One problem the Dolphins seemingly can never fix. A new coordinator now gets his chance
There are some problems that the Dolphins seemingly cannot solve, through more than two decades of wandering aimlessly without a playoff win.
Here’s one of them: Finding a way to keep their linebackers from being torched in pass coverage.
Josh Allen, the quarterback of the team that Miami simply cannot vanquish, punished Miami’s linebackers, as usual, in Buffalo’s AFC East clinching Week 18 win at Hard Rock Stadium.
Five times, Allen targeted David Long Jr., who had a very good year against the run. Five times, the passes were caught, for 33 yards.
Four times, Allen targeted Duke Riley. Four times, the passes were caught, for 53 yards.
Three times, Allen targeted Jerome Baker. Three times, the passes were caught, for 15 yards, before Baker sustained a wrist injury that ended his season.
This has been a recurring nightmare, with Buffalo torching Miami by isolating running backs, tight ends and receivers against Dolphins linebackers. Bills players have five TD receptions against Dolphins inside linebackers in five meetings during the past 18 months.
In those games, Allen has a 138 passer rating (46 for 52, 491 yards, 5 TDs, no interceptions) when targeting Miami’s inside linebackers (Long Jr., Riley, Baker and Elandon Roberts, who wasn’t re-signed after last season and spent 2023 with the Pittsburgh Steelers).
Now let’s be clear: All across the league, inside linebackers are routinely victimized by good quarterbacks in pass coverage. But the Dolphins must figure out a way to be not quite as inept in that area, especially against Buffalo.
Overall again in 2023, the big issue with the front seven was pass coverage.
Long, exceptional against the run, was rated by far the worst of 83 inside linebackers in pass coverage; PFF gave him a brutal 29.8 grade. As perspective, the player with the next worst coverage grade had a grade of 37.
Long permitted 42 of 53 passes thrown against him to be caught for 509 yards and a touchdown, equal to a 113 passer rating in his coverage area.
That’s 12.1 yards per reception, which was worst among inside linebackers targeted at least 50 times and third worst among linebackers targeted at least 40 times. So most every time Long was targeted, the result was a first down for the offense.
Long permitted four receptions in four targets for 90 yards in the playoff loss at Kansas City.
Long was still a good signing because he gave the defense valuable grit and toughness and, as noted, was exceptional against the run. His 113 tackles were 38th most in the league and 29th among linebackers. He was durable after dealing with soft issue injuries in Tennessee.
The Dolphins had reason to believe he would be an upgrade over Roberts in pass coverage. In his final two years with Tennessee before signing with the Dolphins, Long permitted 86.1 and 87 passer ratings in his coverage area.
But there’s a caveat with that: The primary reason for Long’s strong passer rating metrics with the Titans: He had four interceptions while not allowing any touchdown passes during the past two years. This season, he allowed a TD but didn’t pick off a pass.
With a reasonable $4.5 million 2024 salary and $6.7 million cap hit he’s definitely worth retaining. But the new coordinator can’t leave him exposed as much in coverage as Fangio did.
▪ For Baker, there was a mixed bag in pass coverage.
The bad news: He allowed 45 of 51 passes thrown against him to be caught, which was the second highest completion percentage against any NFL inside linebacker and better than only Roberts. Roberts permitted 91.1 percent of his targets to be caught, Baker 88.2 percent, per PFF.
The good news on Baker: He had as many interceptions (two) as TDs allowed (two). He saved a touchdown with a goal-line tackle on a Bills pass just before halftime of the regular-season finale.
And this was key: He permitted only 7.9 yards per completion, which was fourth best among the NFL’s 39 inside linebackers who were targeted at least 50 times.
▪ Riley, who filled in for Baker during five late-season games (including the playoff game), got good overall marks from PFF (rated 30th among 83 linebackers).
But in pass coverage, he permitted 25 completions in 30 targets for 275 yards (11.0 average) and a TD, equal to a 116 passer rating in his coverage area. He has a $2.3 salary (none guaranteed) and $3.1 million cap hit for 2024.
▪ Fangio smartly limited the number of times that his outside linebackers were in pass coverage. We’ll see if new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver does the same.
Per PFF, Jaelan Phillips was targeted only once and allowed a completion for nine yards, but had an interception on another play.
Bradley Chubb allowed four catches in five targets but for just 10 yards.
Andrew Van Ginkel permitted only 5.2 yards per catch (12 for 16 for 62 yards) and had an interception.
▪ Channing Tindall, the team’s No. 4 inside linebacker, ended up playing only 12 defensive snaps this past season after playing nine as a rookie.
Did he get discouraged?
“I’m fine,” he said in December. “Of course anybody in the NFL wants to get out there. But I know I’m still learning. Fitting into the system and learning it has been a process but a good process.”
Did Fangio give him any feedback? “He tells me every so often to keep pushing.”
Fangio said Tindall “has good athletic ability” but stopped there the last time he was asked to assess his game.
Now, with Fangio gone to Philadelphia, Tindall will need to learn a third defensive system in three years.
Tindall was selected 102nd in the 2022 draft, with the thought that he could become a good pass rusher. Two coordinators have now concluded that he wasn’t ready to help.
The last time he had a significant role in a game – when asked to spy Bears quarterback Justin Fields in a November 2022 game - he was quickly yanked by then-coordinator Josh Boyer.
He’ll get another chance to make his case, perhaps a final chance, this summer.
Here’s my Thursday piece on everything the defensive front seven did well.
This story was originally published February 9, 2024 at 1:52 PM.
