Miami Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks didn’t hold anything back about his team’s effort after a 30-17 loss at frigid Green Bay on Thursday.
“I thought we were soft,” he said, per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques. “Simple as that, I thought we were soft
today. I don’t know if guys was too cold. … I don’t know what it was. I feel
like the elements played a part in how we played as a group, and that was the
result that we got.”
On Friday, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel seemed to agree with Brooks, saying, per the Miami Herald, “I saw a consistent failure of tacklers to bring their feet through the tackle.”
Per NextGen Stats via ESPN, the Dolphins missed 20 tackles against the Packers.
“Them guys looked like they was cold out there,” Green Bay running back Josh Jacobs said about Miami.
Now the Dolphins (5-7) may not get the result they expected
at the end of the regular season.
With the defeat, Miami’s chances of making the postseason slipped to 12 percent, per ESPN.com. The second-place Dolphins trail Buffalo (9-2) by 4.5 games in the AFC East. With a win Sunday at home over the San Francisco 49ers, the Bills can clinch the division.
Miami’s loss adds another log to a roaring fire of a narrative that it cannot win in cold weather. Per ESPN, the loss to Green Bay was the Dolphins’ seventh straight when the temperature at kickoff is below freezing.
To make the playoffs, Miami probably must win out against the Jets (at home), Houston (road), 49ers (home), Browns (road) and Jets (road) and perhaps get help from other teams.
Don’t hold out hope, Dolphins fans. Those last two games are almost guaranteed to be played in conditions much, much colder than South Beach.
