National Football League

Fins' Season Ends in Ugly Manner

The end of the Miami Dolphins’ 2014 season couldn’t have gone much worse in front of the hometown crowd. It was a debacle at nearly every level for the Dolphins Sunday and casts serious doubts about the team’s potential in 2015.

Sunday, the Dolphins’ once stingy defense turned New York Jets’ quarterback Geno Smith into a Pro Bowl-looking passer. Smith finished the game with a perfect passer rating while completing 20-25 passes for 358 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.

Heading into Sunday’s game against the Dolphins, Smith had completed an average of just 60 percent of his passes and had thrown 10 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. But the Dolphins had no answer as Smith went down the field at will against the Fins’ secondary, primarily Cortland Finnegan, who couldn’t keep up with Jets receiver Eric Decker.

While the Dolphins’ defense was ugly, one of the team’s primary offensive weapons was nowhere to be seen Sunday. Wide receiver Mike Wallace, one of the highest paid receivers in football, had no catches and spent part of the game on the bench after an emotional outburst.

It brings Wallace’s status for 2015 into question as his salary cap hit is above $12 million next season.

“Nothing has changed,” head coach Joe Philbin said Monday. “I haven’t spent one second thinking about 2015 yet. We are taking a look at the film and watched the game film. I haven’t really thought about who is playing what position in 2015 or any of that stuff.”

The Dolphins’ ugly ending to the season, from defensive collapses to special teams lapses, covered up some improvement for the team.

The Dolphins finished the season ranked 14th in the NFL in total offense, 17th in passing, and 12 in rushing. Despite the defensive problems at the end of the season, the team ranked 13th in points allowed, and sixth in passing yards allowed per game.

Fins quarterback Ryan Tannehill also improved his overall numbers for a third straight season. He completed 66.4 percent of his passes, up from 60.4 percent in 2013, threw 27 touchdowns to just 12 interceptions, and improved his yards per game and quarterback rate for the third straight season.

The Dolphins also saw running back Lamar Miller run for just shy of 1,100 yards this year, averaging more than five yards per carry.

Still, despite a lot of bright spots, the Fins’ lack of fire and leadership on and off the field showed up as the season wound down. The Fins lost four of their final six games and had to stage a furious rally against Minnesota to pick up one of those wins.

Perhaps more telling for the Fins’ performance in the second half of the season, against three playoff teams (Denver, Baltimore, and New England); the Fins was outscored 108 – 62. The Fins was outscored 69-26 against just Baltimore and New England in weeks 14 and 15 of the season.

All of it sends the Dolphins into another offseason filled with more questions than answers: Is Mike Wallace going to stay with the Fins? Can Branden Albert return to form at left tackle after his injury? Will Mike Pouncey move back to center? Does the team re-sign Jared Odrick or look to the draft for defensive line help? What does the team do opposite Brent Grimes at cornerback? Is it time to completely retool the linebacking corps? Can the team find a complimentary back to Lamar Miller? Who will be the defensive coordinator in 2015?

Fins fans had high hopes heading into 2014 and the season started off well. The ugly finish and beginning of another offseason of uncertainty isn’t what the team or owner Stephen Ross hoped as 2015 is coming fast.

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