MIAMI — At the foundation of a troublesome team, one that’s filled with problems where there are few solutions in sight, are the decisions made in the offseason by the people in power.

I’m referring to the decisions for problems management should have seen coming, but failed to address appropriately.

An easy one to call the Miami Dolphins out on is not having a quality backup for one of the NFL’s most fragile quarterbacks, a player like Tua Tagovailoa, who has suffered some nasty concussions throughout his career and is presently sidelined by one.

But that’s not even the most glaring mistake general manager Chris Grier made when building the 2024 Dolphins.

That list starts with losing Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis, two defensive linemen who have played prominent roles their entire Dolphins careers, early in free agency and not adequately replacing them.

The Dolphins lost both trench players in free agency, and instead of signing veteran starters Miami opted to sign a laundry list of journeymen defensive linemen to minimum-based salaries.

When most failed to impress in the offseason program and minicamp management then added Calais Campbell in the ninth hour. As beneficial as that decision was, it appears the Dolphins are still paying the price for not properly addressing the trenches because a strength of last year’s team has seemingly become a weakness in 2024.

“Gap integrity. Everybody on the front, guys in the back end need to be fitting the run properly,” said edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, who is missing his edge-rushing partner in Bradley Chubb, who will be eligible to come off the PUP after Monday night’s game against the Tennessee Titans. “I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half [against the Seattle Seahawks], but late in the game we had some leaky yardage.

It’s all about the process,” Phillips said, referring to the team’s 1-2 start. “We have to make the corrections and move on.”

While the panic button has been pressed on the Dolphins offense, which is clearly in a state of distress breaking in a new starting quarterback — expect it to be Tyler Huntley — for Monday night’s game against the Titans, there are a few areas on defense that need to be cleaned up. And the clock is ticking.

Atop that list is Miami’s run defense because the Dolphins’ past three opponents have rushed for 100 or more yards on defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver’s unit.

That means each week Miami has failed to achieve it’s top goal on defense, which is to make opponents one-dimensional by stopping the run.

The Dolphins are allowing 7.5 fewer rushing yards (112) than the NFL average (119.5) for rushing yards per game.

But Miami’s yards-per-attempt average of 4.48 yards per rush is slightly higher than what the rest of the NFL is averaging (4.45).

Sixteen teams have a better yards-per-carry average heading into Week 4.

The Dolphins are allowing 112 rushing yards per game, which ranks Miami 12th when it comes to defending the run.

Only two defenses — the Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers — have been worse than Miami when it comes to red zone efficiency this season, and plenty of that can be credited to the opponent’s ability to run efficiently in close-quarter situations.

“Me personally, I think it’s just us [not] trusting each other,” safety Jevon Holland said. “That’s basically what it comes down to. Last year we had a tough time in the run game earlier in the year. We trusted each other, talked about it, and it started to work better.”

Holland’s referring to last year’s defense, which struggled defending the run in the season’s first month, similar to these Dolphins. But Miami tightened the screws as the season progressed, especially against the run, limiting opponents to 3.8 yards per carry (which ranked seventh), and that stinginess served as the bedrock of last year’s top-10 defense.

The goal moving forward is to help this year’s unit — which is missing Wilkins, Raekwon Davis, Andrew Van Ginkel, Brandon Jones and DeShon Elliott, starters who all left as free agents — get there.

That’s why Weaver held a meticulous film breakdown on Tuesday following Miami’s 24-3 loss to the Seahawks, showing players the numerous breakdowns, outlining how each mishap was tied to someone trying to do more than his assignment.

“That’s something we’re talking through. You go down the list of things that can make us better and the one thing for sure is that [the run defense] has to get better,” said Campbell, who has been limited to 87 snaps on defense the past three games because his age (37) seemingly has him on a snap count.

“It usually comes down to somebody trying to do too much. For what?” Campbell continued. “We got enough guys. Make the plays you’re supposed to make. They come to you. That’s something we have to get better at.”

____

©2024 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.