Forget being worst team; Miami now among leaders in these areas since bye. And draft talk
A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Tuesday:
▪ In less than two months, the Dolphins have gone from being on pace to set league records in futility in numerous categories to ranking in the top 10 in the league or AFC in assorted team or player categories over the past five weeks.
Seriously.
This team has improved to the point where Miami ranks in the top 10 in the NFL or AFC, since its bye week, in at least 10 team or individual categories:
Since Miami’s bye in week five, these things have happened for the Dolphins in going 2-3 in that stretch:
They’ve allowed 34.4 percent of third downs to be converted, which is eighth best.
They’ve allowed 203.8 yards passing per game, which is 10th best.
Receiver DeVante Parker is tied for eighth in the NFL with three receiving touchdowns.
Parker is tied for eighth in the AFC with 23 receptions.
Tight end Mike Gesicki has 18 receptions (seventh among all NFL tight ends) for 225 yards (sixth most among tight ends).
Linebacker Raekwon McMillan is sixth in the AFC and tied for 15th in the NFL with 36 tackles (19 solo).
Linebacker Jerome Baker is tied for ninth in the AFC and tied for 21st in the NFL with 33 tackles (26 solo).
Linebacker Vince Biegel is tied for fourth in the NFL with nine quarterback hits.
Cornerback Jomal Wiltz is tied for seventh in the AFC and tied for 12th in the NFL with 5 passes defensed.
Davon Godchaux and Christian Wilkins are tied for 6th among all NFL defensive tackles with 15 tackles.
(Again, all of those stats and rankings are since Miami’s Week 5 bye.)
What’s more, the Dolphins rank in the upper half of the league in multiple other categories since the bye: For example, the Dolphins have allowed 326.2 yards, per game, which is 14th best in the league during those five weeks. And since the bye, Miami has allowed 21 points per game, which is 15th.
▪ New Dolphins receiver Gary Jennings, Seattle’s fourth-round pick this past April, did his best work at West Virginia while playing out of the slot. But the Dolphins are looking at the 6-1 rookie in both the slot and on the boundary.
Jennings said he had hoped Miami would claim him when Seattle released him last week. He said he broke down film with receivers coach Karl Dorrell during his pre-draft visit and was impressed with Dorrell.
“I’m really excited to be here; they’re high on me,” Jennings said.
Seattle cut Jennings because it had eight receivers after picking up Josh Gordon.
In their meeting after Jennings was cut, Seattle general manager John Schneider “said he knows I can ball,” Jennings said. “It’s appreciated.”
Jennings was inactive for the Colts game, with Miami opting to keep only four receivers active.
▪ Prominent agent Drew Rosenhaus was asked by Steve Shapiro on his weekly WSVN-Fox segment whether he would select LSU’s Joe Burrow or Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa if he were making the call.
“That’s an easy one: Joe Burrow,” Rosenhaus said. “Burrow is unbelievably accurate. He can make every throw. Very poised. Super bright. He’s going to be the first pick. He’s going to win the Heisman in my opinion. I don’t think the Dolphins are going to get him unless they can somehow trade up. Cincinnati, they’re the chalk pick to get Burrow right now. They haven’t won a game. They’re much worse than Miami. He’s from Ohio. Would make sense they would take him. The Dolphins would have to get really lucky.
“Tua is not a bad consolation. He can really throw the deep ball. Highly athletic. The Dolphins can’t go wrong with either guy. But if you ask me who’s better, I say Joe Burrow.”
▪ Mel Kiper, in an ESPN.com insider piece, said Tuesday that “there’s no question in my mind” that Burrow could be the first overall pick in April’s draft. “In fact, when I unveil my updated Big Board rankings in a couple of weeks, I’m going to have Burrow ahead of Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert as the top-ranked quarterback for the 2020 draft.
“I had already moved up Burrow to No. 6 overall before Saturday’s game, but I was waiting to see what he did against Bama before I pulled the trigger to make him No. 1. I’m ready to make the call now....I’ve made the comparison to Tony Romo before, and I’m sticking with it.”
▪ Despite the aforementioned post-bye achievements, Miami has only two players rated in the top 20 at his position by Pro Football Focus: linebacker Raekwon McMillan, who is 12th and defensive lineman John Jenkins, who is 13th. Ryan Fitzpatrick is rated the 21st best quarterback and Mark Walton the 32nd best running back.
PFF rates Kalen Ballage seventh-worst among qualifying running backs (he has the worst per-carry average of any back with at least 10 carries, at 2.1), J’Marcus Webb worst among offensive tackles, Michael Deiter fourth-worst among guards, Wiltz fifth-worst among cornerbacks (though he played well the past two weeks) and Taco Charlton eighth-worst among edge defenders.
▪ One of the most impressive things this coaching staff has done - and the players deserve credit too - is getting the absolute most out of patchwork secondary that has been missing its most accomplished players (Xavien Howard and Reshad Jones) and is now featuring two natural corners playing safety (Bobby McCain, Eric Rowe), three players on practice squads either last year (Steven Parker, Jomal Wiltz, Chris Lammons) or this year (Nik Needham), an undrafted rookie (Needham, again) and a player who was unemployed five weeks ago (Ryan Lewis) and a player who was unemployed two weeks ago (Ken Crawley).
Parker’s interception Sunday was as impressive as any Dolphins play this season. He said he’s having the ball mailed to him from Indianapolis, and several former Rams and Oklahoma teammates texted him congratulations.
Miami might have found a longterm piece in Needham.
“We brought him in as a free agent and he did some good things in OTAs and had some struggles like most rookies do in the preseason and wasn’t quite ready, so we put him on the practice squad,” Flores said. “... He spent a few weeks on the practice squad. I think getting released and going through that process took him through a little bit of the reality of what the National Football League could be. It could be over in a heartbeat. He embraced that challenge and turned things around quickly and I would say took everything a little bit more seriously – meetings, practice, walkthrough, weightlifting, nutrition.”
Quick practice squad note: Miami cut defensive back Doug Middleton and signed former Stony Brook linebacker Jake Carlock.
Here’s my Tuesday piece on why the 49ers becoming the last undefeated team to lose was even more meaningful to the ‘72 Dolphins this year, and Dick Anderson discussing celebrating this year without close friend Nick Buoniconti.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 5:33 PM.
