Saturday Dolphins Mailbag: Where Has the Speed Gone?

Chris Grier, Chop Robinson, a Detroit comparison are among the Miami Dolphins issues to tackle before the game against the New York Jets

Miami Dolphins linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah (91) celebrates with linebacker Chop Robinson (44) after a play against the New England Patriots during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Part 2 of the pre-Jets game Miami Dolphins On SI mailbag:

From Fire Grier and McDaniel Now!:

Dolphins will lose and ppl need to start being held accountable.

If the Dolphins’ season goes off the rails in the final five games, it would be more likely there will be changes in the offseason, but I don’t know that I’d expect changes if they finish the season, say, 9-8.

From chas:

Why can't Steve Ross just build another indoor facility where the temperature can be set to 32° or lower complete with snow-making machines? They can even call it the Baptist Health Center Igloo™️ or whatever. (I've asked this elsewhere but can't get a straight answer😄 )

Hey Chas, are you serious? You want/expect Stephen Ross to build  a facility to simulate playing in the cold and/or snow when that happens maybe once a season? And I’m not even addressing logistics of trying to build and maintain this facility. So maybe you can’t get a straight answer because it’s not really a serious question.

From Rhino:

Would you agree with me Dolphins have the dumbest fans in the NFL? I mean I've been down here since '68, they don't have a clue about football... Every year they think Miami Dolphins are going to win SUPERBOWL...

Hey Rhino, fans wanting to believe this is the year for their team ain’t exactly exclusive to the Dolphins. That’s part of being a fan. And I’d much rather have fans who are optimistic every season — even if at times it’s not realistic — than have fans always assuming the worst.

From Ohio Jon:

Dolphins pass protection had a long night against the Packers. Do you think the Jets pass rush will be as much of a headache? And on the other side of the ball, do you think this is a game we see Chop Robinson get a sack...or two?

Hey Jon, yes, I would be concerned about the Jets pass rush, especially recent first-round pick Will McDonald, who’s already reached double digits in sacks. On the other side, the Jets sure fit the bill of a team against which Chop could get a sack (or two) and it would be very cool if it came after he beat his good friend, former Penn State buddy and fellow first-round pick Ola Fashanu.

From David Pridham:

I see the Dolphins tripping up in Houston + New York and finishing 8-9. I also see Denver winning 11 games given Bo Nix performance and their defense. Would Ross look at the gap between where the Dolphins finish and the cut-off line to the final wild card and take action?

Hey David, yeah, I think Stephen Ross will examine everything in the operation if the Dolphins finish 8-9, though I think he could look at the Tua injury and tell himself things would have been different without it and decide to run it back in 2025 with a few tweaks as opposed to major changes. It also will depend on how the games play out, not just wins and losses.

From SD:

Last year Dolphins fans kept seeing top speed in MPH for Hill/Waddle/Achane. This year I haven't seen any. Why is this? Have they not been getting in the top 10 any of the weeks?

The top speeds usually are achieving after guys get into the clear and that means long gains, often upward of 50 yards, and the Dolphins simply haven’t had many of those this season. Actually practically none. That’s why we haven’t seen the big mph readings.

From Beach-waves78:

What changes can they actually implement to get the running game back on track?

That’s a great question because if the Dolphins could figure it out, they would have done it by now. As always with things like this, it’s easy to try to look for easy schematic fixes, but it’s probably as simple as the players up front and non-ball carries blocking better and the backs making that one tackler miss or break that one tackle.

From Pajake Japat:

Our rebuild began close to when the Lions began theirs. To an extent… isn’t the Lions success an indictment on Grier’s incompetence at his position?

Why does it have to be so extreme or why does there have to be a comparison between the two franchises? Can Brad Holmes not be a top-notch GM without Chris Grier being a bad GM? So, no, this is not necessarily an indictment. What can be an indictment is the Dolphins having failed to win a playoff game since 2000? On that one, there can be no argument.