How Parker’s, Gesicki’s, Breida’s touches have declined and the Dolphins’ thoughts on that
At first glance, the disparity was stunning:
Running back Myles Gaskin — the former seventh-round pick who entered this past training camp on the bubble to make the team — touched the ball 21 times against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
Every other Miami Dolphins running back, wide receiver and tight end combined to touch the ball 14 times.
Despite Gaskin’s good work this season (387 yards rushing on 3.9 per carry, 30 catches in 35 targets for 198 yards), that hardly seems the ideal distribution of touches for a team featuring formidable weapons at wide receiver (DeVante Parker) and tight end (Mike Gesicki) and a running back (Matt Breida) who entered this season with the third-highest per-carry average in the NFL since 2017 but had only four rushing attempts Sunday.
The game plan Sunday had a lot to do with that disparity. The Dolphins weren’t inclined to throw downfield as much because of the Rams’ vaunted pass rush and because it was quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s first start. And because Miami had a lead for most of the game, the Dolphins threw fewer passes (22) than is usually the case.
“Game situations dictate a lot of things,” Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said when asked about that 21-14 disparity. “We find ourselves from time to time having one guy getting it more than anybody else. We weren’t taking chances. We were throwing screens. We weren’t throwing it down the field. We were doing things like that, so naturally Myles is going to get more touches than anyone else during that time.”
Sunday’s ball distribution was the snapshot of a larger issue.
The Dolphins haven’t been getting the ball as much to Parker, Gesicki and Breida as would have been expected.
Under the watch of former Dolphins offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea, who was fired the day after last season ended, Miami more often got the ball to Parker and Gesicki, who both enjoyed their best NFL seasons in 2019.
Consider:
▪ Combining all of the Dolphins’ touches on rushes and receptions this season, Gaskin has 38 percent of Miami’s offensive touches, with nobody even close. That 38 percent is normal for a starting running back, but the disparity between Gaskin and Breida (who has 12.8 percent of Miami’s touches) is larger than expected.
Of Miami’s 342 combined rushing attempts and receptions this season, Gaskin has 130 of them.
But his 3.9 per carry average is tied for just 34th in the league.
He was leading all NFL running backs in percentage of completed passes thrown to him (minimum 25 passes) before dropping a pass Sunday.
Update: I exclusively reported here that Gaskin is expected to miss three weeks with a sprained MCL.
▪ Breida’s average number of carries per game has dropped from 8.9 in his career with San Francisco to 5.3 with Miami.
Running backs coach Eric Studesville said Tuesday that “we’re trying to get Matt in the game. We do want to get his carries and touches up. We’re adjusting all the time during the game.”
Update: That’s now going to happen because of Gaskin’s injury, which was not known publicly when Dolphins coaches spoke on Tuesday morning.
Breida’s rushing average also has dropped, from 5.0 in his three years with the 49ers to 3.5 in his one season with the Dolphins, with Miami’s offensive line appearing to be largely responsible for that falloff.
▪ Parker has only 30 of Miami’s 342 offensive touches this season — 8.8 percent. That compares to 10 percent last season in O’Shea’s offense.
What’s more, Parker had just two targets against the Rams, catching that one pass for a 3-yard touchdown.
Over his last three games, he has been targeted a combined 13 times, with just six catches for 88 yards.
He has caught 30 of his 42 targets for 367 yards — giving him a far better percentage of completed targets than Preston Williams, who has caught just 14 of 30 for 228 yards, with drops of two catchable passes against the Rams.
Next Gen Stats say Dolphins receivers are getting less separation from defensive backs than any other group of receivers in the league. Dolphins receivers coach Josh Grizzard declined to answer directly when asked if Parker and Williams are getting sufficient separation.
▪ Gesicki has 5.5 percent of the Dolphins’ offensive touches (rushes and receptions), compared with 7.1 percent last season.
He had just two targets against the Rams — a catch for 8 yards and a well-defended deep ball that he failed to haul in. During his past two games, he has just one catch on four targets for 8 yards.
“You’ve got to get Mike Gesicki involved more because he’s an athletic freak,” NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger said.
Asked if teams are defending Gesicki differently than a year ago, tight ends coach George Godsey said: “Teams are more aware of him for sure. There are some routes we could be better at.”
▪ As for the Dolphins’ former college quarterbacks who are learning to play wide receiver as NFL rookies, Lynn Bowden Jr. has five touches and Malcolm Perry two.
▪ Jordan Howard, signed with the expectation of being Miami’s 1 or 1A back, has just 19 touches and was awaiting word whether he would be traded by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. NFL trade deadline.
Gailey said neither “yes” nor “no” on Tuesday when asked if he needs to get the ball more to Parker, Gesicki and Breida.
“If I had it ideally — the running back obviously is going to get it more because he’s the running back — but I would like to see [more] balance between run and pass,” he said. “As long as we’re making yards, I don’t care who catches it.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 11:37 AM.
