The Miami Dolphins came into their Thanksgiving Day game with the Green Bay Packers with a ton of momentum, winning each of their last three games. But despite this, they came out incredibly flat, which Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks had a theory about after the game.
The final score was perhaps more friendly than it had any business being, losing 30-17 despite the game largely not being all the close throughout much of it.
Green Bay jumped out to a 24-3 halftime lead that they never relinquished. And afterward, Brooks wasn’t afraid to put his team on blast, saying that he thought the team was “soft”, perhaps because of the cold weather at Lambeau Field.
“I thought we were soft,” Brooks said via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.com. “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.”
It’s a pretty harsh assessment from Brooks, who is in the midst of his first year in Miami following a four-year tenure with the Seattle Seahawks. But it is perhaps not an incorrect statement considering the struggles the Dolphins and star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa have had in cold weather over the years.
Over the entirety of Tagovailoa’s career, the Dolphins have struggled heavily whenever the weather gets under 50 degrees. After this loss, his career record in games at 50 degrees or below sits at just 1-8.
Whether this means the team is “soft” is up for interpretation…
What isn’t up for interpretation is the fact that this loss may go a long way in ending the Dolphins’ hopes of sneaking into the playoffs in the AFC.
Now, the Dolphins sit at just 5-7 on the year, which is two games behind the Denver Broncos, who currently hold the final playoff spot in the conference.
The Dolphins will look to get back on track in Week 14 against the New York Jets, who have had their own fair share of struggles this season after coming into the season as expected AFC contenders.
[ESPN]
