Dolphins appear loss amidst winless campaign
The National Football League has only seen two teams go 0-16. The Detroit Lions did so in 2008. Â The Cleveland Browns followed up in 2017.
The Miami Dolphins are making a strong push to be the third. Intentionally.
Miami can claim its trying to win, but teams attempting to emerge victorious don’t trade their best players, hire a first-time coach and hope for the best. Brian Flores was hired away from the New England Patriots with the belief he is the long-term solution. The early returns have not been promising, record aside.
In April, the Dolphins traded a second-round draft pick to the Arizona Cardinals for quarterback Josh Rosen. The idea was Rosen would essentially be given a year-long trial run. If things went well, Rosen could then be the future at the game’s most important position for Miami. If things went poorly, the Dolphins would quite likely. have the No. 1 overall pick come 2020 and could use it on Justin Herbert or Tea Tagovailoa.
Incredibly, the Dolphins have found a way to botch up even that simple plan. Miami has toggled back and forth between veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick and Rosen, starting Fitzpatrick in all but one game so far this season. Only a week ago, Flores proclaimed Rosen would get the remaining starts this season. After losing by a point to the lowly Washington Redskins at home, Flores has proven his word means nothing, giving the job back to a veteran journeyman with no future on South Beach. Stunning.
If Flores is going to regain credibility with the team, Rosen needs to be reinserted into the starting lineup and left there for good. There’s literally no downside for a franchise that couldn’t care less about winning in 2019 (and perhaps 2020). Rosen deserves a chance, even if the front offie already traded away his franchise left tackle in Laremy Tunsil.
Miami is going to lose plenty this season, that’s not what makes this campaign such a comical abomination. No, the issues lie in the details, whether it’s the lack of clarity coming from on high or the seemingly relaxed manner in which the team is blown out most weeks. If there’s no urgency in Week 6, imagine what this thing is going to look like come December.
It’s been ugly, it’s been embarrassing and it is not even halfway through.
