The Dolphins rebuilt their front 7 in free agency. It all came together to pummel Rams
It took all of about 24 hours in March for the Miami Dolphins to entirely revamp the look of their front seven. As soon as free agency opened, the Dolphins sought out all the linebackers and defensive ends they could find, hoping to reshape one of the NFL’s worst pass-rushing defenses.
They plucked Kyle Van Noy away from the New England Patriots, Emmanuel Ogbah away from the Kansas City Chiefs and Shaq Lawson away from the Buffalo Bills all within the first two days of free agency. Virtually overnight, Miami found three new starters on defense.
On Sunday, those three — and particularly the latter two — helped the Dolphins beat the Los Angeles Rams, 28-17, despite managing just 145 yards of total offense.
“The key to the game was just attack Jared Goff,” Ogbah said. “As a defense, we did a good job rushing them, rushing coverage, going head-to-head, rolling all them boys back.”
Miami (4-3) forced Rams quarterback Jared Goff into four turnovers at Hard Rock Stadium — two interceptions and two fumbles — and three were created off pressure by the two new defensive ends.
Ogbah finished with two tackles, one quarterback hit, a pass defended and a strip sack. Lawson finished with three tackles, two quarterback hits and a strip sack of his own.
Ogbah, who signed a two-year deal for $15 million in March, now has seven sacks this season — a new career high. Lawson, who signed for three years and $30 million a day earlier, has two sacks and 10 quarterback hits. Together, they’ve helped turn a once-porous unit into a legitimately fearsome force.
Last season, the Dolphins gave up an average of 397.8 yards per game and 6.0 yards per play, and finished the season with just 23 sacks. Through seven games this year, opponents are averaging 376 yards per game and 5.6 yards per play, and the Miami already has 19 sacks.
“This team’s got a lot of guys who just work hard and love each other,” Wilkins said. “When you’ve got that kind of energy, and the right people around the organization and in the building every day, you’re bound to do some good stuff.”
The story Sunday couldn’t be told through those yardage numbers, though. Los Angeles (5-3) piled up 471 yards, but it took them 92 plays to get there and their opportunities were mostly the result of the Dolphins’ offense managing just eight first downs.
Instead, the story was told through those four turnovers Ogbah and Lawson were often so instrumental in creating.
Goff’s first was an interception by defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, who dropped into coverage and pulled in an errant throw by as Ogbah stormed in to apply pressure unblocked. His second was a 78-yard fumble-return touchdown by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who scooped up the ball after Ogbah barreled into Goff unblocked to knock the ball loose. His fourth was a 28-yard fumble return by Van Noy down to the 1-yard line after Lawson blew past Rams tight end Gerald Everett to jar the ball away from Goff.
All three ultimately turned into touchdowns.
Goff threw 61 times for 355 yards and threw more interceptions than touchdowns. The Dolphins’ entire front seven, led by Ogbah and Lawson, rattled him early and forced Los Angeles to play from behind in Miami Gardens.
Although the defensive end’s sacks were the Dolphins’ only two, Miami hit Goff eight times, and its linebackers and defensive lineman combined to break up six passes.
“Sometimes it’s not necessarily the sack total but I think you can watch a game and see that a quarterback feels us,” Flores said. “I’m not sure how many sacks we had today, but I know that we applied some pressure and forced them to do some other things offensively maybe they didn’t want to do.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2020 at 6:47 PM.
