Catch me if you can
Dolphins star receivers pose problems for Pats
Dolphins receivers versus Patriots corners.
On paper, that sure looks like a mega mismatch heading into Sunday’s season opener. Think Wile E. Coyote against the Roadrunner.
Bill Belichick against any rookie quarterback.
It’s no secret the Fins are loaded, as Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Cedrick Wilson headline Tua Tagovailoa’s revamped arsenal. Add in tight end Mike Gesicki, who typically lines up as a wideout, and that group is going to present a huge challenge for any NFL secondary. The Patriots?
Bill Belichick better have a few tricks up his sleeve to try and combat Hill & Co. because he no longer has a bona fide shutdown corner in his defensive backfield. For twoplus decades, that was a given. Whether it was Ty Law, Asante Samuel, Aqib Talib, Darrelle Revis, Malcolm Butler, Stephon Gilmore, or J.C. Jackson, they had a corner who could eliminate the big gun on the other side.
Now?
Let’s just say they’ll be taking a slingshot to the fight without a rock.
Jalen Mills has certainly been a revelation through training camp and the preseason. He was arguably their best player. And even with that, it’s still hard picturing him shutting down Hill or Waddle. Meanwhile, Jonathan
Jones was moved from his usual position in the slot, to the boundary opposite Mills, while Myles Bryant is expected to fill Jones’ spot in the slot.
Does this trio have a chance against the Fins elite playmakers?
Even though Mills and Jones are both good corners, it sure doesn’t seem like it. But games and matchups aren’t won on paper. They’re won on the field.
“I don’t pay attention to the doubters,” Mills said prior to leaving for Florida. “Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but I know us as a group, the work we put in each and every day. We had some really good competition in the joint practices, and we’ve just gotten better and better every day.
“They have explosive players. They’ve proven it in this league,” he went on. “They have guys who can change the game in one play or take a short pass and completely flip the field. It’s going to be a collective effort to handle them.” Translation?
The Patriots are going to need help from the pass rush to survive. It’s imperative they get to Tagovailoa. Matt Judon, Christian Barmore and Josh Uche are going to have to put the hammer down on the Fins’ offensive line, which is vulnerable in a few spots, and torment their quarterback. That’s for starters.
The Patriots are also going to need the coaches to devise some looks and schemes to confuse Tua. If they can disrupt his timing in any way, that will go a long way toward limiting the damage.
And, whether they play man or zone — with the expectation being they’ll go heavy with zone — they cannot allow explosive plays. In Mike McDaniel’s offense, the Fins will rely a lot on quick slants with receivers gaining tons of yards after catch. Members of the Pats secondary will have to be good in space, and sound tacklers to avoid losing the track meet with Hill and Waddle.
Hill might have only played just three snaps in the preseason, but in his first, he caught a 51-yard deep ball.
“We all know that Hill is a very explosive player, can score from anywhere on the field, and has gamebreaking speed that we see from time to time, but it’s relatively rare,” Belichick said Tuesday on The Greg Hill Show. “So we’ll have to certainly be aware of him.”
As for Waddle, who set a new NFL rookie record for catches (104) last year, he sat out the entire preseason with a right leg injury. Fins head coach McDaniel reiterated Wednesday he was “very confident” the star would play. So it doesn’t look like the Pats will catch a break.
Said Mills: “I think for sure, me as a cornerback, us as a group, and the defense, we have to know where those guys are every play for sure.”
Along with Mills, Jonathan Jones will figure prominently in trying to keep Miami’s stars at bay.
His move to the boundary shouldn’t be a total surprise. It’s possible he’ll be used on the outside for certain opponents, the Fins chief among them, and move back to the inside for others.
He’s been given the Hill assignment before. He occasionally took snaps on the outside when the wideout was with the Chiefs. He also moved to the boundary last year to mark Antonio Brown when the Buccaneers came to town.
Speaking with Jones last week, he said the group was in some ways fueled by all the naysayers, but knows they still have to prove it on the field.
“I mean, we haven’t done anything as a group. This group hasn’t gone out there and performed together as a unit,” he said. “That’s something we’re going to have to earn. And I think, sometimes it comes down to names. A lot of people get fixated on names, and not so much the results and looking at what guys have done year in and year out.”
There are no so-called “names” in the Patriots cornerback room.
It’s veterans Mills and Jones, two rookies (Jack Jones & Marcus Jones) and two second- and third-year players (Bryant, Shaun Wade).
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Jack Jones utilized in some fashion. The fourth-round rookie showed good instincts and was consistently around the ball, making plays during the preseason.
Without a doubt, the Dolphins are going to be an interesting Game 1 test, and provide a glimpse into how well the secondary will hold up against the elite offenses.
“We haven’t played well in Miami historically as a team. That adds extra pressure on us,” said Jonathan Jones. “There’s a lot that we’re going against. We just have to go out there and compete.”