Lapses inWeek 1 seen as correctable
Josh Boyer’s first time calling plays for the Miami Dolphins defense did not go sowell.
But the rookie defensive coordinator is optimistic his unit can improve as the Dolphins (0-1) prepare for their home opener against the Buffalo Bills (1-0) on Sunday.
The Dolphins enter the second week of the season with quite an odd distinction: They are last in the NFL in rushing defense, but first in the league in passing defense after their performance against Cam Newton and theNewEngland Patriots in Week 1.
And the Dolphins must work quickly to correct their issues against the run, with Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s size and prowess as a runner coming to Hard Rock Stadium this Sunday.
“Our defense will evolve over time here,” Boyer said Tuesday. “There’s things we need to correct, and we’re going to do that. And then the play itself will evolve over time. And we’re going to see different things from different offenses for sure. And we’ll prepare for that and be ready for that.”
Newton had one of the best rushing performances of his 10-year career against Miami, thanks to his work in the zoneread scheme, leading to a 21-11 loss on the road for the Dolphins.
Newtonwould fake a handoff to any of the Patriots running backs and decide to either hand the football off or keep it depending on the coverage from Dolphins defenders such as Shaq Lawson, Emmanuel Ogbah orKyleVanNoyonthe edge.
The end result: Newton’s 15 carries were the second most in his NFL career. His 75 yards on the ground were also a top-10 career rushing performance. And his two rushing touchdowns marked the seventh time he scored at least two touchdowns on the ground in the NFL.
Newton’s work against the Dolphins run defense, helping New England gain 217 yards rushing, also opened the passing lanes for an efficient clip, completing 15-of-19 passes for 155 yardswith a 100.7 passer rating.
“The good news,” according to Boyer, “is it’s all correctable.”
“It’s just going to take a little bit of effort and a little bit of work and getting everybody on the same page on some things,” he said. “But it’s all correctable and we’re working hard to do that.”
Boyer said the Dolphins’ defensive woes stem from several issues with technique, individual assignments, being in the wrong defensive scheme at times, and poor consistency fromplay to play.
The Dolphins play multiple fronts defensively, sometimes deploying three, four or five players (defensive tackles and edge rushers) at the line of scrimmage.
Some defensive play calls saw different players at the edge, which led to some confusion for Miami’s edge rushers, Boyer acknowledged.
There were also times Dolphins players were outnumbered near the hashmarks, where the Patriots had one or two tight ends next to five offensive linemen, and Miami had four or five players at the line with two linebackers about 4 or 5 yards behind.
“Fundamentally, a lot of things we line up in, we were pretty sound,” Boyer said. “There could be some movement things on some things, or there could be some execution on some things. As far as that goes, I think everything is correctable from a week ago. We’re all working hard to get that done.”
Boyer and the Dolphins defense must work quickly to correct their mistakes with the Bills coming to town.
Allen, the third-year Bills quarterback, ran the football 14 times for 57 yards and a rushing touchdown, while also completing 33-of-46 passes for 312 yards and two passing touchdowns in a 27-17 win over the New York Jets inWeek1.
Allen has a 3-1 record against the Dolphins in his career, including a sweep of Miami last season.
And Boyer knows Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll willwork to not only expose the Dolphins’ deficiencies from last week, but last season as well in Sunday’s game.
“We’re all going to work hard to make sure thatwe get corrected because it’s going to showup again this week,” Boyer said. “We’re going to see things we struggled with last week show up this week for sure. We’re all putting a lot of time and effort in to make sure that all gets corrected.”