With Tua Tagovailoa sidelined again, can the Dolphins’ defense anchor Miami again?
It was supposed to be the opening performance that set the stage for a dominant season.
While all the hype was about the new-look Dolphins offense, Miami’s defense took center stage in a season-opening win against the Patriots, flustering quarterback Mac Jones and New England’s offense for much of the afternoon.
A pair of sacks and three takeaways led Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel to declare after the game that “this is still the defense’s team until proven otherwise.”
Much has changed since then, as Miami has become a team mainly powered by its big-play offense. But the expected absence of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who has been diagnosed with his second concussion this season and is unlikely to play Sunday, throws the state of the Dolphins offense under Teddy Bridgewater into a bit of uncertainty.
And with the Dolphins facing a struggling Patriots offense in a high-stakes matchup, Miami’s defense could — and might need to — return to being the anchor of the team this weekend.
“At the end of the day,” defensive coordinator Josh Boyer said Thursday, “you look at what you have available to you and what the offense is doing, and again, it goes right back to what can we take away? What can we try to attack? And what’s the best way to try to win the game?”
Two of the 11 defensive starters from Week 1 — cornerback Nik Needham and Brandon Jones — have since sustained season-ending injuries. Cornerback Trill Williams, defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah and outside linebacker Trey Flowers have also been lost for the year. And the absence of cornerback Byron Jones, who has not practiced since undergoing offseason surgery on his leg and is not expected to play this season, only adds to the litany of injuries the Dolphins have faced on defense.
The unit has evolved in some ways and attempted to adjust. Cornerback Kader Kohou and safeties Eric Rowe and Verone McKinley III have stepped into larger roles. The snap counts for defensive linemen Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler have skyrocketed to make up for depth concerns. And the team acquired outside linebacker Bradley Chubb in a trade deadline day deal to boost its pass rush.
But overall the season has been a mixed bag with periods of success and disappointing results that have brought questions regarding the future of the unit and Boyer as the leader.
Asked a question about the state of the defense’s pass rush, Boyer said: “If you’re always living in the past, that’s guilt or depression. If you’re living in the future, that’s anxiety or worry. Anywhere in the future or the past is insanity.”
Boyer emphasized he’s only focusing on the present — and he’s not asking more of the defense given Tagovailoa’s anticipated absence. But given the fact that the efficiency of the Dolphins’ offense has dipped when the third-year quarterback has been sidelined, a vintage performance from the defense could propel Miami to its first postseason berth since 2016. The Dolphins, who are on a four-game losing streak, can secure a playoff spot with a win and a New York Jets loss to the Seahawks on Sunday.
The game could be played without one of the defense’s top players, though. Chubb, who is dealing with an ankle and hand injury, did not practice Thursday, missing his second consecutive practice. Boyer labeled him “day-to-day.” And cornerback Xavien Howard, who dealt with a groin injury in the first half of the season, was limited in practice Thursday because of a knee injury.
The Dolphins have had success against the Patriots — and Mac Jones — in their recent meetings. Miami is 3-0 against New England since Jones entered the NFL and became the starting quarterback in 2021. In those matchups, Jones has a passer rating of 94.5 — higher than his career mark of 89.2 — but he has been sacked five times, thrown a pair of interceptions and lost two fumbles. This season, New England is averaging 21.2 points, which ranks 16th in the league.
“[Mac Jones’] awareness and understanding of things that are going on in the game, I think are at a high level,” Boyer said. “I think he has some escapability in the pocket. He keeps his eyes downfield. I think they have guys that have made plays all year. I think he’s willing to throw the ball to all of them.”
However, all those games against Jones have come with Tagovailoa as the starter, too. Without him, the onus might be on the defense to lead the way. The unit showed spurts of dominance when Tagovailoa has been sidelined — particularly in Week 6 against the Minnesota Vikings — before big plays marred the performance.
Now, with the Dolphins’ season on the line, can the defense again star in a winning effort?
“I think we can definitely do a better job of takeaways and things like that,” Wilkins said Monday. “When we have to be our best, just be our best. I’m not saying that we haven’t done that, but that’s a point of emphasis that I always can go to. When it’s third down, when it’s red area [red zone], it doesn’t matter what happens in the game. Wherever the ball is spotted, we’ve got to be our best. And in those high-pressure situations or those more meaningful situations, like the red area, two-minute, third down, things like that, you’ve got to be at your best.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 at 4:33 PM.
