What a tremendous game. What a team! Miami successfully erased all doubt about their potential. I mean the team played excellent on both sides of the ball especially with the turn over cha—oh right we’re talking Dolphins. The OTHER Miami team. Well, let’s get this over with and give this dead body a once-over in the wake of another crushing loss.

Cam Newton let it rip against us in the second half ending the night with 254 passing yards, nearly a hundred rushing yards and 4 touchdowns. Ouch. Jay Cutler for his part threw for 213 yards, 2 TDs but a costly interception late in the second quarter that set the Panthers up to put us down 17-7 at the half. During the first pair of quarters, we were hanging in the there but the wheels came off in the second half finishing with a 45-21 smackdown. For our ground game, Kenyan Drake rushed 7 times for 82 yards and a TD, continuing to show why he is our man carrying the rock, barring injury.

🏃💨@KDx32 takes it 66-yards for the TD.#MIAvsCAR | 14-31 pic.twitter.com/hbnzQxTAXN

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) November 14, 2017

There is just no way to spin this, it was another bad loss showing the theme of being unable to play competitively the entire game. The good teams are 4 quarter teams but we all know this. Without further ado let us travel to the next part.

What Needs Fixin’

Time to roast the defense, specifically the tackling or the lack thereof. This isn’t the first time and it likely will not be the last but man there were some moments that really stuck out to me showing our defensive deficiencies, one of them being this fundamental art. Now I know folks like the big hits and players are always looking to make one for the highlight reels and their own bragging rights but come on man you can’t miss tackles you need to wrap yourself around the guy. It isn’t as sexy but it serves to help stop the ball carrier or at least tie him up long enough for another player to help bring him down. But for our case, throughout the game it looked as if our boys weren’t even trying.

Mid-way through the second quarter Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey ran for a 4-yard TD blowing right past Kiko Alonso. Kiko looked like he wasn’t even trying to tackle the guy, forget about trying to wrap around him.

A similar situation happened again early in the third quarter when Johnathan Stewart rushed past our defenders making them look like they didn’t even know how to tackle securing another first down past the 50-yard line. This drive ultimately led to a 28-yard touchdown reception to Devin Funchess, thanks to some great blocking from McCaffrey.

imagine living in fear that every time you farted, you’d shit your pants. that’s what it feels like being a miami dolphins fan.

— josh houtz (@Houtz) November 14, 2017

The same thing happens again this time with Cameron Artis-Payne dashing his way past several defenders with no one to stop him on his 12-yard TD run. By then the game was already out of control 30-7 with more than 7 minutes left in the third quarter. With these three incidents that cost us dearly, it illustrates a critical fundamental flaw. The boys will see this when they go over the painful tape, hopefully learning from their mistakes but honestly this is the pros, not the peewees, these kinds of mishaps should be pretty rare. Sometimes a guy just cuts or jukes and catches you out of position but in these plays, the defenders should have made the tackle or at least did the wrap around.

As the minimum wage GM I’d have these guys spend the week going over these missed defensive stops because this was just absolutely embarrassing, we’re now 4-5. And it doesn’t get easier as we take on Tampa Bay, New England and then Denver in the next part of the schedule. It doesn’t look good for the Dolphins, it really doesn’t. So how bout them Canes?

That moment you realize the @MiamiDolphins have 7 games remaining. pic.twitter.com/aYF6lGcRfJ

— 🐬Neil (@DolfanNeil) November 15, 2017

Minimum Wage GM is a weekly column expressing one fan’s hope and despair as he embarks on a journey with the Miami Dolphins. Be bold, be good, be you. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.