Do you know who I blame? The coaches

If there was any game where our defense should have stood up and made a statement, it was the Miami game this past weekend. Why? Because the D had just been embarrassed by the Saints on Monday night. There was no good to be taken from that game; everything was a mess and on D, there were no bright points.

But what happened instead? The Dolphins -- at several points -- marched down the field with no one stopping them. That is not the statement that should be made. Or maybe it is, and we have to accept that far from being a Superbowl competitor, this team may not even be bound for the playoffs.

The coaches sure aren't helping. If they did devise a game plan to try and contain the Saints on defense, you could have fooled me. But more worrisome is the calls that were made in the Dolphins game. There was essentially no pressure on Henne. Sure, there was one interception, but that was about the only bright spot of the game.

This story, which talks about Mayo and his frustration for not being able to figure out what is wrong with the defense, is in my opinion an indictment of the coaching staff. It's the coach who should be able to dissect what is happening and pinpoint the problem. That did not happen yesterday and instead of making a statement about the strength of this team, they unveiled its myriad of weaknesses.

Also, the play calling on offense, particularly late in the game, was hideous. When the Patriots still had the lead in the fourth, they should have worked to burn the clock and move the chains. Instead, they opined for long passes (none of which worked), which did the opposite: missed passes stopped the clock and stalled the drives. And the last sequence, with an attempted long pass on second down then handing it to Faulk on third and long (6, I believe), was atrocious. Think about it: Maroney (and the team) averages 4.1 yards per carry, or something like that. So if you give the ball to him, he should be able to get a first down with that average -- and when he doesn't, throw a short play to get the necessary yardage. It may not be that every single carry is four yards, but it will average out over all. Maybe this is the issue: our coaching staff does not comprehend the law of averages.