Time to start fixing issues vs. Colts
MIAMI GARDENS — The buildup to the Miami Dolphins’ 2021 season was like having a reservation for a fine steak dinner for weeks. The season’s start, like a dry first bite, has left much to be desired.
Aside from starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa being injured, further delaying the team from truly evaluating the 2020 No. 5 pick, areas that were not of concern before the season are not as solid as expected.
Nowhere is this truer than with the third-down defense. Miami was tops in the NFL in that category last season (31.2%), and the Dolphins went from first to last to start 2021, allowing opponents to convert an eye-popping 59.1% of third downs.
Starting 1-2 — and just an Xavien Howard forced fumble and recovery in New England away from being winless through three games — is discouraging for a team with playoff aspirations, but it shouldn’t be too much to overcome. In his first two seasons as Dolphins coach, Brian Flores has gotten his teams to improve later in the year. A 1-3 start last season turned into 10-6 and nearly a playoff appearance.
But this year, it feels a little more like 1-2 can’t turn into 1-3. Not when there were expectations coming in. Not when a trip to face the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers follows. And not when you play at home against the winless Indianapolis Colts (0-3), also desperate after reaching the postseason last year and riddled with injuries this season.
The 1 p.m. Week 4 kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium against the Colts is the perfect time to start correcting what has gone wrong to start the 2021 season.
“I’ve taken a hard look at this myself,” Flores said of the thirddown defense. “At the end of the day, our opponents are making more plays than we are. It’s just as simple as that. Good throws, good catches, contested catches. The rush is probably a half-second late, so we need a half-second more coverage.
“The difference between winning and losing those plays, it’s small. The margin for error is small on those, and right now we’re not — as far as the contested plays, the contested catches, getting the ball out, getting the extra half-second or quarter of a second to get to the quarterback — we’re not getting there.”
With that inability to get the defense off the field on third downs, the Dolphins’ defense is 27th against the run (136 yards per game), 25th in total defense (401.3 yards per game) and 23rd in scoring defense (27.3 points per game.)
Dolphins defenders, in addressing the third-down defense, have pointed to their defense on first and second downs as the prime contributor.
“We got a lot of teams getting in third-and-2, third-and-1, which are real manageable third downs,” said cornerback Nik Needham. “When they’re in that situation, it’s like 50-50 for them to get it.”
When teams can run against the Dolphins the way they have, it creates a lot of those third-and-manageable situations. Despite being without big nose tackle and run stuffer Raekwon Davis (injured reserve) since the season’s opening series against the Patriots, the Dolphins want to take pride in their run defense.
Sunday presents an opportunity to dominate the line of scrimmage defensively. Colts All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson will miss a game for the first time in his four-year career. Indianapolis won’t have tackle Braden Smith, and the guard opposite of Nelson, Mark Glowinski, is questionable. Also questionable are running back Jonathan Taylor, quarterback Carson Wentz — playing on two bad ankles — and tight end Jack Doyle. All while former FIU wide receiver T.Y. Hilton is on injured reserve.
You think the Dolphins’ team defensive stats are bad? Check the offense: 30th in scoring offense (15 points per game), 29th in passing offense (175.7 yards per game) and total offense (268.3) and 23rd in rushing offense (92.7). Miami has given up the fourth-most sacks in the NFL (10).