Keys for Dolphins to revive offense,
Mixing in Williams, Grant, Carroo could give offense a boost.
DAVIE — Dolphins coach Adam Gase is ready to do whatever it takes to wake up his lackluster offense. Those changes probably won’t be dramatic, and they don’t need to be.
Miami’s starting skill players are solid, and there’s no need to yank anyone from the lineup. It might help, though, to mix things up a little bit throughout the game. Gase is frustrated by the offense’s inconsistency, which includes his play calling, but he admitted it might also be time to get more creative.
“Sometimes you feel that way,” Gase said. He went on to elaborate about the lack of rhythm overall and described the performance against the Jets (no points until a buzzer-beating touchdown, 225 total yards) as “a disaster.”
“It just wasn’t very good,” he said. “We’re all taking part of the blame. None of us were good. We just have to be better.”
With that in mind, here are three players who could punch things up a bit:
■ WR Jakeem Grant: Are they saving him for the Patriots or something? Grant was the toast of the preseason with electrifying performances at wide receiver, but he’s been relegated to his usual return specialist duties so far. He has had just four offensive snaps. The problem with Grant is he can’t appear only when they’re going to use him or that becomes too easy to defend. Get his exceptional speed on the outside for a full series and see what happens.
■ RB Damien Williams: He is one of Gase’s favorite weapons, and he’s got just three touches in the first two games. He’s played a shade under 10 percent of the offensive snaps. Williams has the ability to hurt a defense as a runner and receiver and he was third on the team with six touchdowns last season. He should not replace Jay Ajayi unless there’s an injury concern, but working him in on occasional series will give defenses a different look.
■ WR Leonte Carroo: Like Grant, Carroo showed significant strides in the offseason and preseason as he dedicated himself to proving he’s not a bust. Again, there’s no need to do anything drastic with any of the top three receivers, but giving Carroo a series here or there would mix things up and give someone else a rest. He’s played three offensive snaps and hasn’t had a ball thrown his way yet.
Cutler feeling fresh: Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler took some big hits in Sunday’s 20-6 loss to the Jets and didn’t play particularly well, but he isn’t pinning any of that on his health.
Missing all the offseason workouts and transitioning into retirement set him up with a challenge to get ready for the upcoming season when Miami called. Initially, there was concern about limiting his throws in practice to keep from burning out his arm (he’s 34 years old, on top of having sat out the offseason), but that was quickly dismissed by Cutler and Gase.
After going 26 of 44 for 220 yards and an interception against New York, he said his health is fine. He specified later that he’s not having any issues with his shoulder.
“I feel good,” Cutler said Thursday. “I took a few shots this past game, but my body feels fresh. Being off for OTAs and stuff, I feel good.”
One downside to missing that much time is that Cutler needed to catch up quickly on the offensive system and timing with his receivers. He and Gase were adamant that Cutler already knew the offense when he arrived, but it was clear early on he had minor trouble nailing down routes with Kenny Stills and others.
Gase believes those issues have been resolved.
“I don’t think he’s behind,” Gase said. “He got hit early a couple of times. I think he was trying to get out of the pocket a few times, maybe instead of pushing up, he started to escape. A couple balls didn’t come out as good as he wants.
“Some of it is just timing. We’ve just got to keep getting better and keep working on stuff. I felt good going into the game with what we were doing passing game-wise and how we were throwing the ball around. Even though Jarvis (Landry) and DeVante (Parker) missed some time in practice, I still felt good about it. But we just weren’t crisp. We weren’t clicking.”