Dolphins assistants on offensive emergence, what position is like ‘martial arts’
Coinciding with the Dolphins’ three-game winning streak is a bit of emergence for an offense that was otherwise dormant during the team’s 1-7 start.
The past two games have produced three of the team’s largest plays of the season. The offense ran for 100 yards against the New York Jets in Sunday’s win, the first time the unit reached that mark since Week 7. The middle quarters continue to be a hurdle for an offense that’s still averaging just 18.3 points per game, which ranks 26th in the NFL.
However, the past few weeks have seen more trick plays and getting the ball into the hands of more skill-position players. While the Wildcat formation has been used throughout the season, it’s been unveiled more in short-yardage situations in recent weeks, including rookie receiver Jaylen Waddle’s 1-yard touchdown run against New York. Tight end Durham Smythe recorded an 18-yard reception against the Jets on a trick play. And part of wideout Albert Wilson’s increased usage has included a pair of drop backs for the former high school quarterback, although it hasn’t resulted in any completions.
Asked about the offense widening the net offensively, co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Eric Studesville said there hasn’t been a concerted effort to pull out trick plays, and it’s rather the continued effort of the staff trying to find opportunities to draw up successful plays.
“We’re always trying to find what gives us the best chance,” he said Tuesday. “We’re looking at the tape and we’re studying and we’re game planning things. Lots of conversations come. We have lots of ideas in the room. That’s one of the benefits of doing this as a collaborative effort with the entire staff, is that everybody’s involved and can throw out ideas. Some of them don’t ever make it anywhere. But some of them do, and if they’re good ideas and we can rule them up and we think they give us a chance to execute and make good plays, then we’ll do that.”
After facing the Jets, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans, all teams who rank in the bottom 10 in the league in yards per play allowed, the Dolphins’ matchup against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday will be the toughest defense they have faced since Week 8 against the Buffalo Bills. Carolina is second in the league, only to Buffalo, in fewest yards per play allowed and Football Outsiders ranks the Panthers defense the third-most efficient unit in the league.
Playing cornerback like martial arts, Dolphins DC says
Cornerback is arguably the toughest position to play in the NFL, with defensive backs often left on an island to shadow the league’s most dynamic athletes. It’s even more of a task if you’re Xavien Howard or Byron Jones and asked to do it at a higher-than-usual rate in the Dolphins’ aggressive, blitz-heavy scheme.
When explaining the position, defensive coordinator Josh Boyer drew a parallel to another intense, high-stakes sport.
“I’ve always kind of compared it to being in like martial arts,” he said. “It’s a skill set and if you don’t practice your skill set, your skills are going to diminish. And those guys work very hard at that every day because it’s not a really easy thing to do. So, we feel very fortunate about the two guys that we have and we feel very fortunate about the spots that we can put them in and those guys have done a good job for us.”
Though Jones was in coverage for both of the Jets’ passing touchdowns, the bookend corners’ improvement in coverage has played a big role in the defense’s midseason turnaround. According to Next Gen Stats, Howard was targeted eight times against New York and allowed four receptions for 37 yards.
“That’s the nature of the position,” Boyer said. “I’ve coached that position for many years. There’s going to be teams, regardless of your scheme, the majority of teams you see when it comes to third down, red [zone] area, at some point you’re going to get a version of man [coverage], whether that’s blitz coverage or man with help. We ask them to do a lot of things but at the end of the day, you’re responsible for covering the guy that we need you to cover when we ask you to do that.”
Date of Week 15 Game Announced
The Dolphins’ Week 15 home game against the Jets will be played on Sunday, Dec. 19, at 1 p.m and broadcast on CBS. The league had previously tentatively scheduled the game for either Dec. 19 or one of two stand-alone slots on Saturday, Dec. 18. Instead, the two prime-time games will be Las Vegas Raiders-Cleveland Browns (4:30 p.m., NFL Network) and New England Patriots-Indianapolis Colts (8:20 p.m., NFL Network).
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 12:53 PM.
