SCOUTING REPORT
☛ When the Steelers have the ball
Former Steelers pass rusher Melvin Ingram moved to Miami this offseason, and he’s been fairly productive with two sacks, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries, including a scoop andtouchdown. But Jaelan Phillips is a force getting after the quarterback in his own right, while defensive tackle Christian Wilkins makes his presence felt up front with five tackles for loss against the run (tied for secondmost). Zach Sieler also is one of the more underrated defensive linemen in football. On the back end, Xavien Howard has long been one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks, but he hasn’t been playing like it this year. Jevon Holland is always looking to make a big hit at safety.
☛ When the Dolphins have the ball
Tua Tagovailoa is playing point guard with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle on the wings, and Mike Gesicki in the post. Their revamped rushing game ranks third-to-last in the NFL despite adding Raheem Mostert and Chase Edmonds this offseason, but Tagovailoa is excelling with the use of play-action in new coach Mike McDaniel’s offense. Much like San Francisco, where McDaniel studied under Kyle Shanahan, you’ll see a living, breathing fullback getting meaningful snaps in Alec Ingold. The offensive line continues to be a work in progress, with 15 sacks allowed, and is dealing with injuries. In the red zone, the Dolphins make it count, scoring a touchdown 70.6% of the time (fourth-best in the league). But will Tagovailoa be rusty after missing the past two games?
☛ Matchup to watch
Steelers S Terrell Edmunds vs. Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill
Edmunds is coming off perhaps the best game of his career against Tampa Bay. He was covering — not targeted once by Tom Brady — and making plays on the ball — 10 stops without a missed tackle. Now he’ll get plenty of chances to do that again and then some this week as Miami presents the challenge
The Steelers are on the road for their second prime-time game of the season, this against the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. After watching our Fan Advantage video earlier this week, here’s the rest of what you need to know. of slowing down arguably the best pound-for-pound athlete in all of football.
Generously listed at 5-foot-10, and now in his age28 season, Hill is still as shifty as ever. If his straight-ahead speed isn’t tops among NFL wideouts, his elusiveness probably is. There’s a reason why he leads the league with 701 receiving yards and why the Dolphins have targeted him 65 times, behind only Rams star Cooper Kupp in the NFL. Hill has 258 of those yards after the reception, and his nine forced missed tackles are tied for third-most in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. Talk about needing to tackle the catch.
But Hill is also capable of
beating a defense deep, which is where safety help comes in. Edmunds might find himself matched up 1-on-1 at times, too, something the Browns took advantage of in Week 3 with No. 1 wideout Amari Cooper. Will Edmunds be the inconsistent coverage player he was his first three seasons and in Cleveland — the first-round pick for whom the Steelers declined to pick up his fifth-year option — or the reliable safety who held things together against the Buccaneers?
“I’ll tell you what, T.E. played really well last week,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “He triggered, he did a lot of really good things, and that was good because he was the veteran out there. He was a guy that’s played a lot of football for us. I thought he did a good job leading the way for us in the back end.”