Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
X’S AND OMAR:
Omar Kelly examines how the injuries on defense are hampering the team.
Bacarri Rambo was out of the NFL, and mentally preparing himself to sell cars back in October before the Miami Dolphins called, and eventually made him Reshad Jones’ replacement at safety.
Starting strong side linebacker Donald Butler, who replaced Koa Misi, also began the season unemployed after being cut by the Arizona Cardinals.
Michael Thomas, Spencer Paysinger and Neville Hewitt are all career special teams standouts who have been elevated into starting roles on Miami’s defense because of injuries.
Miami has had a next-man-up rally cry all season, which fosters an inuries-aren’t-an-excuse mentality amongst the team, but at some point all the band-aids won’t stop the hemorrhaging.
New England quarterback Tom Brady and the Patriots carved the Dolphins up like they were a Thanksgiving Day turkey in a 35-14 win Sunday.
“He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. It happens, a lot,” head coach Adam Gase said after the game, referring to Brady’s three-touchdown performance, which produced a 130.4 passer rating.
But so is Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, next weekend’s opponent.
“We have to figure out a way to get a negative play, or get our hands on the ball and possibly get a turnover, or create some kind of fumble,” said Gase, whose defensive front got minimal pressure on Brady. “We’re looking for that one play.”
However, banking on that one key turnover, sack, or third-down stop isn’t a healthy recipe for success on defense.
The Dolphins defense, which is filled with castoffs and injury fill-ins, allowed a franchise-record 6,122 yards this season.
That means despite numerous clutch performances by defenders who helped seal victories, this season’s defense was the worst in franchise history when it came to yards allowed.
Are they playoff ready?
“Twenty games,” Wake said when asked that question.
Well, the sample size of those 16 regular-season games wasn’t very pleasing, with the exception of Miami’s third-down defense, and 25 takeaways.
“I feel great about the defense,” said Pro Bowl defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. “We’ve been through a lot of tough times, a lot of good times, and I think we’ve been in every single situation this season.”
The defense usually came through in the clutch when it counted, but in all of Miami’s losses the unit happened to come up short.
In the season-opening loss to Seattle, Russell Wilson led the Seahawks to a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter, Seattle converted two fourth-downs on the winning drive.
A.J. Green dominated Miami in a 173-yard, onetouchdown performance in Cincinnati’s 22-7 win, and Tennessee bulldozed the Dolphins for 235 rushing yards in its 30-17 victory.
Baltimore did whatever it wanted against Miami’s defense, and so did New England in both encounters this season.
The Patriots punted three times on Sunday, and none of those punts came in the first half when the game was basically decided.
New England ran the ball efficiently against Miami, rushing for 100 of the team’s 120 yards in the first half. The Patriots are the 13th team this season to rush for at least 100 yards on Miami’s defense, which finished this season allowing 140 rushing yards per game. Only two teams are worse.
“We put together a good body of work. I know the talent we have in our locker room on all sides of the ball,” said defensive end Andre Branch. “If we do our job the rest will take care of itself. But there’s times when we don’t do our job, where it starts to slip.”
Branch is referring to plays like when Rambo missed a tackle on Patriots receiver Julian Edelman that led to a 77-yard third-quarter touchdown catch.
Or the first quarter touchdown Martellus Bennett scored when Miami’s entire defense bit on a playaction fake and left the New England tight end wide open in the back of the end zone.
“I’m confident [that] whoever steps on the field against us, we have a chance to win,” Wake said. “We’ve proven that for however many weeks we’ve done it.”