7 | 25 | 11 | 14 |
Dallas | 26.8 | 25 | 7 | 18 |
Atlanta | 26.2 | 21 | 8 | 13 |
Miami | 25.4 | 23 | 7 | 16 |
Seattle | 24.9 | 24 | 8 | 16 |
Minnesota | 23.9 | 21 | 8 | 13 |
Philadelphia | 23.8 | 24 | 10 | 14 |
NY Giants | 23.2 | 27 | 5 | 22 |
LA Rams | 22.7 | 23 | 10 | 13 |
Indianapolis | 22.6 | 21 | 13 | 8 |
Cleveland | 22.4 | 22 | 6 | 16 |
Arizona | 22.2 | 23 | 10 | 13 |
NY Jets | 22.0 | 18 | 4 | 14 |
LA Chargers | 21.9 | 22 | 9 | 13 |
New England | 21.9 | 19 | 5 | 14 |
Houston | 21.4 | 22 | 8 | 14 |
Green Bay | 21.3 | 22 | 9 | 13 |
Buffalo | 20.0 | 19 | 7 | 12 |
Washington | 19.6 | 16 | 7 | 9 |
Denver | 18.9 | 16 | 6 | 10 |
Cincinnati | 18.3 | 16 | 6 | 10 |
Oakland | 18.0 | 17 | 7 | 10 |
Carolina | 17.9 | 19 | 9 | 10 |
Detroit | 17.9 | 17 | 5 | 12 |
Jacksonville | 17.3 | 15 | 2 | 13 |
Chicago | 16.9 | 17 | 5 | 12 |
Pittsburgh | 15.4 | 10 | 2 | 8 |
The Dolphins averaged 353 yards in their final nine games. That ranked 14th among the 32 teams – slightly above average. Miami ranked last in rushing during that span, but 5th in passing.
Not that this was one of the league’s best offenses, but I thought they were definitely punching above their weight. Not sure what it was that Brian Flores (pictured) didn’t like about O’Shea, but I would guess some other team will bring O’Shea aboard in some kind of role.
OFFENSIVE YARDS (final nine games) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Yards | Run | Rk | Pass | Rk |
Dallas | 427 | 126 | 8 | 309 | 3 |
Tampa Bay | 419 | 92 | 28 | 339 | 1 |
Tennessee | 407 | 168 | 2 | 257 | 14 |
Atlanta | 389 | 98 | 25 | 313 | 2 |
New Orleans | 388 | 107 | 20 | 291 | 6 |
Baltimore | 386 | 208 | 1 | 183 | 32 |
Philadelphia | 377 | 129 | 5 | 266 | 11 |
LA Rams | 377 | 91 | 29 | 295 | 4 |
San Francisco | 376 | 115 | 12 | 280 | 8 |
LA Chargers | 367 | 104 | 22 | 281 | 7 |
Kansas City | 363 | 110 | 16 | 266 | 10 |
Seattle | 361 | 146 | 3 | 241 | 17 |
Oakland | 357 | 108 | 18 | 264 | 12 |
Miami | 353 | 77 | 32 | 294 | 5 |
Carolina | 347 | 101 | 23 | 278 | 9 |
NY Giants | 346 | 105 | 21 | 263 | 13 |
Cleveland | 338 | 113 | 14 | 237 | 18 |
Cincinnati | 337 | 127 | 6 | 230 | 22 |
Houston | 337 | 119 | 11 | 237 | 19 |
New England | 336 | 113 | 13 | 235 | 20 |
Arizona | 329 | 122 | 10 | 225 | 24 |
Minnesota | 324 | 113 | 15 | 224 | 25 |
Green Bay | 324 | 122 | 9 | 222 | 26 |
NY Jets | 322 | 90 | 30 | 245 | 16 |
Detroit | 321 | 108 | 19 | 233 | 21 |
Buffalo | 318 | 127 | 7 | 206 | 27 |
Jacksonville | 313 | 81 | 31 | 250 | 15 |
Indianapolis | 313 | 137 | 4 | 192 | 31 |
Chicago | 309 | 97 | 26 | 228 | 23 |
Denver | 284 | 99 | 24 | 195 | 29 |
Washington | 281 | 110 | 17 | 196 | 28 |
Pittsburgh | 264 | 92 | 27 | 192 | 30 |
—Ian Allan