Dolphins’ opportunistic defense seeks rare success against Josh Allen, Bills offense
Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard was asked Wednesday about his looming matchup with Buffalo Bills star receiver Stefon Diggs and offered a candid answer. He rattled off a list of the team’s offensive skill position players and saved the most dangerous for last.
“You’ve got to line up against five guys,” Howard responded. “They’ve got Emmanuel Sanders, Cole Beasley, Gabriel Davis, Isaiah McKenzie. You’ve got the quarterback [Josh Allen] also. There’s a lot that they have. It’s going to be a tough battle. You just have to be prepared for it. He can extend plays, run the ball, everything. There’s a lot of stuff that they do well.”
When the Dolphins host Buffalo for their home opener Sunday, they will seek to do something that has eluded them in recent matchups: limit Josh Allen’s dual-threat ability and his arsenal of receivers.
In six games against Miami, Allen is 5-1, completing 64 percent of his passes for 1,552 yards, 17 touchdowns and four interceptions. He has also added 340 rushing yards and three touchdowns. The Bills have averaged close to 36 points in those six matchups, including 56 points in a Week 17 blowout to close the 2020 season.
“They are really talented,” defensive lineman Christian Wilkins said. “They’ve got weapons everywhere — a really good O-line, really good quarterback, really good skill guys, good running backs. They’ve got talent everywhere. They are a heck of a team. We’re really going to need to prepare well if we’re going to take care of business this weekend.”
The Pittsburgh Steelers, who defeated Buffalo in Week 1, provided a possible game plan for the Dolphins to replicate. Pittsburgh blitzed on just one of Allen’s 56 drop backs, according to Pro Football Reference, but pressured him on 25.5 percent of his drop backs, the sixth-highest rate in Week 1.
Allen was sacked three times and the Bills, the league’s second-highest scoring offense in 2020, were held to 16 points, their lowest total since Week 5 of last season.
“It’s a front seven thing. It’s really a defensive thing,” linebacker Jerome Baker said. “You don’t want to just get out of your lane, you don’t want to just rush the guy and get there behind him.”
In the Dolphins’ season-opening win against the New England Patriots, they blitzed rookie quarterback Mac Jones on 52.5% of his drop backs, the second-highest rate in Week 1, and pressured him at a rate of 25 percent, which ranked seventh in the league.
If Dolphins coach Brian Flores and defensive coordinator Josh Boyer opt to stick with their blitz-heavy philosophy, the onus could be on edge rushers such as Emmanuel Ogbah, Andrew Van Ginkel and rookie Jaelan Phillips to not only pressure Allen but stay disciplined and keep him from breaking the pocket.
“Josh is a good quarterback, good mobile quarterback, so we’ve got to watch out for his speed, too,” Ogbah said. “You’ve got to do a good job containing him and rushing him with good, level rush. … Just don’t give him those step-up lanes that he can lead in and throw the ball. Don’t give him no room to run the ball if he chooses to run the ball.”
Just as important could be the coverage of the Dolphins’ defensive backs. While New England used offensive personnel with fewer than three wide receivers on close to 63 percent of its plays, the Bills used personnel featuring three or more receivers on all but three of the 79 plays they ran against the Steelers, according to Sharp Football Stats.
“Last week, it felt like we saw a lot of bunch routes, pick routes and a lot of stuff [the Patriots] do well,” Howard said. “I feel like we’re going to see the same thing. Depending on what coverage we’re playing, they try to attack us in this way or that way. We’ve just got prepared for whatever they bring.”
Therein lies the conundrum of defending a quarterback who’s just as explosive with his arm and his legs. Flores acknowledged there are multiple ways to confuse a quarterback — with and without blitzing — but said the defense would do what best fits them.
“You can blitz them, you can not blitz them, you can send eight, you can drop eight, you can do a variety of things – blitz safety, post safety, there is fire zone [blitzing with defenders dropping into zone coverage],” Flores said. “You can do a lot of things. At the end of the day, you’ve got to do what you think you do well. If somebody asks me to go out there and play man coverage, it’s not going to go very well. Just because it might be a good disguise, it’s not going to work out. I’ll tell you that right now. At the end of the day, you’ve got to do what you think you do well as a team and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
