The Dolphins are one of three teams that haven’t forced a turnover. Here’s why
It’s no secret that the Miami Dolphins’ defense has looked awful.
One year after ranking in the top five, the unit could barely stop a bleeding cut with a bandage. The defense’s statistics, most of which rank in the bottom third of the league, speak for themselves: 32.3 points allowed, 52.6% conversions on third down and, arguably the worst, zero turnovers.
“Obviously, the turnover thing is incredibly frustrating,” defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said. “You talk about it a lot. You can talk about it until you’re blue in the face, but ultimately it comes down to violently attacking the ball and we’ve got to do that.”
Until the Dolphins defense can consistently force teams into third-and-long situations, the turnovers simply won’t come. That starts with stopping the run — something that they have done rather poorly – in order to put opposing offenses behind the sticks. The unfortunate result: the Dolphins can’t let their vaunted group of edge rushers loose to not only pressure quarterbacks but force bad throws.
Whether the blame should be placed on the scheme, talent or experience will soon be revealed during the course of the season.
“Our takeaways will improve as our collective football improves,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “I think we found a way to get some stops that it felt like the defense we were expecting coming into the season that second half [of the Buffalo Bills game]. You start to get stops, you start to be ahead of the chains on first and second down, you get offenses to do riskier things which lead to takeaways.”
The lack of forced turnovers was always a possibility. Weaver’s unit didn’t force a lot in 2024 – 16, to be exact – yet were saved by a rather stout third-down defense that allowed a sixth-ranked 35.9% conversions. That, however, hasn’t been the case in 2025.
“Credit to the offensive coordinators, I think they’re doing a good job with some of the man zone ID things to identify what we’re doing from a coverage standpoint,” Weaver said. “But when we get our opportunities, when we get to the quarterback or when these ball carriers are running the ball or receivers, we have to attack the football and we’ve got to have that in mind. That has to be intentional and purposeful.”
What can no longer be ignored, however, is the loss of roughly a dozen years of experience in the secondary. They replaced seven-time Pro Bowler Jalen Ramsey and nine-year veteran Kendall Fuller with Jack Jones and Rasul Douglas. And while the safety unit took a step forward with the addition of Minkah Fitzpatrick, the loss of Jordan Poyer and Jevon Holland meant the entire secondary had to be reworked which has led to growing pains for the unit overall.
The same can be said about the defensive line interior as well. Here’s where the proverbial mourning of Calais Campbell begins as his Arizona Cardinals sit fourth at 76.3 yards per game while the Dolphins have allowed nearly double that. Yes, a bumpy transition could be expected when an 19-year veteran gets swapped out for somebody pushing 22 in Kenneth Grant — granted he was selected with the 13th pick — yet the results have been extremely underwhelming.
An argument could be made that the amount of change has resulted in communications issues among the defense. During the 31-21 loss to the Bills, the Dolphins appeared to have a few instances when various members of the defense looked to not understand the play call until just seconds before the snap.
“Our goal as a defense is to play fast, furious with elite technique and the only way to play fast is if you know what you’re doing and you’re communicating with each other and getting set early,” Jaelan Phillips said. “That’s something that we’re trying to work through, making it definitely a focus, a point of intentionality; so I think that’s something that’s going to be improving for sure.”
Phillips happens to be part of the talented group of edge rushers that was expected to help establish the team’s identity. So far, the group has significantly underperformed with Bradley Chubb being the lone bight spot with three sacks. While Phillips finds himself in the midst of a contract year, he’s not necessarily worried about his lack of production – the bigger issues remains the 0 in the Dolphins’ records
“The focus is not worrying about the numbers, not trying to make something happen when it’s not there, really trusting the scheme and just playing within the bounds of the defense,” Phillips said, later adding that “it’s easy to lose track of what’s important. Obviously this is a production game. It’s a ‘what have you done for me lately’ game and so obviously with the sacks comes a lot of the attention or the praise or whatever the case is.”
“When you take a step back — when I personally take a step back and look at each game –—I feel like I’ve improved each game, and that’s really all you can do, is just focus on getting better and so like I said, I know those things will come,” he said.
That, in a sense, should be the mind-set of the defense overall. While the defense has been unable to produce turnovers, they will come eventually — as long as players stay within the scheme and improve each week.
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 3:14 PM.
