South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Dolphins
showna precocious mix of smarts and playmaking ability that some are calling him rookie of the year material.
Third question:“Have you looked at some crucial stats?’’ an NFLassistant coach texted this week.
Like what?
“Look at what their defense gives up in yards-after-catch,’’ he said. “That tells you howwell they’re covering, howwell they’re tackling— howmuch they’re defending the whole field. I bet they’re great at it.”
They rank 20th.
“Never mind,’’ he texted.
By any reasonable and rational view, theDolphins are a good team. Animproving team. The kind of smart and disciplined team that has made you sit up and notice by going 3-1 against the toughNFCWest, having a fourthbest plus-69 in point differential and ranking in the top five defensively in points allowed.
But starting Sunday in Denver, the next three games will define if the first hurdle to being a consistently good team is passed.
That’s because the first rule in winning is not to beat yourself, and none of these three teams are going to beat the Dolphins on merit. Here’s the quarterbacks:
1. Denver’s DrewLock (or Brett Rypien, if Lock is hurt).
2. The NewYork Jets’ Sam Darnold (or Joe Flacco).
3. Cincinnati’s JoeBurrow. You can put an asterisk on Burrow, considering the prized rookie is disproportionately carrying a bad team. But these are three quarterbacks that a good team beats.
If they’re ready to handle success. If they’re at that stage of development.
Dolphins coach Brian Flores mentioned thisweek howthe media hadn’t askedmuchabout Denver. There’s a reason for that.
This game isn’t so muchabout 3-6 Denver. It ranks 27th in scoring (20.1 points a game). It’s 1-3 at home despite its altitude providing one of the two great homefield advantages in this pandemic season (South Florida’s heat providing the other).
Even the big question framed as important for Sunday, about whether Lock plays with a sore shoulder or not, isn’t that important. He had four interceptions lastweek against Oakland. Does
it matter thatmuch if he plays? Wouldn’t the Dolphins be fine with him playing?
The issue right nowis the Dolphins. Handling success is just as important as handling failure. It’s trickier, too.
“We definitely understand thatwe’re in the mix and everybody’s excited thatwe’re in the mix,’’ Dolphins safety Bobby McCain said. “But as a team, we try to preach to guys just have a one-week season and don’t think
somuchof 13-3, think more of 7-3.”
“If you can do that each every week— go from7-3to8-3 to9-3— if you can do that each and every week, that should be the goal. We’re not thinking hindsight and we’re not thinking downthe road of ‘we can beat this team’ or ‘what ifwe don’t beat this team?’
No, nine games aren’t enough to anoint the Dolphins. Three games don’t meanTagovailoa has a great career. But you’ve seen the style of play in this stretch you haven’t seen around the Dolphins in years. Decades, even. That’s what matters. That suggests something different is in the works.
Starting lastweek with a win over the Los Angeles Chargers, the Dolphins are in the mushy part of the schedule. Games like Sunday aren’t about Denver. They’re about the Dolphins. Who are they? And what are they capable of this year?