For the first time all season, the defense of the Miami Dolphins laid an egg in Sunday's 39-36 loss to the Denver Broncos.

There have been times this season when the secondary got beat or the front seven struggled stopping the run. But Sunday was the first time Miami's entire defense, which was ranked No. 2 entering Week 12, was dominated at all levels.

But perhaps the most concerning aspect was Denver rushing for 201 yards and averaging 5.7 yards per carry. The Broncos made it clear during the week they wanted to establish the run and the Dolphins were aware of it. Still, they couldn't do anything to stop Denver, which was led by running back C.J. Anderson's 167 rushing yards and a touchdown.

"I didn't feel like they were just running it down our throats, I thought they were being very physical though," Dolphins defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle said. "I didn't think we were as physical as we normally are at the point of attack."

Miami entered Sunday giving up just 94.5 rushing yards per game. Yet poor tackling, poor gap assignments and the inability to get off blocks plagued the team. The multiple issues seemingly came out of nowhere and must be addressed before facing the lowly New York Jets (2-9) on "Monday Night Football."

"We've got to talk about that here as we go into the week," Coyle said. "I think as the game wore on, there were no surprises anymore. They were determined to run the football and they did."

The Dolphins blew an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter by allowing Denver to score 22 unanswered points. It was the third time this season Miami's defense blew a fourth-quarter lead to lose a game.

There is little margin for error remaining for the Dolphins (6-5) in a deep and competitive AFC. They have to get hot in December and be able to pull out the close games if they want to make a push for the playoffs.

"They step up and make plays at critical times. At some point in time, we have to be able to do that," Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin said. "We've won a lot of games double-digits in the six wins we've had. We've had some good margin-of-victory in those games, but you look at the last three losses we've had and what are they by, three, four and three points. We have to find a way to win some of those games."