It was a tough day all around for the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. The defeat at the hands of the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars left the Dolphins (1-1) and cast a pall over what has been widely viewed as the season that could finally see Miami pull itself back into the conversation for the AFC East, and perhaps even the league, title. Adding serious insult and quite a bit of concern to injury, a report on the Monday immediately after the game suggests that prized free agent pickup, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, the $100+ million man, may have already begun to stir the pot in a negative manner just two games into his tenure with the team. Suh, per a report from Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald, ignored the defensive calls made by coordinator Kevin Coyle at points during the game.
Suh "strayed from Kevin Coyle's script" choosing instead to "freelance" at times, per Beasley. This created "confusion" on the defense, which led to breakdowns and, perhaps ultimately, the 24-20 loss.
"I couldn't tell you," Suh said of his lack of impact after the game. "At the end of the day, we have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what we want to run so guys can make plays and go from there."
Despite signing a mammoth $114 million contract with Miami this offseason to be the new havoc-wreaking lynchpin of the Dolphins defensive line, Suh has been unbelievable quiet during the first two weeks of the 2015 NFL season. Thus far this season, Suh has three lonely tackles. He and his Dolphins teammates watched Sunday as the Jaguars, led by quarterback Blake Bortles, rolled up almost 400-yards of offense. Bortles completed 18 of his 33 passes for 273-yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
While Suh's apparent freelancing may not be solely to blame for the Dolphins issues, they're likely not helping matters. Coyle, and head coach Joe Philbin, must get their star defender headed in the right direction if they're to get the arrow on this season back to trending up.
