But Philbin won’t ignore a struggling running game or a secondary that allowed 300 or more passing yards for the fourth time in six games.

“We just got tobe honest; we’re going into a team meeting in 10 minutes and show the entire team three really good plays from each unit of play and three plays that need correction,’’ Philbin said during a noon press conference on Monday. “I’m not that smart where I could play mind games, so we’re just going to show them what was real in the game.’’

Philbin is particularly disturbed by a declining rushing attack that produced just 19 net yards, the fourth lowest in franchise history. Running back Reggie Bush had just 17 yards on 12 carries or 66 yards below his season average.

Although rookie tailback Lamar Miller was expected to pick up the slack for the concussion-related absence of Daniel Thomas, he was in for only four snaps and his only carry was negated by a penalty. Philbin explained that with the Rams dominating time of possession, there was no reason to give Bush too much rest.

“Credit St. Louis, they had a very good game plan; they executed their plan well,’’ Philbin said. “We knew it was going to be tough sledding, we didn’t have a huge plan. We tried to shrink it down because we wanted to take advantage [of the Rams stuffing the line].

“There was some execution issues; it’s got to be better.’’

Philbin and the coaching staff made halftime adjustments and came out in the second half utilizing short passes as a psuedo running game. It immediately clicked as quarterback Ryan Tannehill directed a 10-play, 62-yard touchdown drive that included seven completions for 53 yards, including three to Bush for 32 yards.

“I thought [offensive coordinator Mike Sherman] and the staff did a great job at halftime; let the players refocus, put together a good opening drive in the second half,'' Philbin said. "Obviously, the [44-yard] return by Marcus [Thigpen] gave us a little bit of juice. We lacked rhythm and consistency on offense, there’s no doubt about it.’’

Rams quarterback Sam Bradford clearly went after inexperienced cornerback Nolan Carroll, who started in place of Richard Marshall (back), and he hit 26 of 39 for 315 yards for a 91.3 passer rating, well above his 72.6 rating coming into the game.

“We gave up some big plays, a 65-yard play in the passing game; that’s not a good recipe,’’ Philbin said. “I think he completed about 67 percent of his passes if I’m not mistaken, they had a lot of production.

“Let’s face it, they ran the ball well, especially in the first half and they got themselves in good situations at second-and-5 and second-and-4. This puts [defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle] in a tough spot. It’s hard, you kind of have the upper hand on offense.’’

Perhaps the most surprising Dolphins’ failing on Sunday was the top-ranked run defense, which got gashed for a season-worst 162 yards on 6.0 yards-per-carry. However, they tightened up in the second half, allowing just 25 rushing yards on 11 carries. The run defense, which had been allowing an average of 61.4 yards-per-game, is now ranked fifth.

Despite the shortcomings, Philbin was satisfied with his player’s efforts and with their ability to finish off an opponent in a close game for the second consecutive game.

“Hopefully, chemistry is better, the resolve’s a little stronger, the urgency to make plays is there,’’ he said. “It’s hard to put a tangible, ‘Hey, we did this differently.’ Our practice format hasn’t changed a lot and I think our guys have watched the tape and hopefully have learned from some of the prior mistakes and made some adjustments from there.’’

Miami held a three-point lead on St. Louis with 4:15 remaining but faced a fourth-and-1 at its own 40-yard line … and called a fake punt.

OK, the chain of command is long.

There were week-long suggestions from Miami special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi and assistant Dave Fipp that the play would work. Philbin, though, held veto power, which he declined to exercise.

“Darren and Dave said all week it was going to be there,” Philbin said. “We kind of needed a play. We felt like it was a good time.”

He added a nonchalant shrug.

It was a dangerous time is what it was.

A failure would have presented St. Louis excellent field position with an opportunity to catch or overtake the Dolphins.

“We got the right look,” Philbin explained. “Let’s face it. We didn’t have a whole lot of rhythm on offense. We felt like if it was there, let’s take advantage of it.

“We practiced it a bunch. We told our guys (Saturday) night in the meeting, ‘We’re going to be aggressive in the kicking game. We have some fakes.’

“You’ve got to have faith in the players. If you’re practicing something, hopefully, you believe in it.”

So, it came down to Clemons – a safety on defense who is the up-back in punt formation – holding final responsibility to stay with or check out of the call. The snap would go to him, not to punter Brandon Fields.

“To be honest, it was a different look,” Clemons said. “I should have checked out of it, but my mind was made up. (The Rams) had enough men in the box, but the gap was open. I knew I could make it. I was a running back in high school.”

That was when he was more than 40 pounds lighter than his current 214 pounds and, he said, the last time he carried a ball as a running back.

“I was telling everybody when we practiced it that I’d score if we called it,” Clemons said.

He gained 3 yards.

More importantly, though, it cost St. Louis two-plus minutes off the clock.

The Dolphins were forced to punt again at the two-minute warning, but a penalty against St. Louis set up a second punt, and the Rams’ final possession started from their own 3-yard line with 1:41 remaining.

“I don’t think we have to reinvent the wheel,” he added. “Maybe just make some adjustments to what we’re doing. … Let’s not fix nine million things. We don’t have time for that.”

At or near the top of the Dolphins’ off-week to-do list: fixing their suddenly sluggish ground attack.

In the four games since Reggie Bush romped through the Raiders for 172 yards and two touchdowns, the Dolphins’ running game has steadily regressed.

They’ve averaged just 89.5 yards per game on 2.9 yards per carry in the last month. They ranked second league-wide in rushing after Week 2; now they’re out of the Top 10. And if you take out Bush’s 65-yard touchdown jaunt against the Raiders, Miami has averaged less than 3.4 yards per rush all season.

On Sunday, they mustered just 19 rushing yards on 18 attempts – the fourth-worst ground performance in team history.

The Dolphins have gotten away with it the last two weeks because Ryan Tannehill has been excellent. But even the best rookie quarterbacks need balance. Ben Roethlisberger had it in Pittsburgh. Joe Flacco got it in Baltimore.

If the Dolphins want to stay in the playoff hunt for the long term, Tannehill will probably need it too.

“You don’t want to put all the pressure on a rookie quarterback,” said center Mike Pouncey.

When asked Monday if the struggles against St. Louis were a matter of blocking, execution or the Rams’ scheme, Philbin answered D: All of the above.

Ever since Bush torched the Raiders, defenses have crowded the line of scrimmage, blitzed regularly and dared Tannehill to beat them. Offensive coordinator Mike Sherman said opposing teams have loaded the box with an extra defensive player “almost 100 percent of time” – not just in base defenses, but sub packages as well.

The Rams had success by creeping a safety up to the line of scrimmage on the tight end’s side and shutting down cutback lanes when Miami tried to run away from the extra defender.

Sherman and Pouncey both said that strategy will only change once defensive coordinators believe Tannehill will consistently beat them through the air. Until then, the burden is on the offensive line to create running lanes even when it is numerically overmatched – which takes both a good scheme and powerful execution.

That didn’t happen Sunday, as Jonathan Martin, John Jerry and Richie Incognito all had below-average grades in run-blocking, according to Pro Football Focus. The only place the Dolphins had any success was behind Pouncey, the website found.

The bye week will give the Dolphins a chance to both get better, and get healthy. Running back Daniel Thomas missed the Rams game after his second concussion in as many weeks.

Lamar Miller, meanwhile, played just four snaps on offense and didn’t get a carry – which Philbin attributed not to Miller’s pass-blocking, but to the fact that the Dolphins ran only 49 plays (including a kneel-down to end the game).

Miami can take a bit of solace knowing that, after its week off, the next team up is the Jets – whom the Dolphins gashed for 185 rushing yards in the teams’ first meeting.

“Every week with this team it’s kind of a new hurdle for us,” Philbin said. “Now we have to go on the road, we’ve got to win a division game. That’s going to be a huge challenge. That’s really all that matters right now.”

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