Dolphins film study: Hill and Waddle both feasted vs. the Jets. Can that continue?
One day after Thanksgiving, the Miami Dolphins’ top receivers feasted against the New York Jets in a 34-13 win on Black Friday.
Tyreek Hill caught nine passes for 102 yards and a touchdown, and Jaylen Waddle recorded eight receptions for a game-high 114 yards. It marked the second time this season that the two had 100 receiving yards in the same game and the sixth time since they became teammates last season.
New York has one of the best cornerback tandems in the league in Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed. But Gardner and Reed don’t shadow receivers. And neither does a ton of work in the slot, typically staying in their roles as outside corners.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel took advantage of that, putting Hill and Waddle in the slot for the offense’s first third down of the game. The Jets were in Cover 1 — man-to-man defense with a safety over top — and Reed happened to follow Hill inside, but Gardner remained on the outside covering Cedrick Wilson Jr.
Miami was able to find a favorable one-on-one matchup, giving Hill plenty of space on a slot fade as he beat Reed for a 35-yard gain.
The Dolphins ran a similar concept with Waddle on the first third down of the second half. Miami placed Waddle in the slot, and this time Gardner followed him inside. But by putting Waddle in the slot, he was able to get a free release and beat Gardner downfield for a 36-yard gain in man coverage.
The most creative alignment, though, came on Hill’s 7-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. Hill lined up next to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in the shotgun. In doing so, the Dolphins were able to get safety safety Jordan Whitehead lined up on Hill instead of Gardner or Reed. Tagovailoa found Hill in the flat and Hill was able to beat Whitehead to the end zone for his 10th receiving touchdown.
“We try to go out there and perform every week,” Waddle said. “Sauce and D.J. are two of the top corners in this league, so going into the week, got to prepare. Luckily for us, we have two of the best corners that we face on a weekly, with [Jalen] Ramsey and ‘X’ [Xavien Howard], so really get us prepared throughout the week to face top corners like Sauce and D.J.”
The 20 combined targets against the Jets are tied for the third-most in a game this season for the Hill-Waddle duo.
While Hill has been on a torrid pace in pursuit of the league’s 2,000-yard season, Waddle has been quiet at times. Hill’s 32.9 percent target share — the rate at which a pass-catcher is targeted — ranks No. 1 in the NFL and is a career-high for him, part of the reason he’s on track for a historic year.
Waddle’s 22.3 percent target share is actually higher than his 2022 season when he led the league in yards per catch. But it hasn’t always correlated to success in getting the ball in his hands. In 11 games played, Waddle has two 100-yard receiving performances. He had six last season. Though injuries have played a role in that, Waddle said he felt good returning from the bye week. He caught all eight of his targets as McDaniel called plays to get him the ball early and often.
Waddle said there was no conversation between him and McDaniel about getting more targets after he caught seven passes in the previous two games.
“I never look at it like that,” Waddle said. “I always look at myself and things that I can do with them trusting me to make plays and calling plays for me. So, I never look at it like I’m not getting the ball or anything like that. I just think I’ve got to either practice harder or do something more in practice to be called on for plays and get involved.”
As for Hill, he remains at the top of the leaderboard in receiving yards and touchdown catches. But after he briefly left the game for the second straight week because of an apparent leg injury — he injured his hand in Week 11 — McDaniel was asked whether he would limit Hill’s snaps. McDaniel noted that nicks and bruises are part of the game and that Hill’s snap counts have been purposely monitored throughout the season. Hill has played 68 percent of the offensive snaps, which is a career-low since he became a full-time starter in the league.
“I think he’ll always be involved,” McDaniel said. “We do manage his play-time percentage though.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2023 at 11:01 AM.
