Dolphins film study: How the quick passing game led to another big day for Miami’s offense
In the leadup to the Dolphins’ Week 5 home game against the Giants on Sunday, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa were asked about New York’s possible defensive game plan.
The Giants defense couldn’t be more different than the one that tripped up Miami’s offense in Buffalo in Week 4. New York entered Week 5 with a 51.2 percent blitz rate, second in the NFL, according to TruMedia. And the Giants often left their cornerbacks on an island with opposing wideouts, a seldom-used tactic against the Dolphins’ fast receivers.
McDaniel noted that teams don’t usually stray from tendencies but, given how well the Bills’ game plan worked in Miami’s 48-20 loss, the offense must be ready to adjust to anything it sees.
“If they pressure, we’ve got to have answers quick, get the ball out quick, and allow our guys and our playmakers to make plays,” Tagovailoa said.
When the Dolphins offense took the field for its first possession, the looks the Giants presented were different from their norm. New York lined up with two deep safeties patrolling the back end of the secondary. It was commonplace for the first drive — on six of the eight plays on the touchdown drive — and throughout the game. According to the NFL’s NextGen Stats, New York’s defense gave Miami’s offense split-safety looks on 74.2 percent of Tagovailoa’s dropbacks.
The Dolphins took advantage of the lighter boxes, rushing for 222 yards in the 31-16 win. But Miami was also able to be efficient through the air, and it came via a method that hasn’t been customary under the McDaniel-Tagovailoa partnership.
Tagovailoa averaged a season-low 4.7 air yards per attempt against the Giants. While much of his success has come from pushing the ball downfield, he was able to get the ball in the hands of his pass-catchers with quick hitters in space.
On the second play from scrimmage, Tagovailoa’s first dropback — a quick pop pass to a motioning Tyreek Hill — went for 6 yards. His second was a screen pass to Tyreek Waddle, and with the Giants playing off coverage, a set of blockers was able to pave a running lane on a 20-yard gain.
The opening-drive score was a microcosm of the passing game on Sunday. A season-high 33.3 percent of Tagovailoa’s attempts were behind the line of scrimmage. And with the typical high usage of presnap movement to displace defenders, it was effective. Tagovailoa was 10 of 10 for 130 yards on passes behind the line of scrimmage. Much of it came on Hill’s 64-yard catch-and-run, which also included another twist on the Dolphins’ exit motion.
With Hill aligned tightly next to the right side of the offensive line, he began sprinting to his right. But instead of heading upfield at the snap, he turned back to Tagovailoa for a screen pass then reversed field for one of the biggest plays of the game. Even without Hill’s long reception, Tagovailoa would have averaged over 7 yards per attempt on his passes behind the line of scrimmage.
After the Bills stymied many of the middle-of-the-field concepts the Dolphins enjoy, Sunday’s game was a nice switch-up to get the ball in the hands of Miami’s playmakers
“The amount of explosive plays that we got there right off the bat was exciting,” fullback Alec Ingold said, “and it’s validating to know your week of work and you’re able to do so many new things, so many new wrinkles, and then to go be able to execute when everyone’s fresh, everyone’s brand new, you don’t know what you’re going to get, what defense they’re going to be in. You just trust your eyes, you play fast as a unit, 1/11th of everything, everyone stays attached. The offensive line was rolling off the ball all game. So it was really cool to be part of that.”
New role for Brooks
Ingold played a season-low 19 offensive snaps against the Giants, limited by a leg injury that had him in a walking boot on Monday. With Ingold sidelined for much of the second half, rookie running back Chris Brooks played seven offensive snaps and took on a role normally reserved for Ingold or tight end Durham Smythe.
On six of his seven snaps, Brooks was placed in a tight alignment next to the offensive line, and on all but one snap he was in motion at the time of the snap before blocking. McDaniel and his staff have often spoken about players being interchangeable — wide receivers and backs have frequently swapped their traditional alignments in formations — and the usage of Brooks, 6-1 and 233 pounds, was another example of that.
