South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Defense struggles to solve their trust issues
Failure to consistently stop run and get to QB evident early in rebuild
DAVIE – The Miami Dolphins have been pushed around at the line of scrimmage this season on offense and defense, with very few exceptions.
While Miami (3-11) has struggled in the trenches on both sides of the ball, the defense’s issues stopping the run and applying pressure to opposing quarterbacks have been among the most frustrating aspects of the season because defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s unit has typically failed to achieve their top priorities for each game.
Every aspect of the defense seems compromised, and Miami’s struggles on that side of the ball indicate that either the scheme is flawed, the coaching needs to improve or the personnel doesn’t fit. And maybe it’s all of the above. Heading into Sunday’s home finale against the Cincinnati Bengals (1-13) the Dolphins defense has been crippled by poor edgesetting, which compromises Miami’s ability to defend the run consistently.
The defensive tackles have failed to occupy multiple blockers, which allows an offensive guard or center to reach the second level, taking on the linebackers.
And even in passing situations there’s no front-seven player who can disengage from a blockers, and effectively hunt down the opposition’s quarterback.
As a result, quarterbacks have all day to challenge Miami’s secondary, and receivers can routinely run double moves downfield to get open.
That buffet of problems explains why Miami enters Sunday’s game with the NFL’s worst defense,
a unit that allows 31.1 points per game (last in NFL), and 398.7 yards per game (raked 30th).
“Trust,” linebacker Sam Eguavoen said, explaining the issues. “When we put the film on, it [becomes] ‘I didn’t know if this guy was going to set the edge. I didn’t know if this guy was going to fit inside of me, so I did this.’
“That’s building bad habits as a defense,” said Eguavoen, who will likely be elevated back into a starting role because of the seasonending hamstring injury Raekwon McMillan suffered last week, which got the inside linebacker placed on injured reserve. “You have to trust one another to get the job done so that when we go back into the film room and we look at
it [we know what happened]. If we have two people trying to do each other’s job it’s not going to work.”
Entering Sunday’s game, all but three of Miami’s opponents this season have rushed for more than
100 yards against the Dolphins, who are allowing 140.9 rushing yards per game (ranked 31st) and
4.6 yards per attempt (ranked
31st).
The Dolphins have produced 18 sacks in 14 games, which equates to a sack every 25.5 attempts, which is the worst sack rate in the NFL this season.
“Why haven’t we seen more of it?” Graham answered when asked about Miami’s lack of pass rushing, which has contributed to opposing quarterbacks producing
a 102.4 passer rating, which ranks 29th in the NFL. “I don’t know how you want me to answer that. I’ve got to do a better job. I think I’ve made that clear. …
“We’ve got to be more consistent with our pad level. We’ve got to be more consistent using our hands, so that starts with me.”
Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who worked his way up the NFL ranks coaching the defensive side of football, reiterated that Miami’s defensive struggles falls on the coaches, who are in Year 1 of installing a complicated hybrid defense.
Flores hopes to see improvement in the final two games despite the constant churning that has taken place with the team’s personnel.
Playing the Bengals without McMillan, the team’s best runstuffing linebacker, presents yet another challenge Flores’ team must try to overcome.
Cincinnati’s Joe Mixon enters Sunday’s game with 925 rushing yards on 231 carries, and is 75 yards away from becoming the 10th tailback to surpass the 1,000-yard rushing threshold this season.
Eguavoen will likely be called on to start his seventh game of the season as McMillan’s replacement.
The former CFL standout realizes the final two games provides him a chance to redeem himself from his slow start as a starter this year, and finish out the 2019 seasons strong, proving he should be viewed as a building block for this franchise.
“The game is fast, and it [provides] limited opportunities. Not just limited opportunities for play time, but opportunities for certain plays,” said Eguavoen, who has contributed 42 tackles and 3.5 sacks serving as a blitzing pass rusher of late. “You have to make the most of every opportunity when you get it.”
If the Dolphins are going to beat the Bengals and produce the season’s fourth win, Graham’s unit needs to make Cincinnati one dimensional and find a way to make quarterback Andy Dalton uncomfortable.
“Just playing [your] technique. Just trusting the edge is going to be set. The tackles, [having] them trusting us that we’re going to come downfield [as linebackers], just using all the things they teach us well,” said linebacker Jerome Baker, a second-year player who leads the Dolphins with 104 tackles.
“Effort in the NFL is not a big thing. We all do that. It’s all about technique and just playing together and trusting each other.”