Where many Dolphins rank as they come off their bye. And former Hurricane signs with Miami
Last week, we explored some Tua Tagovailoa metrics during the Dolphins’ bye week.
Here are some noteworthy numbers and rankings at other positions, courtesy of the good folks at Pro Football Focus:
▪ Last season, the Dolphins had just two players finish in the top 20 at their positions in PFF’s final position rankings: defensive tackles Zach Sieler (third among all NFL interior defensive linemen) and Christian Wilkins (sixth in that category).
This season? There are top-20 Dolphins galore:
Entering this past weekend, Tagovailoa was first among quarterbacks; Tyreek Hill first and Jaylen Waddle seventh among wide receivers; Alec Ingold second among fullbacks (behind only Baltimore’s Patrick Ricard); Connor Williams fifth among centers; Robert Hunt sixth among guards; Terron Armstead 14th among offensive tackles; Jaelan Phillips 16th among edge defenders; Duke Riley 14th among linebackers; and Kader Kohou 14th among cornerbacks.
Dolphins coaches Monday raved about how Williams has adapted to center; he was a left guard for Dallas.
▪ The highest-ranking Dolphins at other positions: Wilkins and Sieler are 21st and 22nd among interior defenders; Mike Gesicki is 24th of 73 tight ends; and Jevon Holland is 30th of 85 safeties.
And Jeff Wilson Jr. is 24th among 63 running backs. Coincidentally, Chase Edmonds — who was replaced by Wilson — is 63rd, factoring in his play for Miami earlier and Denver now. (Edmonds has four carries for 15 yards for the Broncos.)
Incidentally, new Dolphins defender Bradley Chubb and teammate Andrew Van Ginkel entered this past weekend tied for 30th among 119 edge defenders, taking into account Chubb’s work in Denver. Emmanuel Ogbah was 104th before his season-ending triceps injury.
▪ As for the Dolphins’ starting inside linebackers, PFF rates Jerome Baker 30th and Elandon Roberts 62nd of 82.
But Roberts has been very good in short yardage and has 14 “stops” on running plays that constitute a loss for the offense; that’s 27th among linebackers.
Baker isn’t rushing the quarterback quite as often or as well as past years. He had 7 and 5.5 sacks the past two years.
This season, he has rushed 58 times (sixth most among inside linebackers) but has only one sack and five pressures.
He was more effective as a rusher in 2020, when the Dolphins rushed him 135 times and he had 17 pressures and those 7 sacks.
The Dolphins don’t rush Baker as much now in part because they need him in coverage. But his coverage numbers aren’t very good; he has allowed a 101.1 passer rating in his coverage area (24 for 31 for 177 yards, and a touchdown).
Roberts has yielded a 109.1 passer rating in his coverage area (18 for 21, 134 yards, and a touchdown).
Riley has been Miami’s best linebacker in coverage, with an 83.8 passer rating against.
▪ From the nobody-could-have-seen-this-coming department: Xavien Howard entered this past weekend with the league’s fourth-worst passer rating against among cornerbacks at 143.1 (32 for 47 completed against him for 504 yards with six TDs and one interception).
Just as shocking: The worst QB rating against belongs to the Chargers’ J.C. Jackson, a great corner in New England who signed a five-year, $82 million deal with Los Angeles in March, struggled badly and is now done for the season with a patellar tendon injury. William Jackson and Amani Oruwariye are the other corners with a worse passer rating than Howard, who was slowed by groin injuries earlier this season.
On the flip side, aside from Keion Crossen, the Dolphins’ other corners have sterling passer ratings against: Justin Bethel had a 53.5 rating against (18 targets), Noah Igbinoghene (68.8 in 17 targets and the game-sealing interception against the Steelers), and Kohou 87.1 (11th in the league, minimum 40 targets).
Crossen has a bloated passer rating against (137.5) because he has allowed 139 yards and a TD on seven completions (on 11 targets).
Nik Needham was at 116.1 before his season-ending knee injury.
▪ What about the safeties?
Holland’s passer rating against (86 as a rookie) is 97 now (10 for 14, 172 yards, two interceptions, one TD).
One of the many unfortunate things about Brandon Jones’ season-ending Achilles injury is that he was much improved in coverage, with an 89.3 passer rating compared with 114.2 last season.
Eric Rowe is at 108.5.
▪ The offensive line that was so dominant against Cleveland — from left to right: Armstead, Robert Jones, Williams, Hunt and Brandon Shell — have combined to give up just two sacks all season.
Armstead, Williams and Shell haven’t allowed any sacks. Neither has Jones, albeit in just 148 snaps this season.
Hunt has allowed two in 407 pass-blocking chances and has been very good overall.
Liam Eichenberg, the starter at left guard before sustaining a knee injury against Detroit, had permitted two sacks in 333 pass blocking chances.
THIS AND THAT
Two Dolphins coaches Monday declined to say if Austin Jackson would be cross-trained at left guard (where he has experience) or practice only at tackle. Jackson started the opener at right tackle, missed eight games with an ankle injury and was active but didn’t play against Cleveland.
Shell hasn’t allowed a sack in five starts at right tackle, and Robert Jones played well at left guard against Cleveland.
Offensive line coach Matt Applebaum said Jones is “a powerful guy. He can move people against their will. Physical player. Worked really hard; he understands what we’re trying to get done. He’s brought a lot to the table.”
▪ The Dolphins signed former Miami Hurricanes defensive tackle R.J. McIntosh to their practice squad. A former fifth-round pick of the Giants, McIntosh, who attended Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons, had 18 tackles and two sacks in 18 games for New York over three seasons. He spent part of the 2021 season on the Packers’ practice squad and was with the Colts during training camp this year.
▪ Jamal Perry, the former Dolphin who joined the team’s practice squad last week, is working at safety and cornerback.
▪ SiriusXM will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Dolphins’ undefeated 1972 season with an audio documentary. “Still Perfect — The Story of ’72 Dolphins” will debut at 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and air multiple times through the holiday weekend, including 10 p.m. Friday and 11 p.m. Saturday. It can also be heard anytime after the debut on the SXM App.
Here’s my Monday piece with an update on Byron Jones and news from Mike McDaniel’s first press conference in a week.
Here’s my Monday piece with lots of notes, on Jason Sanders, Channing Tindall, Cedrick Wilson Jr., Bradley Chubb and more.
This story was originally published November 21, 2022 at 5:10 PM.
