Dolphins first-round pick Wilkins harassed Darnold, Jets all day in his breakout game

It took him seven games, but Miami Dolphins rookie Christian Wilkins finally knows the feeling of bringing down an opposing NFL quarterback in the backfield.

The Dolphins defensive tackle recorded his first career sack in Miami’s 26-18 win over the New York Jets Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. And he couldn’t help but smile after the game as he described what it meant to make an impact in the Dolphins’ first win of the season.

“I feel pretty good just being able to contribute and [make] a big play when it was needed,” Wilkins said. “And now, it’s just motivation for me and for this team. It’s great to see that we could get it done, and then it’s great to just keep building on it.”

Wilkins’ sack came in the first quarter after he eluded a block and got his hands on the foot of Jets quarterback Sam Darnold for a 9-yard loss. The play forced the Jets to try a 49-yard field goal, which was kicked wide right.

Wilkins was all over the field on Sunday.

In what was seemingly a breakout game for the Dolphins’ 2019 first-round pick, he recorded five total tackles, two quarterback hurries and a team-high two tackles for loss.

One of those tackles for loss came in the fourth quarter when Wilkins wrapped up Jets running back Le’Veon Bell, who was held to 66 yards and 3.9 yards per carry, for a five-yard loss. A sack by defensive back Nik Needham followed, which led to an eventual Jets punt.

The series was indicative of the pressure the Dolphins pass rush got on Darnold, disrupting the second-year quarterback for largely the entire game. Miami’s defense sacked Darnold three times, recorded five tackles for loss and nine quarterback hurries.

And late in the second quarter, an ill-advised heave under pressure by Darnold was intercepted in the end zone by defensive back Jamal Wiltz.

Wilkins said that type of pressure was a part of the game plan for the Dolphins defense going into the game, adding that the defense had a different mindset for the matchup and “smelled blood when we needed to.”

The 23-year-old now has 23 tackles on the season, but more important to Wilkins than his individual success is what Sunday’s win meant for the team.

“This is great because we just put so much hard work in all year since training camp,” he said. “ … We’ve had to deal with everybody on the outside telling us this, telling us that, so it’s just a great feeling when you can get a win. This is definitely awesome. It’s awesome for the coaches and everybody involved. Everybody, because we’ve all just been working so hard to be a part of this, and it’s great that we finally got what we wanted.”

Wilkins’ excitement over getting the first win of his NFL career was evident on the field during the game. He met receiver Preston Williams in the end zone after the Dolphins rookie recorded his first of two touchdowns of the game, and he was one of the players who gifted head coach Brian Flores with a Gatorade bath on the sideline when the clock hit zeros.

“We just said whenever [Flores] gets his first win, we’re definitely going to Gatorade bath him,” Wilkins said. “I know it doesn’t seem like much – we got our first win – but it means a lot and definitely for [Flores], it’s something he’ll remember. It’s something we’ll remember too, so we just had to show him some love, definitely getting his first win as a rookie head coach.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2019 at 6:43 PM.