They talked about staying the course, locking in on their assignments, and playing the defensive calls as designed.
No more freelancing. Fewer moments of lost focus, and mental errors.
Nobody needed to put on a cape with the desire of saving the team.
Every man has a job, a role, an assignment in the Miami Dolphins defense. Do that role, commit to that assignment, and the defense will be fine.
That was the defense’s rally cry to rebound from this season’s rough start. Maybe it could even get back to its opportunistic and stingy ways of 2020.
The talk got redundant, as team after team pummeled Miami on the ground in the first month, and quarterback after quarterback carved up Miami’s secondary (133.6 rushing yards allowed per game and a 108.3 passer rating from opposing quarterbacks during the 1-4 start).
But progress was made each week last month, and Thursday night’s surprising 22-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens, which was Miami’s second straight, re-enforces the theory that team’s stay-the-course mantra is working.
The Dolphins defense bossed up on one of the NFL’s biggest bullies with a masterful plan for the reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, one that neutralized his special skills during his South Florida homecoming.
Miami’s defense sacked Jackson four times, utilizing a zero blitz package that leaves nobody deep, and held him to 39 rushing yards. The Dolphins also had Xavien Howard return a fumble 49 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that provided Miami a 15-3 lead in the fourth quarter.
And if that wasn’t impressive enough, the game ended with the Dolphins kneeling the ball down after cornerback Justin Coleman picked off Jackson in the end zone.
“I think Josh [Boyer] and the defensive staff did a nice job coming up with the game plan. They do it every week. Each week may call for something a little bit different,” head coach Brian Flores said, referring to the Dolphins defensive coordinator. “This week the feeling was that we tried to apply some pressure as much as we could.
The performance Miami put on display Thursday night was every bit as good as anything the Dolphins showcased last season, when they spent most of 2020 as one of the NFL’s top three defenses before ending the year ranked sixth because of a poor performance in a season finale loss to Buffalo.
Miami’s amoeba blitzes made Jackson uncomfortable because he couldn’t identify who was coming, and who was dropping back into coverage. Those zero technique blitzes usually provides single coverage looks downfield. But the Ravens weren’t able to capitalize because they were either in the wrong play call, Jackson misfired on a pass, or tight coverage from Miami’s secondary applied.
That unit, which carried the defense last season, has been coming on strong lately.
But it’s Raekwon Davis’ return from a knee injury which has helped Miami tighten the screws on defense.
Every opponent rushed for 100 or more yards in games Davis, the starting nose tackle, missed while he was on injured reserve. But since his return, only two of the six teams have run for more than 100 yards, and a 34-yard Josh Allen scramble boosted the Bills to their 102-rushing-yard total on Oct. 31. The opponent rushing-yard-per-game average the past five games has been 85.0, and the combined opponent passer rating has plummeted to 79.9. The Dolphins defense has piled up 12 sacks and nine takeaways the past five games after only nine sacks and five takeaways by the unit in the first five.
But the resurgence isn’t just about the big man anchoring the front line. Miami’s linebackers have improved too, becoming more assignment-driven. The Dolphins used three inside linebackers — Jerome Baker, Elandon Roberts and Duke Riley — on the field most of the game to contain Jackson’s scrambling.
The edge players — Andrew Van Ginkel and Jaelan Phillips — are also starting to turn pressure into sacks, effectively hunting down quarterbacks and decreasing the time they have to throw the football.
“It’s just buying in on what the coaches are preaching each and every day,” said Andrew Van Ginkel, who has contributed 44 tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble this season. “It’s coming into work and just figuring out little things within my game and how I can get better and ultimately get to the quarterback. That’s my job description so that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Miami’s young safety duo of Jevon Holland and Brandon Jones are also finding their footing as NFL starters, cutting down on the mistakes and making a handful of impact plays per game.
At least that’s been the case the past two games, two wins. And the hope is that Miami’s defense can continue to stack up good performances like they’ve delivered the past two weeks and make the Dolphins respectable again.
“I feel like the sky is the limit,” Howard said about the final seven games. “We have a lot of ball left. Just got to see what we can do.”
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