This reads like a write-up in an old Street & Smith or Athlon's NFL yearbook. Has me geeked out for the upcoming season. (BTW: Click the link so we can get more content.) https://www.nfl.com/news/with-miami...-dolphins-live-up-to-hype-plus-garrett-wilson Is the summer of 2023 ring season in South Florida? With the Miami Heat and Florida Panthers simultaneously vying for championships in the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, respectively, Miami is currently the sports capital of America -- a development only furthered by international soccer icon Lionel Messi shockingly joining MLS club Inter Miami CF. And although we're about a month and a half away from training camp, the hype is rapidly building for the city's NFL team. Football fans inside and outside of Miami are buzzing over the Dolphins' prospects as a dark-horse title contender, given their spectacular offensive firepower and a talented defense that's now led by one of the game's best minds. The AFC looks absolutely loaded heading into the 2023 season, but the Fins have an undeniable sex appeal as a potential breakthrough team. Given Miami's success in Mike McDaniel's debut season -- when the Dolphins went 9-8 and made their first playoff appearance in six years -- it is easy to see why this team has received so much offseason juice. In a league where offense sells, the Dolphins have assembled an Olympic-level relay team on the perimeter with the explosiveness to run circles around any defense. At wide receiver, Miami boasts the devastating duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, who just combined for 3,066 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns, terrorizing opposing defenses on an assortment of vertical routes and catch-and-run plays. In the backfield, the Fins house Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson and rookie De'Von Achane, all of whom can weave through traffic like sports cars on the Autobahn. And in the wake of Minnesota's release of Dalvin Cook, Miami has been widely considered as a strong potential landing spot for the four-time Pro Bowler. This would obviously take the RB group to a whole other level. Regardless, with big-play potential at every turn, the 2023 Dolphins will be an absolute nightmare to defend -- so long as the trigger man can stay on the field. With Tua Tagovailoa under center, Miami has the perfect pass-first point guard to direct a fast-break offense that overwhelms opponents with speed and tempo. In McDaniel's RPO-based system (a wide-zone rushing scheme with various quick routes packaged into concepts), Tagovailoa plays a simple cat-and-mouse game with a designated defender put in conflict due to the formation, run-action and complementary routes. With defenders forced to pause while reading their run keys as a speedster flies up the field, Miami can routinely produce chunk gains on high-percentage plays. As a result, Tagovailoa finished 2022 as the NFL's leader in passer rating (105.5) and yards per pass attempt (8.9), while also posting a nice 25:8 touchdown-to-interception ratio. All that said, Tua's injury history and durability issues are major concerns for a team that relies heavily on its point guard. If Tagovailoa is unavailable, the Dolphins would be forced to hand the ball to a wild-card gunslinger with a streaky game (Mike White). While Tua has become a polarizing player in the social media world, there's no debating that Miami is a much lesser team without him in the lineup. In regular-season games started by the former No. 5 overall pick last season, Miami went 8-5 and averaged 25.5 points. Without him, the Dolphins went 1-3 and never eclipsed 21 points. Long story short: Miami's offense MUST keep No. 1 upright. Defensively, the Dolphins have created excitement this offseason by trading for cornerback Jalen Ramsey, signing underrated linebacker David Long and spending a second-round pick on CB Cam Smith. However, the unit's biggest addition is new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. The wily defensive architect has a knack for befuddling quarterbacks and stymying offenses with simulated pressures and split-safety schemes. Fangio has found a way to consistently pressure opposing signal-callers with his clever schemes and obsessive attention to detail. As the Dolphins transition away from a blitz-heavy unit under Josh Boyer (and Brian Flores before him), Miami will focus extensively on eliminating big plays (deep passes) and suffocating the ground game. The static two-deep shell frequently shown by the Dolphins will mask various coverages and four-man pressure concepts that will tax offensive players' diagnostic skills and communication ability. From a personnel standpoint, the reunion between Bradley Chubb and Fangio will not only lead to better production from the veteran defender, but it could help third-year pro Jaelan Phillips blossom into a Pro Bowl sack artist. This edge-rushing tandem features complementary games, with Chubb (power) and Phillips (speed/finesse) enhancing each other's skill sets. And with emerging stud Christian Wilkins commanding attention on the interior, the Dolphins could wreak havoc on opposing offensive lines. In the secondary, the addition of Ramsey gives the Dolphins an elite cornerback duo, with Xavien Howard positioned on the opposite side. Though the versatile Ramsey could slide inside to play the star position (nickel corner/safety) at times, the combination of two stellar cover corners on the perimeter will enable Miami to seamlessly shift from man-to-man to zone coverage to diffuse high-powered offenses. Not to mention, undrafted nickelback Kader Kohou might've been the most pleasant surprise on last year's roster. As Fangio experiments with Jevon Holland's role as a Swiss Army Knife in the secondary, the Dolphins' spectacular defensive versatility could pose serious problems, with the veteran defensive play-caller implementing a few wrinkles to keep quarterbacks guessing. If games were played on paper or through a Madden simulator, Miami could be the team to beat. Still, it's hard to dismiss the Dolphins' chances of wrestling the division crown away from the Buffalo Bills and doing some major damage in January. Although the New York Jets have become a trendy AFC East team to watch, as well, the Dolphins have a stacked roster with Super Bowl potential. If Tua stays healthy, Miami's sporting dominance could extend deep into the winter.
two more months of analysts spewing "Tua must stay healthy". broken record. as least Bucky is one of the few that talks about David Long signing.
Next gen metrics has who as a top 3 corner in the whole league? Sauce and Bradberry metrically measured were #2 and #3 care to guess without looking?
The summary that has me geeked is in the final paragraph: "If games were played on paper or through a Madden simulator, Miami could be the team to beat." It's amazing that we're flying under the radar as most pundits' projected 3rd or 4th best team in a stacked division. But there's a reason why they play the games.
I actually like Miami flying under the radar and not on the tip of everyone’s tongues. They’ll all make the tragic mistake of underestimating the Dolphins as they get their a$$e$ whipped! And come playoff time, all of the pundits will have the, “yea but…” analysis of the Dolphins surge to the playoffs. The biggest 2 letter word in the world is “if” but… If the offense plays at the same level they played last season… If Fangio can have our defense in the top 10… The Dolphins are GOING to win the division, especially with Josh Allen being on the cover of Madden this year
It's an exciting offseason. The division matchups will be brutal. I agree that I prefer being under the radar over being expected to dominate when there are still questions. With that being said, I'm glad we're not one of those fanbases that gets overly concerned about perceived disrespect.
Like the article just said, the Florida Panthers...the defending NHL champs...were flying under the radar as a team that didn't belong in the playoffs at all. Did they care? Nope. The 8th seeded Heat were given a 0% chance in the 1st round, a 5% chance in the 2nd round, and a 3% chance in the 3rd round by Vegas. Did they care? Nope. Both went onto the finals. I could care less if Vegas or the talking heads see anything worth talking about in Miami. I could care less that those same talking heads are already declaring the Jets Super Bowl champions. Good for them- their job is to talk, it doesn't matter how stupid they look in hindsight. Maybe the Dolphins don't win it all this season, Philly has built a beast that will be almost impossible to beat the next few years. But our Fins will be deep in the playoffs despite the world saying they have no business there. The scary thing is that the Panthers and Heat didn't belong...the talking heads were right. Neither team had true superstars or pure firepower; they just had ultra-motivated young rosters that played as scrappy as can be. Those teams aren't going anywhere and will only get better. The Fins, however, are loaded from top to bottom with killers who have bought into the McDaniel way. The Dolphins do actually have the talent and they're not going to "fake it until you make it" like our hungry Panthers and Heat. This is Miami's year folks- we even dominated in college basketball. The Fins will be way up coming this fall.
I never listen to those blow hard talking heads. This is a game played by men and if history has shown us anything in this game is anyone and beat anyone on any given Sunday.
