Dolphins film study: Breaking down game-winning drive, shadow decision
The Dolphins were faced with a familiar situation against the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday.
The ball was in the hands of Miami’s offense in the fourth quarter with the opportunity for a game-winning drive. Previous attempts against the Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles fell short. But in Miami’s 22-20 win against Dallas, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was able to guide the Dolphins into field goal range, where kicker Jason Sanders’ 29-yard field goal as time expired clinched a playoff berth for the franchise.
Tagovailoa was 4 of 5 for 31 yards on the drive as Miami used 3:27 on the game clock before Sanders’ attempt. And while it was a narrative-busting win for the Dolphins, who picked up their first win against a team that had a winning record, the final drive also showed the growth of the offense in an area that has provided struggles.
Miami had to convert on a pair of third-and-short opportunities to move the chains and keep the ball away from a last-ditch game-winning attempt. On the first, a third-and-3 from the Dallas 33, Tagovailoa threw a screen pass to wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who picked up 10 yards.
Before the snap, Hill, who was lined up to the left of the formation in the slot, motioned to his right and then back to the left. Both cornerback Jourdan Lewis and safety Donovan Wilson followed Hill throughout the motion, indicating that the Cowboys were in man-to-man coverage and doubling him. But with the quick pass, Hill was able to avoid the double-team and pick up the yardage for the first down.
“Those guys made my job real easy, and I did, like, a counter, came back out, called a quick screen,” Hill said. “And it was a wide-open scene. I’ve got to give credit to the guys up front and also the receivers blocking downfield. It was a thing of beauty. Right after the play one of the [defensive backs] came up to me and said, ‘Y’all really ran a screen, bro?’ I was, like, ‘Yeah, anything is possible with this offense.’ We kind of caught them off guard.”
Three plays later, the Dolphins converted another short-yardage situation, this time on third-and-2 from the Dallas 15. Once again, Miami put in Hill and motion as he sprinted from the right side of the formation. But the Dolphins opted for a handoff to running back Jeff Wilson Jr. The threat of Hill’s motion helped to displace the Cowboys’ second-level defenders and left guard Lester Cotton, who pulled from left to right, delivered a key block on defensive end Demarcus Lawrence that allowed Wilson to muscle his way for a 6-yard gain.
Wilson has played sparingly this season, but the tough running was key with Raheem Mostert dealing with a shin injury.
“To be able to convert to get to first down, it epitomizes what the Dolphins are,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “Jeff Wilson comes and fights for the yardage that allows us to kneel down and kick a field goal. That is happening all over the place in all three phases, which is why you’re seeing a team that is playing very hard for each other each and every week. So many guys are contributing. So many guys are stepping up with injuries, and that’s the most fun football to be a part of.”
Shadow decision
After cornerback Jalen Ramsey successfully shut down New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson in Week 15, he and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio were asked whether Ramsey would shadow wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.
But Ramsey said that wasn’t his role in this defense, and Fangio said the decision to shadow Wilson was a late game plan change once Xavien Howard was ruled out because of a hip injury.
The Dolphins opted not to shadow Lamb, and it looked like a mistake in the first quarter, as the Pro Bowl pass-catcher had three catches for 93 yards and a 49-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Lamb did most of his damage in the slot, where he was matched up with nickel corners Kader Kohou and Nik Needham or Miami’s safeties.
Lamb, though, had just three catches for 25 yards after the first quarter. The Dolphins’ didn’t change much coverage-wise, keeping Ramsey and Howard in their respective outside corner roles. Ramsey was lined up on Lamb for four of his 34 routes and Howard was lined up for eight routes, according to the NFL’s NextGen Stats. But Miami was able to disrupt the timing of Dallas’ passing offense by applying more pressure on quarterback Dak Prescott.
In the first quarter, the Dolphins blitzed on 11.1 percent of Prescott’s dropbacks, generating two pressures (22.2 percent pressure rate) and one sack, according to TruMedia.
In the final three quarters, Miami blitzed on 22.2 percent of his dropbacks, generating 16 pressures (59.3 percent pressure rate) and three sacks. It marked the second-highest pressure the Dolphins have generated after the first quarter this season.
McDaniel on Monday explained what goes into the decision to not shadow an opposing team’s wide receiver.
“I think it’s a team involvement,” he said. “Now it’s really easy to say, ‘Yeah, just shadow somebody with somebody.’ That also has residuals. One of the strengths of our defensive system is that at the snap, the quarterback has very minimal intel as to what’s about to happen. And that, in conjunction with our pass rush, is really what has made our pass defense go and when you do shadow, there is the gain. But it does adjust your entire toolbox. It’s one of the reasons why Vic is so elite as a defensive coordinator, is because he has complete ownership of his system that he created and understands all the pros and cons to everything.”
He added: “There’s a lot of a lot of things that come into play with, on each individual play, there’s a defensive player that we like to say has the hard down. You have help in certain places and there’s certain times that your defensive game plan allows for you to have more help in the slot than outside and vice versa. So, we have a bunch of tools. We haven’t really displayed all of them up until this point but it’s not as simple and a lot of times you have to factor in a ton of stuff when you’re trying to come up with a plan, including does a quarterback flourish when presnap he knows exactly what the coverage is. Those things factored into our decision-making and and will continue to as we progress through the season.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2023 at 1:04 PM.
