Dolphins film study: Has Miami’s offense found a new wrinkle for the 2023 season?
The Dolphins had one of most explosive offenses in the NFL in 2022 and did so in a manner that very few teams were able to curtail: targeting the middle of the field.
Passing the ball to wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle between the numbers produced great success for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa during a breakout season. His 10.7 yards per attempt and 120.2 passer rating on passes over the middle of the field both ranked first among 32 qualifying quarterbacks, according to Pro Football Focus.
But teams adjusted in the second half of the season, finding unique ways to crowd the middle of the field and create tougher throws for Tagovailoa. Training camp and preseason has been a time for experimentation for the Dolphins. And a simple-but-effective wrinkle could emerge for an offense seeking to evolve in 2023: screen passes.
In 2022, the Dolphins ranked 24th with 37 screen passes, according to TruMedia. Miami ranked 17th in yards per attempt (5.2) and 28th in success rate (29.7 percent). A play is considered successful if the offense gains at least 40 percent of the yards to go on first down, 60 percent of the yards to go on second down, and 100 percent of the yards to go on third or fourth down.
Through weeks 1 to 9 in the 2022 season, Miami ranked 18th with 24 screen passes. The offense had success with it in the first games of the season but it was mainly a fruitless endeavor; the Dolphins produced a success rate of 37.5 percent, which ranked 24th in the league.
In the second half of the season, the play was fazed out of the Dolphins’ game plans. From weeks 10 to 18, the Dolphins’ 13 screen passes were tied for the fewest in the NFL, and those sparse attempts didn’t amount to much. Their 15.4 percent success rate ranked 30th.
Two things could explain the Dolphins’ lack of success and aversion to screen passes. One, like any other play, screens are predicated on timing, from the quarterback quickly getting the ball to the pass-catcher — or holding it for an extra second so blocks can develop — to the synchronicity of the offensive linemen allowing defensive linemen to penetrate and then moving upfield to deliver blocks in space. The Dolphins’ constant shuffling of quarterbacks and offensive linemen could have disrupted the precision needed to execute such plays. Second, as Miami’s offense took off in the midseason with concepts that targeted the middle of the field, the group leaned into that increasingly.
“I think just in general, a good screen game is an opportunity to get the ball in space to our playmakers,” offensive coordinator Frank Smith said. “Halfback screens, obviously they get lead blockers. It’s really kind of, in a way, outside zone on Level 2 after you displace them. Perimeter screens, again, our ability to make the defense defend all 53 yards of the field for width. So we’ve always viewed it as a complement to what we do and then going through the offseason and stuff like that, areas of improvement. We’re excited with the growth we’ve had in that and just it’s an overall area that we knew we could improve on and we look to continue to just getting better in all areas over the next week or two.”
In three preseason games, the Dolphins were tied for seventh with 11 screen passes. It wasn’t necessarily a great hit — Miami ranked 12th in yards per attempt (5.5) and 24th in success rate (27.3 percent) — but there were signs of better execution.
The attempts took various forms. In the preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons, rooking running back De’Von Achane was motioned out of the backfield into an outside wide receiver alignment. A linebacker followed him, lining up about 10 yards from the back. At the snap, wideout Erik Ezukanma, who was in the slot, began to head downfield while quarterback Mike White quickly released a pass to Achane at the line of scrimmage. Ezukanma essentially walled off two defenders, allowing Achane to pick up an easy 11 yards and first down on second-and-6.
In the second preseason game against the Houston Texans, the Dolphins scored on a well-designed slip screen. Undrafted rookie running back Chris Brooks lined up next to quarterback Skylar Thompson in the backfield and stepped toward right tackle Geron Christian as if he were going to help block the edge rusher. But he quickly pivoted and turned to Thompson to receive the ball behind the line of scrimmage. Meanwhile, three offensive linemen — Kion Smith, Alama Uluave and Dan Feeney — had already passed off penetrating defenders to set up a convoy of blocks in front of Brooks. With tons of space and a helpful downfield block from wide receiver River Cracraft, Brooks made a beeline to the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown.
Screen passes took on other variations, including slot screens and what appeared to be a tight end screen attempt on the first drive of the preseason finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars. While the Dolphins have their staple passing concepts, screens could be a nifty counter, especially with the team’s high usage of motion and misdirection, to get the ball in the hands of the team’s bevy of speedy playmakers.
“It comes down to the base principle of taking advantage of overplay,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “There’s different mechanisms in Year 2 that you’re able to kind of get to the nitty, gritty details of how to execute the plays.”
He added: “That did fall in the offseason assessment of things that we could improve upon. That’s taking advantage of the space created when you are able to engender some explosive plays. Whether those show face in the regular season, I think the more things that defenses have to think about, the more advantageous it is for the offense.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2023 at 2:39 PM.
