Details, data on Dolphins’ surprising lineup decisions. And Dolphins add a quarterback.
Some of the Miami Dolphins’ playing time allocation choices Sunday were head-scratchers, including fullback Chandler Cox playing more that starting tailback Jordan Howard, cornerback Nik Needham playing no defensive snaps at all (compared to 31 for Jamal Perry), and the decision to give just 14 snaps to explosive running back Matt Breida and none to training-camp sensation Malcolm Perry.
A look, by position, on how playing time was distributed:
▪ Running back: This produced the biggest surprise, with second-year player Myles Gaskin logging 39 snaps on offense, compared with the 14 for Breida, 11 for fullback Cox, 9 for Howard and 4 for Patrick Laird.
Gaskin earned the most time because of a strong training camp, combined with the fact that he was more effective during the game than Howard, who had just seven yards on eight carries. Howard, the NFL’s third-leading rusher since 2016, played sparingly in the second half, though the Dolphins say he wasn’t injured.
Gaskin, conversely, had 9 carries for 40 yards and four receptions for 26 yards.
Cox played just 66 offensive snaps last season under former offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea, but new coordinator Chan Gailey has crafted a role for Cox, primarily as a blocker.
▪ Wide receiver: With DeVante Parker leaving for good at halftime with a hamstring injury after playing 23 snaps, Miami gave more work to slot receiver Isaiah Ford (46 offensive snaps) and Jakeem Grant (33).
Starter Preston Williams played 56 snaps. Mack Hollins, the fifth and final receiver who was active for Miami on Sunday, logged three snaps on offense and has a major role on special teams.
Because of the lack of explosiveness on offense, Miami likely will consider future roles for Perry and Lynn Bowden Jr., two former multi-dimensional college quarterbacks-turned-receivers who were inactive on Sunday.
▪ Tight end: Mike Gesicki and Durham Smythe both started, but Gesicki played far more (45 snaps to Smythe’s 13). Adam Shaheen played 12.
▪ Quarterback: Ryan Fizpatrick played all 62 snaps.
▪ Offensive line: The five starters — left tackle Austin Jackson, left guard Ereck Flowers, center Ted Karras, right guard Solomon Kindley and right tackle Jesse Davis — played all 62 snaps and rookie tackle Robert Hunt played two snaps as a sixth lineman.
▪ Defensive line: A couple of surprises: Raekwon Davis started ahead of Christian Wilkins, who performed far better than Davis and played more snaps than Davis, 43 to 27. Also, even though Zach Sieler played only four snaps, he was on the goalline for the final stages of New England’s late key TD drive that sealed the Patriots’ win.
Beyond those three, Shaq Lawson played 60 of the 64 snaps, Emmanuel Ogbah 55 and Davon Godchaux 44. Though the NFL is listing Lawson as a defensive end, the Dolphins are calling him a linebacker. Lawson and Ogbah had disappointing debuts.
▪ Linebackers: The surprise here was Kyle Van Noy - expected to be an everydown linebacker - played only 41 of the 64 defensive snaps. But Miami was easing him back after he was slowed by a hand injury the past two weeks.
Beyond Van Noy and Lawson, Jerome Baker played 61 snaps, Elandon Roberts played 40 and struggled, Kamu Grugier-Hill 18 and Andrew Van Ginkel 8. Sam Eguavoen and Calvin Munson played on special teams but not on defense.
▪ Defensive backs: Per a source, the Dolphins did not want cornerback Xavien Howard playing more than 30 snaps coming off December knee surgery, and he finished with 27 snaps, with most of those coming early in the game. Byron Jones played 62 snaps and rookie Noah Igbinoghene 37.
In a surprise, Perry got most of the slot cornerback snaps (31) and Needham didn’t play at all on defense.
Among safeties, rookie third-round pick Brandon Jones surprisingly logged 34 snaps on defense. That slightly reduced the playing time for Bobby McCain (58 snaps) and Eric Rowe (54 snaps). Clayton Fejedelem was inactive because of an injury and Kavon Frazier didn’t play at all on defense.
THIS AND THAT
▪ As expected, Brian Flores said Ryan Fitzpatrick would start Sunday against Buffalo, despite throwing three interceptions and no touchdowns in the opener. Asked to assess his performance, Flores said:
“As a team, we’ve got to be better across the board: offense, defense, special teams. There were some opportunities we didn’t take advantage of. After watching the film, that includes the quarterback positions, but it includes all the positions. We need better play from everybody…. We need better coaching; that starts with me. Every position, every position coach, we all have to do better.”
▪ Do the Dolphins need to create a role for Malcolm Perry and give more work to Breida in order to increase their chances of generating more explosive plays?
“A lot of things we got to work on,” Flores said. “Explosive plays are a part of that. So we’ll look at different schemes, personnel. We’ll look at everything and do what we feel is best for the team from an explosive play standpoint but also from an overall offensive standpoint.”
▪ Flores said it’s too soon to tell whether Parker will be able to play on Sunday.
“DeVante is getting rehab and treatment [Monday],” Flores said. “He’ll get rehab and treatment [Tuesday]. We’ll see what it looks like on Wednesday. Can’t say right now. It’s still too early.”
▪ Even though Cam Newton accused Dolphins players of trying to remove his neck chain after the game — the Fox affiliate in Miami said it was Wilkins and Davis who attempted to do that — Flores didn’t see anything egregious from Miami’s players in the mild postgame confrontation.
“Tempers flared a little bit,” Flores said. “I don’t think it was really that big of a deal. He went his way; we went ours. I didn’t see much going on there.”
▪ Flores was generally pleased with the offensive line, which featured rookie starters in Jackson and Kindley.
“I thought protection was solid,” he said. “We had room to step up and time to throw it. We can always improve in that area as well. We are going to need similar protection this week against a really, really good front, good defense [in Buffalo]. I thought those young guys got off to a solid start... We really need more consistency across the board on this team.”
▪ The Dolphins on Monday released quarterback Jake Rudock from their practice squad and replaced him with undrafted rookie quarterback Reid Sinnett, who spent the summer with Tampa Bay before the Buccaneers signed ex-Dolphins quarterback Josh Rosen to replace him on their practice squad last week.
In his only season as a college starter for the San Diego Toreros last year, the 6-4 Sinnett completed 66.9 percent of his passes for 3,528 yards, 32 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while rushing for 174 yards and six touchdowns. So Miami now has two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster (Fitzpatrick, Tua Tagovailoa) and one (Sinnett) on their practice squad.
This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
