South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Defense looks to get back on track
All Matt Burke could do was throw his Microsoft Surface tablet to the ground in disgust.
In the midst of giving up six touchdowns to the Houston Texans a week and a half ago, the Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator grew frustrated as his defense surrendered big plays in a second straight loss in the span of five days.
The Dolphins (4-4), teetering on the edge of disappointment while still in the midst of the AFC playoff discussion midway through the season, hope to get back on track in Sunday’s Week 9 game against the New York Jets at 1 p.m. in Hard Rock Stadium.
First, the Dolphins need to avoid giving up big plays that have resulted in costly points for opposing teams the last two games.
“Obviously, I was frustrated. I was frustrated. Very frustrated,” Burke said this past week.
“We were just cutting guys loose. [Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson] had five touchdown passes and four of them were to uncovered players. It’s not like they were contested catches or something got schemed up. We were just not even covering guys Miami defensive lineman Scott Patchan (19) attempts to tackle Duke running back Mataeo Durant (21) during the first half Saturday. Miami quarterback Malik Rosier (12) carries the ball in the first quarter of Saturday night’s loss to Duke at Hard Rock Stadium.
MIAMI GARDENS —
Well, there are no illusions now. No doubts. No excuses. Until Saturday night, you could make the case Miami went through a couple of bad weeks, on the road, against a couple of fired-up conference rivals. But now words fail me.
Miami lost to Duke at home on Saturday night, 20-12.
That’s Duke, as previously 1-3 in the ACC Duke.
That’s Duke, as in basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke.
That’s Duke, as in Duke, a program Miami should never, ever, not-in-your-lifetime lose to at home. It never had, either. Not as The U, anyhow. Its only home loss to Duke came in 1976, which was before Miami was a program of any renown.
Get the idea? Mark Richt is out of answers this year, too. Saturday showed that. He dug deep in his bag of desperation from the start. He went for it on
fourth-and-2 from his
49-yard line on his offense’s second series. The play call, a deep pass, sailed out of bounds. On the next series, N’Kosi Perry replaced Rosier at quarterback.
And then Rosier soon replaced Perry.
And in the fourth quarter Perry replaced Rosier.
Nothing really changed in the quarterback shuffle, least of all the scoreboard. So a desperate night became an ugly one. When coach Mark Richt appeared on
and dropping guys loose and getting out of things. So as that just kept building, it was a level of frustration.
“Obviously I didn’t realize I was going to get captured [on camera]. … Unfortunately that was the closest thing I had in my hands and I took it out on an inanimate object.”
During their Thursday night tilt in Week 8 with the Texans, the Dolphins gave up three touchdowns on drives that lasted only two plays.
Two other Texans touchdown drives lasted six plays each.
The Dolphins, who used
11 interceptions and 14 turnovers overall to keep points off the board earlier this season, have given up 31 and
42 points in their last two games without forcing a turnover.
They have also allowed more than 400 yards of total offense in five of eight games this season with a 2-3 record in those instances.
The most troubling statistic may be Miami’s thirddown defense, which ranks
29th among 32 NFL teams. They are allowing opposing teams to convert on 46.3 percent of third-down plays to continue drives and stay on the field.
“When you give up the yards you give up and the points you’ve been giving up, that’s systemic, and there’s issues at all levels that have to be addressed,” Burke said.
The Dolphins have not been getting ideal pressure on the quarterback by their defensive line, evidenced by just 11 sacks this season: with one each from defensive ends Cameron Wake and Robert Quinn.
Rookie linebacker Jerome Baker had two sacks against Cincinnati in Week 5.
Defensive end William Hayes and defensive tackle Vincent Taylor each have two sacks, but they suffered season-ending injuries. Former defensive tackle Jordan Phillips had a sack before being waived and signing with Buffalo. Dolphins linebacker Raekwon McMillan forces the Lions’ Golden Tate to fumble on Oct. 21.
“The first job is to do your job,” Wake said.
“The second job is to stop the run. Then if you do that, I think that creates passrush opportunities and then bunches will come.”
Linebacker Kiko Alonso has played like a potential All-Pro player during the first half of the season, but Baker and fellow first-year starting linebacker Raekwon
McMillian have not been stout against the run.
And while the Dolphins secondary has been able to get interceptions this season, it was beaten badly by the Texans.
A rebound performance against the Jets (3-5), who have struggled at times behind rookie quarterback Sam Darnold, could be the right recipe for the Dolphins
defense to get back on track.
“We’ve got to be better. There’s no time to hit the panic button right now,” safety Reshad Jones said.
“We’ve got a lot of football left ahead of us. We’ve just got to come out to practice and continue to work and get it done on the practice field, and continue to put the work in.”
The Rangers hired Dodgers third base coach Chris Woodward as their manager, succeeding Jeff Banister. He received a three-year contract.
BASEBALL:
The Toronto Argonauts fired coach Marc Trestman after a league-worst 4-14 season.
FOOTBALL:
Bryson DeChambeau birdied four of the last six holes for a share of the lead with Peter Uihlein in the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open in Las Vegas. DeChambeau shot a 6-under 66 to match Uihlein at 197 after three rounds . ... Li Haotong fired a 63 and had a threestroke lead at 17 under par after three rounds of the Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya. Justin Rose (69), who would go back atop the world rankings with a victory, was tied for second with Alexander Levy. ... Minjee Lee shot an 8-under 64 to take a threeshot lead after the second round of the LPGA Japan Classic in Shiga.
GOLF:
Simone Biles won the floor exercise at the world championships in Doha, Qatar, and added a bronze on balance beam. The Olympic champion earlier won gold in the team final, the all-around and the vault plus a silver on uneven bars.
GYMNASTICS:
Accelerate held off Gunnevera to win the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic by a length in Lexington, Ky., strengthening his bid for Horse of the Year over Triple Crown winner Justify. Accelerate notched his fifth consecutive Grade 1 victory. Other Day 2 winners were Shamrock Rose in the Filly & Mare Sprint, Stormy Liberal (Turf Sprint), City of Light (Dirt Mile), Sistercharlie (Filly & Mare Turf ), Roy H (Sprint), Expert Eve (Mile), Monomoy Girl (Distaff ) and Enable (Turf ).
HORSE RACING: NFL:
The Cardinals released QB Sam Bradford, who started the first three games before being replaced by rookie Josh Rosen. The former No. 1 pick out of Oklahoma, whose eight seasons have been plagued by injuries, has 83 career starts . ... The Raiders waived leading pass rusher Bruce Irvin . ... Nathan Peterman will start at QB for the Bills against the Bears after Derek Anderson was ruled out with a concussion . ... The Bears placed RG Kyle Long on IR because of a tendon injury in his right foot . ... Packers WR Geronimo Allison will miss Sunday night’s game against the Patriots with multiple injuries . ... Patriots WR Julian Edelman was fined $26,739 for an unnecessary-roughness penalty. Giants S Sean Chandler and Raiders LB Kyle Wilber were fined $20,054 each for horsecollar tackles.
In its first game since club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in a helicopter crash, Leicester edged Cardiff 1-0 in the Premier League. ... Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho called himself “the luckiest manager in the Premier League” after his side came from behind to win at Bournemouth 2-1 . ... Real Madrid needed an own goal and a late penalty to beat Valladolid 2-0 for its first win in six games.
SOCCER:
Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer 7-6 (6),
5-7, 7-6 (3) in a Paris Masters semifinal. Djokovic’s fourth straight win over Federer sends him into the final against Karen Khachanov, who beat Dominic Thiem 6-4,
6-1 . ... Ashleigh Barty edged Julia Goerges 4-6,
6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals of the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, China. In the final she will face Wang Qiang, who beat Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 6-0.
TENNIS: — Edited from news services