It’s not so much that the Dolphins lost to the Green Bay Packers 31-12 on Sunday, it’s how they lost. When the great Aaron Rodgers steps on the field and lays miles of production down on you, that’s something a defense just deals with sometimes.

It’s another thing when Packers running back Aaron Jones lights up 123 yards in just one quarter. As much as that is a cool story for Jones to perform well as the son of two parents who are both retired military on a game that took place on Veteran’s Day, it’s disturbing news for a defense getting crushed in all dimensions of the game.

Jones recorded 172 yards from scrimmage with two touchdowns while Rodgers passed for 199 with two touchdowns. That and the fact that the Packers didn’t even snap on a third down offensively until around nine minutes remained in the third quarter.

As mentioned in the Dolphins Dive this week, Miami’s best chance for victory was for their offense to keep Rodgers on the bench by controlling the ball and playing clean. In fairness, the Dolphins did a decent job on the “controlling the ball” part.

They only went three-and-out once with only two punts and a failed fourth-down conversion. Going 0-for-3 in the red zone and posting two turnovers compared to Green Bay’s one shows that the objective of playing clean football was not met.

The reason for that can be easily explained by a group of names: Dan Kilgore, Josh Sitton, Laremy Tunsil, Ja’Wuan James, and Ted Larsen. All these players represent offensive lineman who were injured starters.

This means that they were fielding a patchwork line to protect backup quarterback Brock Osweiler and open holes for running backs Frank Gore and Kenyan Drake. And that’s without even mentioning Jakeem Grant and DeVante Parker leaving the game in the third quarter.

The offense deserves some credit for moving the ball well even with limited health. But that won’t be enough beat an opponent that goes 4-for-4 in the red zone.