Kelly: Dolphins must toughen up to move forward as a franchise | Opinion

There was a moment — actually, it was a series of plays — in Thursday night’s debacle of a loss to the Green Bay Packers that clarifies the main issue the Miami Dolphins have.

In that gut punch of a 30-17 loss to the seemingly playoff-bound Packers (9-3) the Dolphins had a small window to make the contest an actual game.

Miami (5-7) was trailing by 16 points with a little more than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter when the offense got to the 1-yard line and had three chances to punch it in for a touchdown, potentially making it a one-score game.

Problem is, this Dolphins team, and every team in the Mike McDaniel era, punches like a featherweight.

“We get that one, and go for two, it’s anybody’s ball game,” Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead said, referring to the series where De’Von Achane gained 8-yards on a left side run that set Miami up the 1-yard line.

Miami then tried to punch it in with a right side run from Achane that gained no yards.

On third down a pass to tight end Jonnu Smith was broken up by Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon, who read Smith’s late release the whole way.

And then on fourth down fullback Alec Ingold slipped on a pass play where he was the primary target, and Packers linebacker Quay Walker sacked quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for a 6-yard loss while he was trying to find another target, ending the series.

“That play, that series was probably the toughest. We had opportunities. More than one,” Armstead said. “We just got to plug it [in]. Find a way to get in the end zone. Run, pass, it don’t matter.”

It was Miami’s play-calling at the 1-yard line that gets us to the heart of this franchise’s issues, highlighting the fact that these Dolphins get pushed around in so many of these tough losses against top caliber teams.

When your team can’t anchor down and muscle its way forward for 1 yard, 3 feet, to score a touchdown that could have made Thursday’s beatdown more of a game there’s evidence that your team is soft.

And when this continues to be a running theme for three seasons, it’s a foundational issue that touches everything, from strength and conditioning, roster construction, to coaching mindset.

“Narratives are going to be what it’s going to be. We pride ourselves on being physical up front for sure. I’ve been a physical player for 12 years, but narratives are going to be what they’re going to be. We fell short [against the Packers] so the narratives are going to continue for sure,” said Armstead, who inserted a nervous chuckle into his statement. “It’s on us to deal with, and [we have to] answer these questions.”

The proper answer is a complete rebuild, an overhauling of the trenches because what we’ve witnessed this season, and the season before that, and the one before that isn’t good enough.

The outside zone runs, which made the Dolphins the second-best rushing attack in the NFL last season, have vanished.

The run game has clammed up the past four weeks considering the Dolphins are averaging a dismal 2.94 yards per carry in that stretch, which coincidentally or not coincides with the season-ending knee injury Austin Jackson, the team’s starting right tackle, suffered in Miami’s 30-27 loss to Buffalo.

“Trying to establish a run early and often is something we pride ourselves on, but when you only get a certain amount of [limited] runs it’s tough to establish that run game,” tailback Raheem Mostert said. “[Against Green Bay] we were just playing catch-up ball.”

Add on top of that the fact that Liam Eichenberg, Robert Jones and Isaiah Wynn are all impending free agents, and Armstead’s $14.3 million salary in 2025 puts him in the danger zone for being cut despite this being one of the 33-year-old’s better seasons.

But it’s not just the offense line that must be addressed. The defensive front has to be examined as well considering Miami’s getting very little pressure from the edge rushers most of the season.

It also doesn’t help that Emmanuel Ogbah, Calais Campbell, Benito Jones and Da’shawn Hand are all free agents, and Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb are both nursing serious knee injuries.

The bottom line is that Miami’s entire line of scrimmage must be rebuilt.

Despite the NFL’s growing obsession with fantasy football, and gambling on prop bets, football games are won and lost in the trenches, especially in December games, and the postseason.

And that happened to be the time when the Dolphins flop around like a porpoise out of water.

The Dolphins got very little pressure on Packers quarterback Jordan Love — four quarterback pressures and no sacks — and that’s been a consistent theme this season.

Miami has recorded 21 sacks in 12 games this season. Only three teams have fewer and they all play their 12th game on Sunday.

The Dolphins struggled to contain Green Bay’s rushing attack, allowing the Packers to gain 102 of the game’s 114 rushing yards in the first half.

Green Bay became the seventh team to rush for more than 100 yards on the Dolphins, which are allowing 107.5 rushing yards per game and 4.36 per carry, which ranks 16th in the NFL.

“Something like that can’t happen,” Mostert said about his team’s goal line opportunity failure. “You have to get in the box [the end zone] either way. No matter what is called, you got to get in the box.”

And that’s why this offseason has to be about finding a way to go from being bullied to becoming one, otherwise we’ll have more of the same from Miami when it’s time to get physical.