What snap counts and metric grades reveal about many Dolphins players against Chargers
After being gashed all day, the Dolphins’ defensive front seven secured Sunday’s win against the Chargers with pressures on three plays, including sacks on two of them (by Zach Sieler on one, and Jaelan Phillips — assisted by cornerback Justin Bethel -- on the other).
Until that point, the Dolphins’ offensive and defensive fronts performed quite differently from what many might have expected.
The offensive line — missing Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead and using a new player (Isaiah Wynn) in a new position (guard) — was very good, permitting 10 pressures but no sacks in 47 pass blocking snaps against Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack and a skilled Chargers front seven.
Kendall Lamm, filling in for Armstead at left tackle, allowed five pressures and right tackle Austin Jackson permitted four pressures. But that was plenty good enough against Bosa (who has 60.5 sacks in 85 games) and Mack (84.5 sacks in 135 games).
Per Pro Football Focus, Wynn was Miami’s highest-graded offensive lineman in pass protection Sunday, with Lamm and center Connor Williams tied for second best. Wynn, who hadn’t played guard since his junior year at Georgia, opened at left guard after playing only tackle for the Patriots for the past four seasons. Liam Eichenberg, last year’s starter at left guard, filled in for Wynn on one snap.
Right guard Robert Hunt was Miami’s highest-graded offensive linemen overall, per PFF.
On the other side of the ball, the Chargers ran for 234 yards (5.9 per carry) and PFF gave poor run-stopping grades to all of the most-used front seven players except for Sieler (62.9) and Phillips (59).
PFF said, in order, that Emmanuel Ogbah (worst), Jerome Baker, Raekwon Davis, Bradley Chubb, Christian Wilkins, Andrew Van Ginkel and David Long Jr. were Miami’s seven worst run defenders Sunday among the 18 players who received defensive snaps.
Miami allowed just 103 yards per game on the ground last season, fourth best in the league.
There were three eyebrow-raising playing time decisions on defense:
▪ Even though inside linebacker Long — considered a good starter in Tennessee — was on the field to open the game, he played just 17 of Miami’s 81 defensive snaps. New defensive coordinator Vic Fangio gave far more playing time to Andrew Van Ginkel, who logged 51 snaps in his first regular season game as an inside linebacker.
PFF said Van Ginkel played much better than Long, ranking Van Ginkel sixth and Long 16th among the 18 players who logged snaps on defense.
Jerome Baker played all 81 snaps and Duke Riley — Miami’s No. 3 inside linebacker last year — played just one defensive snap.
▪ Brandon Jones — who started at safety for Miami last season before his ACL injury in October — played just two defensive snaps, even though the team said he was fully healthy. Jones didn’t play in preseason, and the team has been cautious with his return. DeShon Elliott started alongside Jevon Holland and they both played all 81 defensive snaps.
▪ Ogbah, who is earning the highest base salary on the team this season ($15 million), played just 18 snaps, as starting outside linebackers Phillips and Chubb handled heavy workloads - 73 and 71 snaps, respectively.
On their depth chart, the Dolphins list undrafted rookie Brandon Pili as the only backup to starters Wilkins (68 snaps on Sunday), Sieler (65) and Davis (46). Pili logged nine snaps and graded out pretty well, per PFF.
SNAP DECISIONS
Other notable snap counts and PFF grades:
▪ Cornerback: Xavien Howard and Kader Kohou each played 79 of Miami’s 81 defensive snaps. Eli Apple was Miami’s No. 3 corner and logged 60 snaps. Bethel played nine. Three cornerbacks didn’t play at all on defense: Cam Smith, Kelvin Joseph and Parry Nickerson.
The Chargers had only 39 passing yards when throwing against Howard, who gave up five catches in seven targets and also was whistled for three penalties.
The Chargers were 7 for 7 for 37 yards against Kohou (who had a key sack on a blitz) and 2 of 4 for 21 yards against Apple.
▪ Wide receiver: Braxton Berrios (35 snaps) and River Cracraft (27 snaps) split No. 3 wide receiver duties, with Erik Ezukanma logging 19 snaps.
▪ Running back: Raheem Mostert played 49 of Miami’s 67 offensive snaps, with Salvon Ahmed logging 19 snaps and fullback Alec Ingold 30. Rookie De’Von Achane was a healthy scratch, and rookie Chris Brooks played only on special teams.
▪ Tight end: Durham Smythe played all 67 of Miami’s offensive snaps and caught three passes for 44 yards. Tyler Kroft, the only other tight end active for the game, played two snaps on offense.
▪ PFF’s five highest-graded Dolphins on offense: receiver Tyreek Hill, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, receiver Jaylen Waddle, Hunt and Cracraft.
▪ PFF’s five highest-graded Dolphins on defense: Bethel, Holland, Kohou, Phillips, Sieler.
▪ Tagovailoa was 16 for 27 for 300 yards, two touchdowns and one interception when he wasn’t blitzed by the Chargers. When Los Angeles blitzed him, he was 12 for 18 for 166 yards and one touchdown.
Tagovailoa was 5 for 8 for 161 yards on passes thrown 20 yards or more; he has been one of the NFL’s most accurate quarterbacks on those deep throws since the start of last season.
▪ In the passing game, the Chargers did a lot of damage against Baker, completing 5 of 6 targets for 69 yards, and Long, who allowed a 36-yard completion in the only pass attempt against him.
▪ Per PFF, Fangio blitzed Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert 13 times in 42 drop backs and Herbert was sacked three times, Miami’s only three sacks of the day, with two of those coming late in the game.
Herbert was 7 for 10 for 36 yards on those blitzes. Last December, then Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer blitzed Herbert 29 of his 56 drop backs; Herbert also was sacked three times on those blitzes and went 17 for 26 for 157 yards in that December game.
Here’s my Monday piece with historical context, and player reaction, about what Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill have achieved in their 14 games on the field together.
This story was originally published September 11, 2023 at 1:35 PM.
