The Miami Dolphins' bye week comes at a pretty good spot. The team is 3-3, tied for the division lead, coming off of back-to-back wins and has a big divisional bout with the New York Jets in two weeks.
For Dolphins coach Joe Philbin, the formula for the break is pretty simple: "Improve and get healthy."
"Every week with this team is a new hurdle for us, because now we have to go on the road and we have to win a division game," Philbin told reporters Monday. "That’s going to be a huge challenge. That’s really all that matters right now.”
Miami is carrying with it a bit of momentum with the win streak despite a pretty lukewarm performance in its victory over the St. Louis Rams Sunday. Rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill has improved each week and is taking care of the football, and the defense is bending for a lot of yardage through the air but not breaking for many touchdowns.
"I told the staff, let’s find three or four things that maybe can make a difference in our production in the second half of the season," he said. "I don’t think we have to reinvent the wheel, I don’t think we have to scrap what we’re doing.
"I think we have to maybe make some adjustments and look at what are the three or four things from a deficiency (standpoint). Where are we deficient? What can we shore up in a quick period of time and get better at? Let’s not fix nine million things. We don’t have time for that stuff.”
One of those few things will be the run game, which is averaging 2.9 yards a carry over the past four games after a hot start to the season. Defensively, the Dolphins should focus on how to reduce the amount of big passing completions its giving up, as it surrendered 23 passing plays of 20 yards or more and four for 40-plus yards through six games.
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