Can playing winless Jaguars spark defensive turnaround?
The question centered on the highlight moment of Jaelan Phillips’ young NFL career so far, the rookie outside linebacker sacking quarterback Tom Brady on Sunday. It’s a story he will tell his grandchildren some day, he said.
In the present, however, it’s an individual achievement that can be — and, in Phillips’ mind, should be — overshadowed by the overall state of the Miami Dolphins’ defense.
“Frankly,” Phillips said, “we’re not getting it done on defense, so me getting a sack in a game doesn’t really mean too much in the grand scheme of things. I just think we need to keep improving. I need to keep improving what I’m doing, my technique and my assignments, and we definitely need to keep improving as a defense.”
Similar sentiments and buzzwords have popped up from Phillips’ teammates throughout the week.
The need to get on the same page. The need to execute better. The need to focus on winning one play at a time.
All common threads for how the Dolphins hope to improve their defense — a unit that at times was their saving grace during their 10-win season in 2020 that has since become a liability five weeks into the 2021 season.
“The sense of urgency has been there,” linebacker Elandon Roberts said. “We’ll start tying this thing together.”
Sunday will likely be the best chance for them to do so. The 1-4 Dolphins are preparing to face the 0-5 Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
A lackluster Dolphins defense faces a lackluster Jaguars offense in a battle of two of the bottom teams in the NFL.
“We’re just going to keep working,” defensive lineman Raekwon Davis said. “Just all working together, everybody on the same page, communicating together.”
There’s a lot of work to be done.
The Dolphins entered the week last in thirddown defense, allowing opponents to convert 57.1 percent of the time. They’re also ranked 30th out of 32 teams in scoring defense (30.8 points allowed per game) and total defense (422.2 yards allowed per game).
Miami has already given up at least 30 points three times through five games this season. That happened only five times throughout the 16-game 2020 season. The Dolphins were tied for the fifth-best scoring defense last year, holding opponents to an average of
21.1 points per game.
“We need to do better in all phases of the game,” defensive coordinator Josh Boyer said. “You look at the things that you need to change to get better, to get more production, to get things to carry over to Sundays. Our players prepare well, they work hard and then obviously, I’ve got to do a better job of making sure that we can see some of that translate to Sundays and change some things up to make sure we’re getting that production.”
Maybe facing a struggling Jaguars team will do the trick. Jacksonville ranks 28th in the NFL in scoring offense, averaging just 18.6 points per game and scoring no more than 21 points in a given game.
Rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick, is completing just 59.4 percent of his passes and has thrown more interceptions (eight) than touchdowns (six) through his first five games.
Jacksonville’s main area of strength comes from its rushing attack led by running back James Robinson. The second-year pro is fourth in the league with 387 rushing yards and is averaging 5.8 yards per carry.
“He’s a quick, shifty back,” Davis said.
“You’ve got to be patient on him. You can’t peek out of your gap real quick. You’ve got to be real patient with that guy. He’s kind of short so it’s kind of hard to see him. You’ve just got to be real patient with him and let him declare the gap.”
The Dolphins aren’t taking anything for granted.
“Even though their record says 0-5,” defensive lineman Emmanual Ogbah said, “they’ve got a good team that we’ve got to take advantage of and we’ve got to do our best to stop them.”