How Worried Should the Miami Dolphins Be about the Washington Redskins?

Hi. I’m Tom, and I’m a Redskins fan.

Welcome back to the glorified support group known as Hogs Haven.

First, a word about (another) title change for this column: A reader, Skins3489, made a great point last week. Given the sad state of the Redskins, it seems silly to frame articles along the lines of how worried the Redskins should be. It makes infinitely more sense to look at each week’s match-up through the lens of how worried the other team should be about the lowly Redskins.

Beginning this week, then, the script is hereby flipped.

Let’s get into it.

Team: Miami Dolphins

2018 Record: 7-9 (2nd, AFC East)

2019 Record: 0-4 (T-3rd, AFC East)

Outlook: It’s easy to forget this, but the 2018 Dolphins started the year 3-0 and were still in the playoff hunt deep into the season. That miracle win over the Patriots put the Dolphins at 7-6, but a three-game skid to end the season left them as an also-ran.

This year has been a different, much more humiliating story.

First-year coach Brian Flores has had his work cut out for him since day one, as the Dolphins appear to be following the time-honored Miami sports tradition of tanking (although this move used to be preceded by a championship, not a sub-.500 season).

The Dolphins traded former starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill to the Titans this past Spring, then, much more surprisingly, also dealt former first-round picks Minkah Fitzpatrick and Laremy Tunsil. The Dolphins proceeded to drop their first four contests, spared sole possession of last place only because the New York Jets, under Adam Gase (the guy the Dolphins fired at the end of last year!), are also 0-4.

The Dolphins are ranked last in the NFL in both points for and points allowed. The 163 points they’ve surrendered are notably the worst total in the NFL in spite of the fact that most teams have played one more game than the Dolphins have.

They are also last in yardage allowed per game, giving up an astounding 472 per contest. By comparison, as bad as the Redskins have been, Washington “only” gives up 407.8 yards per game—still terrible, but Miami is somehow a notch or two worse. Josh Rosen and Ryan Fitzpatrick have both been brutal. Matt Haack has already amassed nearly 1,000 punting yards. The Dolphins also average just 3.0 yards per rush, which is as bad a number as I can remember seeing in the NFL this far into a season. For comparison, the Arizona Cardinals were last in the league in this category in 2018 with a 3.8 yard-per-rush mark.

How Worried Should They Be?: Terrified. There is no question that, based on what we’ve seen in the NFL so far in 2019, this is Miami’s best chance at a win this year. The Redskins are better than the Dolphins, but, coming off a bye and getting Washington at home, Miami has to feel like it’s now or never.

As awful as it is to be a Redskin fan at this point, I want to pause here and reiterate that this Dolphins team is historically bad. Again, as disappointing as Washington has been, at least they’ve been in some competitive games. The Dolphins are getting blown out every week, and even the Redskins’ mediocre offense scores over twice as many points as Miami’s 6.5 points per game average.

Heck, with the 0-5 Redskins having been underdogs in thirteen straight games and switching coaches this week, they’re still a 3.5-point favorite against this Miami squad—with the Dolphins, as I mentioned, coming off a bye and playing at home.

THAT’S how bad Miami is.

As such, the Dolphins are staring 0-16 in the face if they lose this game. Of course, the Redskins aren’t far behind. Still, there’s disappointing, and there’s the Dolphins. There’s bad, and there’s the Dolphins. There’s inept, and there’s the Dolphins.

There are absolutely no guarantees this year for the Redskins. We know that. This is an underperforming, possibly directionless team. But Washington should beat Miami this week.

I think we’ll get reintroduced to Adrian Peterson, who will shoulder the load for an offense with a shaky quarterback situation, and the Redskins will grind out a competitive but decisive victory in Bill Callahan’s first game at the helm.

Either way . . . see you at the next meeting! I’ll bring the doughnuts.