Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens was hopefully a wake up call to Tony Sparano and his offensive coaches, it is time for the Miami Dolphins to change their scheme and find an offensive style that fits this team and can be implemented game after game.

Since defeating the New England Patriots in week 3, the Dolphins have become very fond of using their single wing (wild cat) offense. Unconventional and possesing many wrinkles, it kept Miami’s opponents off balance and gave the Dolphins a chance to win each week. But what would happen when the Dolphins welcomed the leagues best defense to town on Sunday in the form of the Baltimore Ravens? The results were not good and the Dolphins slugged through for a 27-13 loss to the Ravens.

The Dolphins used the single wing 5 times and gained 4 yards. Ronnie Brown, who promised to show the Ravens and former coach Cam Cameron what he could do, ran for 27 yards on 13 carries and had NO TDs. Chad Pennington was effective as usual going 24-35 for 295 yards, tossing 1 TD and 1 INT. That 1 INT however would prove costly in the end. The game was tied at 3 and as the pocket collapsed around Pennington instead of going down and taking the sack, Pennington desperately tried to unload the ball to a short man, the result however was an INT that was returned 44 yards for a TD by Terrell Suggs. The score put the Ravens ahead for good.

The Dolphins’ defense was also thrown for a loop on Sunday as the Ravens often employed the no huddle offense which allowed rookie QB Joe Flacco to go pressure free for the majority of the game and move his team downfield for two FGs and two TDs, including a TD drive with 30 seconds left before halftime.

The Dolphins have been more impressive than most would have anticipated this season, but lately have been living on borrowed time, so to speak. The offense has been relying a little too heavily on the gimmicks, the wildcat offense in particular, to spark scoring drives and win or stay in games. If the Dolphins want to win more games this season they are still going to have to address their deficiencies. The passing game is impotent, Ginn Jr, Camarillo, and Hagan are terrible and without a passing game Brown and Ricky Williams are going to be useless. The more the offense struggles, the less time they spend on the field and the more time the defense spends on the field. The coaching staff needs to come up with a new scheme because teams have clearly caught onto the wildcat, meaning its effective days are numbered.