Prayers get answered.
If you look diligently for something then you need to get prepared when it’s right in front of your face.
The Miami Dolphins have been attempting to find ways to make their offense click for the last three years. This year though was the final straw for many of their fans. The philosophy and the game plan of their former head coach Joe Philbin was to let quarterback Ryan Tannehill throw his way into the playoffs. After a 6-10 finish, another missed year out of playoff contention, and two more fired coaches later, we’ve seen that the evidence shows that having Tannehill air it out all the time won’t work. Instead, in the second half of the season, the Dolphins were a much better team when they let their ground game be the catalyst for their offense.
One Play Could Change Everything
The fact that Miami finished with a 6-10 record is terrible. There’s no other way to say it. The Dolphins should’ve had a better result for all of the investments they put inside of the stadium, coaching staff, and roster.
The good news is when free agency comes around Miami will have a number of targets to sign in order to help their team win. One of the names that has been floating around on Miami’s radar is none other than Matt Forte. A two-time Pro Bowl selection with the Chicago Bears, Forte has been a game changer at the elite level for a while in the NFL.
#Bears fans thank you, @MattForte22 pic.twitter.com/LlURm8SKp3
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) February 13, 2016
However, because the Bears are beginning a rebuild for their team and Forte’s contract didn’t make sense with the direction of the team, it only left their management (including Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace) with one decision, to let him walk.
“These decisions are never easy, especially given what Matt has meant to our team and community. We have a tremendous amount of respect for him. Matt is one of the all-time great Bears and did an excellent job for us on and off the field last season. He was a tremendous teammate.”
– Ryan Pace
Forte went from being one of the faces of the organization into a second-hand player and that’s the cold reality of the NFL. The good news is because the Miami Dolphins are starting to change their philosophy, it means they should be one of the first teams giving Matt Forte a phone call.
The Dolphins are a better team when they run the ball and having a dynamic running back like Forte on their team could be a huge addition. Lamar Miller is still in the prime of his career. In spite of missing his normal 1,000-yard season, Miller is still a running back in the league who’s feared to take it to the house when it touches the rock. Miller last season for a 6-10 roster had 872 yards while only toting the rock 194 times. The last time Miller had at least 200 carries in a season he had his only 1,000 yard season.
On a team that needs to feature running the football more, having a strong running back like Forte could be the difference between having an 8-8 year or 10-6 one.
What’s unique about Forte is that he’s similar in skill set to Lamar Miller but he’s still quite different. Forte has the ability like Miller to catch the football out of the backfield. Unlike Miller, he’s also built for the battle in between the trenches. Forte’s not afraid of going up the middle time and time again for the tough yards to move the chains. On third down, the Dolphins have got to get the football out of Tannehill’s hands and start using the playbooks of teams like the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, and star featuring running the football.
Both of those two teams were in the Super Bowl, so their plan can’t be too wrong.
D’Joumbarey A. Moreau covers sports in Miami-Dade & Broward County. You can follow him on Twitter @DJoumbarey.
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