Dolphins notebook.
DAVIE — Dolphins linebacker Lawrence Timmons, the hard-hitting veteran who has five consecutive 100-tackle seasons, figures to a difference-maker Sunday when the Dolphins host the New York Jets. But surprisingly, his biggest difference could come in pass defense, where he shores up the middle in the nickel defense.
“He’s a guy that can run and hit and cover and overlap some zones,” defensive coordinator Matt Burke.
In other words, Timmons, also an accomplished blitzer, has helped cover some of the holes in the middle of the field, and when guys do catch passes, Timmons is a sure tackler.
New York Jets quarterback Josh McCown feasted on the middle of the field in the Jets’ 20-6 victory earlier this year, going 18 of 23 for 249 yards and a spectacular 126.3 passer rating.
Timmons, with his ballhawking skills, should reduce each of those numbers.
“I just know that wherever the ball is, he’s not far behind it,” coach Adam Gase said. “He’s got great instincts.”
Timmons missed the first two games of the season due to going AWOL and then serving a one-game suspension. Miami’s nickel defense was riddled with short and intermediate passes during Timmons’ absence.
But that hasn’t happened as much in the three games since he’s been in the lineup.
Timmons has helped shore up the weaknesses exposed by quarterbacks McCown and Philip Rivers of the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Every once in a while he’ll have one or two where he’ll kind of make the wrong decisions,” Gase said, “but a lot of times he’s taking a chance of making a play. Really at that position, between him and Kiko [Alonso], when those guys do take a chance, I trust them that a majority of time, they’re going to be right.”
Injury update
Wide receiver DeVante Parker (ankle), center Mike Pouncey (concussion) and running back Jay Ajayi (knee) didn’t practice Thursday. Parker and Pouncey haven’t practiced all week and are looking more doubtful to play each day. Ajayi should be OK; he usually doesn’t practice on Thursdays.
Third-down issues
Quarterback Jay Cutler remembers one significant aspect of the offensive struggles in the previous game against the Jets – Miami was 1 of 12 on third downs, mostly because of the distances. Seven of the 12 third downs were 10 or more yards.
“You get in third-andlongs like we had against them, and you’re going to be an uphill battle,” Cutler said.
“They kind of blitzed us early, a lot of walk-around, edge blitzes. I think they used their personnel really, really well, and it caused us some fits. And then from that point on, we were kind of uphill. I think we stayed in a lot of third-and-longs at that point. We’ve just got to stay manageable on first and second down and give ourselves a chance at a run-pass on third down.”
Burke on Godchaux
Burke extolled the virtues of well-built rookie defensive tackle Davon Godchaux on Thursday, saying he takes on double teams very well. “He’s like an old-school safe,” Burke said. … Offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen said Ajayi, who had two dropped passes last week, needs more receiving repetitions on practice, but it’s tough because Ajayi doesn’t practice on Thursdays and the priority is his rushing repetitions. “With him it’s kind of an issue he doesn’t practice every single day,” Christensen said. … Burke said defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has been “really good” so far, not only on the field but on the sideline with his input. Burke said they’re doing more things with Suh this year. “We’ve been trying to flip him around a little bit and keep the target off of him,” Burke said.