Getting Waller and Jackson back was a victory within a victory for the Dolphins
Austin Jackson won’t make any box score.
Darren Waller made just a small appearance, with two catches.
Yet, the return of Jackson at right tackle and Waller at tight end was one of the Dolphins’ bigger under-the-radar storylines in Sunday’s 21-17 win over the visiting New Orleans Saints.
Combined, Jackson and Waller have missed 17 games this season due to injuries.
Jackson suffered a turf-toe injury in the preseason, worked his way back … only to re-aggravate the issue in Miami’s season opener.
“Hectic,” Jackson said when asked what the past 10 weeks have been like. “After I came back in Week I (and got hurt again), I needed a longer rest time. And then getting myself into shape after resting …
“It was just a ton of work, but I’m always thankful for the opportunity to do my job.”
Jackson did his job well on Sunday, at least as a run blocker for De’Von Achane, who rushed 22 times for 134 yards and one touchdown.
Not that Jackson was pointing at himself when asked about Achane’s success.
“Credit Achane,” Jackson said. “That’s all really him. We do our job up front, but that’s the playmaker right there.”
Waller is another Dolphins playmaker, although he had a relatively quiet game with those two catches on three targets. Still, despite playing in his first game in over a month (Oct. 19), Waller led the Dolphins in receiving yards with 47.
In fact, in four games this season in which he has been targeted for at least one pass, Waller has 12 receptions for 164 yards, a 13.7 average and four touchdowns.
That type of production is not at all unusual for Waller, a 33-year-old playing his ninth NFL season. He had consecutive 1,000-yard seasons for the Raiders in 2019 and 2020, totaling 12 TD catches those two years.
But after playing for the Giants in 2023, Waller retired … only to return this season with the Dolphins.
The big issue with Waller isn’t his obvious talent. It’s the assortment of injuries that have forced him to miss 20 games over the past three seasons, including hip and pectoral issues this year.
Waller was philosophical on Sunday when asked about getting injured and then returning to action.
“It was a chance to reset mentally and center on the fact that there’s always going to be different ways that adversity presents itself to me and to everyone in the league,” he said. “Success for me is about how I handle (adversity), and I feel like I handled it well.
“I was able to be productive with my rehab. I just honed in on that.”
Going forward, it will be interesting to study Waller’s role’s in Miami’s offense.
For now, at least, the unit is built around Achane, who on Sunday exceeded 1,000 yards for the first time in his three-year NFL career.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel admitted that Miami’s passing game was “herky jerky” on Sunday as Tua Tagovailoa passed for less than 200 yards for the seventh game this season. He also threw his league-worst 14th interception.
Miami’s running game, however, has been the NFL’s third-best since Week 8, averaging 151.6 yards.
A correction could be coming in the form of added defensive attention to stopping Achane.
“In the NFL, if you have success running the ball, teams will overcommit, and you will eventually need to pass to win,” McDaniel said. “That’s something we’ll be working on this week.”
Next Sunday, the Dolphins (5-7) will visit the New York Jets (3-9), a team they defeated 27-21 on Sept. 29. Waller made his Dolphins debut in that game, catching three passes – two of them for TDs.
Waller said the Dolphins will need to be sharper next week in order to recreate that type of success.
“We can pinpoint a lot of small details we could’ve done better,” Waller said of Miami’s performance against the Saints. “There were a lot of execution things that we need to clean up.”