Elite tight ends have gashed the Dolphins defense. They need to find a solution now
Anthony Walker Jr. had quite the praise for Brock Bowers.
“He was a great player, played well,” the inside linebacker said of Bowers. “We knew that coming in that he was going to be a focal point of their offense and they were going to try to get him the ball, so he was definitely in our game plan. Yeah, just executed. They made some plays, he made some plays at the end of the day, but again, we’ll take the win.”
The praise is more than justified. Bowers not only set a rookie tight end reception record, catching 13 balls for 126 yards, but looked like the best player on the field at times. His success, however, exposed an issue that has plagued the Dolphins defense all year: elite tight ends. And with the New England Patriots in town on Sunday, they will have to try to limit the John Mackey Award-winning Hunter Henry who has emerged as a favorite target for rookie quarterback Drake Maye.
“We’re certainly accounting for Hunter Henry,” defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said Thursday. “We know the athlete he is. We’ve played against them. We feel comfortable with our matchups and we know that there’s a comfort level there with the Drake Maye kid and we have to account for that.”
Bowers’ success somewhat mirrored Trey McBride, who finished with nine catches for 124 yards in the Arizona Cardinals’ 28-27 win over the Dolphins. With the NFL being a copycat league, the Dolphins should expect that the Patriots use Henry in a similar fashion. Players, however, believe the success of tight ends is ultimately linked to their lack of execution.
“Everybody just has to play a little tighter in zone,” inside linebacker Jordyn Brooks said. “A lot of their pass attempts came when we’re in zone and they’re finding those little zone soft spots. Sometimes you just got to do a good job of tackling if they get those. When we’re manned up on these tight ends, we have to play with good leverage.”
A review of the film from both the Cardinals and Raiders game shows there’s some truth to Brook’s statement. The Cardinals seemingly attacked former Dolphins linebacker David Long Jr., who allowed receivers to catch all eight of their targets for 93 yards, according to Pro Football Focus. Long, of course, was subsequently benched in favor of Walker and cut shortly thereafter. Sure, Long’s coverage wasn’t as tight at times and he missed a few tackles yet he didn’t deserve all the blame for McBride’s 100-yard day.
“They do a good job of finding ways to get him the ball in space and stuff,” Calais Campbell said of McBride in Oct. “A lot of times it’s deep to short and take the check down to him and he makes guys miss because he’s a great athlete but another great player.”
When Bowers came to town three weeks later, the Raiders moved him everywhere. He lined up in the Y. The Z. The wing. And even the backfield. The goal, it appeared, was just to see where Bowers could find the most favorable matchup and by the third quarter, he had found it. A 23-yard touchdown reception in which he and receiver Tre Tucker ran corresponding routes that caused Dolphins safety Jordan Poyer to be a step behind Bowers and ultimately miss the tackle as the tight end scampered into the end zone.
While it would be easy to simply blame Poyer’s lackluster man coverage for Bowers career day, that would be shortsighted. The Raiders utilized Bowers in a way that the Dolphins hadn’t seen before, something linked to the promotion of Scott Turner, who replaced Luke Getsy as offensive coordinator in early Nov.
“I think where we fell short last week was when they had the change in coordinator, really they changed philosophically some of the things they were doing with him,” Weaver said.
The question then becomes why not use future hall-of-fame cornerback Jalen Ramsey in the nickel. Weaver even mentioned that there were conversations about just that.
“When those discussions came up, well, prior to the previous coordinator with [Luke] Getsy on third down in particular, Brock was chipping a lot,” he added. “So the one thing you’d hate to do is you’d have Ramsey on Brock Bowers and he’s chipping and going to the flat or something like that. That changed. In game, you’d like to do some things, but there’s multiple pieces that have to move in order to make some of those changes, usually not just that easy.”
Whether Ramsey should get more reps in the slot could once again be a conversation again as the Dolphins prepare for the Patriots. Since taking over as QB1 in Week 6, Maye’s connection with Henry has been evident. Maye’s most targeted pass-catcher? Henry. Maye’s pass-catcher with the most receptions? Henry. Maye’s pass-catcher with the most receiving yards? Henry.
Bottom line: the Dolphins defense have to limit the production of opposing tight ends. If they find the formula against the Patriots, expect to see it repeated incessantly until the season ends. As has been previously written, the Dolphins can’t afford to lose more than one game for the rest of the year. Find a way to limit Henry and you might be able to stop even better tight ends like George Kittle or David Njoku, both of whom the Dolphins will face down the stretch.
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 6:22 PM.
