The Miami Dolphins' rushing offense started the season as one of the best units in the league, but it hit a wall after three weeks. What began as a slump is looking more like the norm, and the fast start now appears to have been an anomaly.
Miami amassed 572 rushing yards through the first three games of the season, highlighted by a 263-yard clinic Week 2 against the Oakland Raiders and a 185-yard showing vs. the New York Jets a week later.
That kind of production is long in the past, though, as the Dolphins have totaled just 468 yards rushing in their last seven games combined. (photo: June Rivera, Flickr)
“Just the run game," Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Sherman said Monday, via the team's media site, when asked what bothered him most about the offense. "We had 24 carries the other day. One was Ryan’s run, but 24 carries for 60 yards. We should be better than that and we will be better than that."
Sherman's offense hasn't broken the 100-yard rushing mark since Week 3 and had full-game rushing totals of 19, 54 and 60 in that span. Running back Reggie Bush has seen a severe decrease in worload, having carried the ball 24 times total in the past three games, including 10 rushes for 20 yards last week against the Buffalo Bills.
"... I’ve been in situations in seasons where you kind of hit a wall a little bit and you’ve got to fight your way through it, but this wall has been extended a little bit too long for my liking," Sherman said. "We have to go out and play better (and) coach better this upcoming week and try to break through this thing.”
Miami is up against the Seattle Seahawks' solid rush defense this week and is slated for the New England Patriots' and San Francisco 49ers' top-tier run defenses the following two weeks.
Sherman said the passing game needs its running counterpart to create the spark if the Dolphins' offense is going to get back on track.
Sherman said the passing game needs its running counterpart to create the spark if the Dolphins' offense is going to get back on track.
"I think everything gels around the run game," Sherman said. "If you can run the football, you can throw the football. It just makes life a lot easier."
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