The Miami Dolphins
Dolphins ready to reap benefits of pass defense investment
have made a big pass-defense investment, and now it’s payoff time.
DAVIE – The Miami Dolphins’ pass defense has devoted a large amount of resources — two firstround picks, two third-round picks and acquiring two seasoned veterans — in hopes of becoming a game-changing unit. The challenge now is turning those additions into victories.
Leading the recent pass defense additions are safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, this year’s first-round pick, and defensive end Charles Harris, last year’s first-round pick.
But there’s also rookie linebacker Jerome Baker, this year’s thirdround pick, cornerback Cordrea Tankersley, last year’s third-round pick, veteran defensive end Robert Quinn, who will earn around $11 million this season, and veteran safety T.J. McDonald, whom Miami acquired last year and awarded a contract extension.
Add those players to mainstays such as Pro Bowl defensive end Cameron Wake and Pro Bowl safety Reshad Jones, veterans such as defensive ends William Hayes and Andre Branch, and youngsters such as cornerbacks Bobby McCain, Xavien Howard and Tony Lippett, and the Dolphins hope they’ve formed an athletic passrushing coverage-capable unit.
“I have high expectations,” defensive coordinator Matt Burke said. “I do every year. Obviously, we’ve been fortunate the last couple drafts and offseasons to add some pieces. [General manager] Chris Grier and those guys have done a good job.
“I’m like the broken record in terms of me always wanting more, more, more and ‘Give me this,’ and ‘I don’t have this,’ and all of that. They’ve done a good job of providing some of those weapons and pieces.”
Burke has options for molding this talent into a nightmare for offenses.
In certain passing situations, perhaps he uses Wake and Quinn as pass rushers on the edges, Baker and Stephone Anthony as linebackers with Howard and Tankersley on the corners, McCain in the slot and Fitzpatrick and Jones as safeties.
In other passing situations, it could be Wake, Harris, Hayes and Andre Branch in a speedy pass-rushing front with Baker and McDonald as linebackers, Lippett and Howard on the corners, McCain in the slot and Fitzpatrick and Jones as safeties.
Perhaps Fitzpatrick plays slot cornerback sometimes, or maybe middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan plays in certain packages.
The bottom line is utilizing the talent.
Last year’s pass defense was designed to play with a lead. The plan was to unleash a furious passing attack, led by the front four, which makes life miserable for opposing quarterbacks.
It didn’t work. Miami finished 16th in pass defense. Its 30 sacks were tied for 26th. Its nine interceptions were 28th. Quarterbacks had a 94.8 passer rating against Miami, which ranked the pass defense 28th in that category.
One problem was Miami frequently fell behind, which meant teams ran the ball a bit more than expected. Miami’s run defense absorbed 431 attempts, 15th-most in the NFL.
Another problem was the Dolphins faced lots of three- step drop passing games, which meant quarterbacks got rid of the ball before the pass rush arrived. Tight ends were especially troubling in those situations.
This offseason the Dolphins focused more on defending those short and intermediate passes to tight ends and running backs by adding Fitzpatrick, a coverage specialist as opposed to a hitter such as fellow safeties Jones and McDonald, and Baker, also a coverage specialist.
Adding Quinn, a passrushing specialist, also figures to help the pass defense by pressuring the quarterback opposite Wake.
So while the basic defensive philosophy might not change — get a lead and unleash the pass rush — the Dolphins seem to have at least reinforced themselves on the back end by adding Fitzpatrick and Baker, while adding a bit more up front with Quinn.
The idea, according to Burke, is gather athletic players, figure out their best skills, and then design defensive packages to match those skills with specific situations (first down, second-and-long, third-and-long, third-andshort, etc.).
Burke, however, was careful to warn against thinking a single player will make a huge difference in pass defense.
“I don’t know if you can put it on one guy like all of a sudden Minkah is going to be the end-all/ be-all and change everything, or Robert Quinn is the X-factor,” he said.
“But the more of those guys that we keep adding to the puzzle, and the more we can get them comfortable playing the techniques we want to play and doing the things we want to do, obviously the better we should play. We have high expectations for this unit, and I expect that we’ll perform better.”