Miami Dolphins vs Washington Redskins: Was Jay Gruden really the problem?

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Dolphins got their bye week in Week 5 already, but it couldn't come at a more appropriate time. They were in big troubles after the first month of the season, losing all 4 of their games. But the L's itself were not as much of an issue as the way they lost those games. Their closest one was vs the Chargers, which they lost by 20. But on average, they were being stomped by astonishing 31.75 points per game!

The main issue of this team is definitely the lack of talent. They are painfully thin at some of the most important positions, such as offensive line. They have also traded away Laremy Tunsil and Minkah Fitzpatrick in the past couple of weeks, which obviously signs of a team that is trying to "tank" the season. That is the plan of the front office, but I don't think the players and the coaching staff will go out there and enjoy getting their asses handed to them every week. American football is an interesting sport. Nobody likes to be physically dominated and that is exactly what usually happens when you lose the game in this sport. That is why players will give their best to push back and resist. Also, they are trying put together a solid film for future employers. If you don't do that, you're out of the league in a heartbeat.

Belichick's teams pretty much always came out of the bye week with many of their issues fixed and I think that his former defensive coordinator Brian Flores might be able to do the same. Some important players might be back after injuries, such as Albert Wilson, Bobby McCain and Reshad Jones, which would be great for their porous secondary. I'm definitely expecting their best performance of the season today.

Head coaching change

Dolphins are hosting the Redskins in this one. A team that has similar problems when it comes to the quality of the roster, but also a mess in the front office on top of that. An untalented team can survive with some discipline and effort. But when the fish stinks from its head down, it is very difficult to deal with all the problems inside the franchise and also defeat the opponent on the field.

After losing their first 5 games, Jay Gruden was fired. It was rumored that the entire Haskins controversy was the last nail in his tenure in Washington. Reportedly, Gruden was not a fan of Haskins, when he was coming out of college. The front office still decided to draft him and expected Gruden to play him. That happened vs the Giants in week 4, when Haskins stunk up the place with both performance and his attitude. Next week he was back on the bench and after the game, Gruden was fired.

He is replaced by Bill Callahan who was their offensive line coach. Callahan's initial plan to jumpstart the offense is to run the ball more. Well, considering that they already had one of the highest percentages of runs called in the first half, when the score was inside one touchdown, it's not the most revolutionary idea.

Dolphins vs Redskins best bet

All this being said, I doubt that Washington is a team I would be comfortable to lay 4 points with, on the road. I don't think that Jay Gruden was their main problem in the first place, so I doubt this change will create a positive reaction from the team and give them that short-time jolt that these head coaching changes usually provide.

But, I'm pretty sure that Callahan is going to stay true to his words and try to establish the running game early on, through Adrian Peterson. And also, there is a very small chance that they will be forced to abandon it later on, so going with the over rushing attempts for Adrian Peterson makes a lot of sense.

I am also looking at the under receiving yards for Trey Quinn. Dolphins have a couple of guys returning to that secondary, while Quinn's production has been dropping lately and Steven Sims became a real threat for his playing time. Sims played more snaps in week 5, than in the past 4 games combined.