There are two trains of thought when it comes to Vic Fangio’s Miami Dolphins defense. The first is the unit has made significant strides since a poor Week 1, and is beginning to look like the group most expected before the season. The second? They’re good against the bad offenses and bad against the good offenses. The truth? It’s probably somewhere in the middle. But we’ll have a far better feel for the group late Sunday night, after the Dolphins go toe-to-toe with the Philadelphia Eagles for three hours on national television. Encouraging Miami Dolphins Defensive Stats What is not debatable? The Dolphins’ rankings have improved significantly since their Week 1 shootout win over the Chargers. The Dolphins in the opener put the following defensive stats on the box score: 36 points 30 first downs Conversations on 9 of 15 third downs (60%) 433 yards on 76 plays (5.7 per play) 233 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 40 carries (5.8 per carry) 4 tackles for loss 3 sacks 5 quarterback hits After Week 1, they ranked: 29th in EPA per play (.17) 23rd in dropback EPA (.06) 32nd in rush EPA (.30) Now those same stats since Week 1: 120 points (24 per game) 99 first downs (19.8) 25-68 on third downs (36.8%) 322-1629 total offense (5.1 per play) 92-454-4 rushing (4.9 per carry) 30 TFLs (6 per game) 18 sacks (3.6) 50 QB hits (10) Since Week 1, they have ranked: 12th in EPA per play (-.05) 12th in dropback EPA (0.0) 10th in rush EPA (-.12) “I just feel like we’re still constantly improving and working on things and doing our best to get things right and be better each and every week,” said Dolphins defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, who leads the team with nine QB hits and ranks second with 3.5 sacks. “But just urgency, communication, and just understanding what our jobs are. Kind of figuring out and working and understanding how to play together and building that trust because that’s important when you take the field and you want to make sure this guy is going to do his job, or if he does this, then you do that kind of thing. So just building that rapport and that trust amongst each other.” The Dolphins in Week 6 limited the Panthers’ offense to 14 points and 296 yards, prompting Mike McDaniel to say: “There were really the most splashes of good team defense, which we’re building on a week that I thought we had our best game with that the week previous. I think our team defense is coming together like we had hoped.” Context for Miami Dolphins’ Improved Defensive Stats Here’s the thing about the Dolphins beating up on the Panthers’ offense: Basically everyone has this year. The Panthers on the season rank 26th in EPA (-.12), 30th in yards per play (4.2), and 23rd in scoring (18.7). But Carolina is downright explosive compared to the Patriots — who are 32nd in EPA (-.23), 29th in YPP (4.7), 31st in points (12.0) — and the Giants — 31st in EPA (-.19), 32nd in YPP (4.1), 32nd in points (11.8). Those two opponents have also helped right the ship. Here’s the problem: The Eagles are not the Giants, Patriots, or even the Panthers. They have Jalen Hurts (2022 MVP runner up), D’Andre Swift (NFC’s No. 3 rusher with 452 yards and two touchdowns on 86 carries). A.J. Brown (NFC’s No. 1 receiver, 42-672-2), and the league’s No. 1 offensive line, per PFN’s latest rankings. It’ll be a stiff test for a defense that failed those tests the previous two times they’ve taken them this season. The Dolphins gave up a combined 82 points and 847 yards to the Chargers and Bills — the only elite offenses so far on their schedule. The Chargers rank seventh in EPA (.05), eighth in yards per play (5.6), and seventh in points (25.4). The Bills rank third in EPA (.16), second in yards per play (6.0), and third in points (28.8). As for the Eagles? Eighth in EPA (.05), ninth in yards per play (5.5), and fifth in points (23.7). Things are about to get real, once again. “The Philadelphia Eagles are one of the best teams in the National Football League,” McDaniel added. “When you are trying to be your very best, you want to play the best. So I know all of our guys will be excited for that.”
I liked seeing wilkins come to life on Sunday. But overall no the defence has not done much. We need to remember that we have not beaten A SINGLE GOOD FOOTBALL TEAM Broncoes 1-5 Pats. 1-5 Chargers 2-3 Giants 1-5 Panthers 0-6 The one good team we have faced this season spanked the crap out of us. Until we beat a top team and our defence answers the bell... No the defence is not coming together.
The defence looks improved because of 2 things imho, we have played some really poor offences and we have forced those poor offences to become one dimensional due to big leads. If we can get up 2 scores and force the other team to pass then that's when the defence becomes good as Fangio will only give you the underneath stuff and the pass rush can forget about run defence assignments and just go after the QB and we can blitz Baker which he is good at. When the run is still available and the LB's have to make decisions then the defence looks poor as they often pick the wrong gaps to fill or are late with their coverage assignments.
I think David Long i starting to find his way. I think we lack the communicator for this defense as noone is familiar with Fangios scheme Lots of guys standing around looking for things to do and where to be. Jalen will help that tremendously im sure. Wilkins and sieler coming on strong
I saw today that our defense is 11th overall? I wouldn't have guessed that. If that's true we have a shot at ending the year with the #1 offense and a top-10 defense once Ramsey returns.
No we're #26 in points allowed per game which is the most important metric. Yards don't matter as much but we're #20 there too. We just need to end up average-ish on defense by the end of the year, and if we're still producing like we are now on offense we're a SB contender.
The conversion to Fangio's defense wasn't going to yield immediate top ten results, even if everyone was healthy. Its a big shift, and he doesn't have all of the parts that he needs yet either way. With Ramsey going down, Needham being slow to recover from last season's injury, and Phillips missing a lot of time, they've been down three big players. Rookie Smith has also been apparently been extremely slow to round into form. Hopefully, all four of them will be ready to contribute at a high level after the break, and the secondary will be vastly better than what they looked like early during the second half of the season. And with experience and coaching, hopefully the run defense and pass rush hold their own against most opponents as well. Barring signifigant injuries, I expect the defense to probably be around the 10-15 range from Game 10-17.
No it’s not getting getting better. We’re playing scrub offensives and we can’t stuff them for the most part. Eagles are goi g to be a big game for this team and sadly I don’t think we match up. Their offense especially Hurts is going to run all over us.
Look at our schedule after the break. Vegas, the Jets twice, Washington, Tennessee, Baltimore, and the struggling Cowboys before we host Buffalo in Week 18. With the reinforcements and expected improvement, I think the Fins can handle all of those through Week 17 without even needing the high powered offense to score 30 points.
Jets in New York will be a tough game, their front 4 can get pressure on their own. Baltimore away is another tough game and it will be in December. If we can go 6-2 through those games we should be in a great position and I kinda expect them to.
I agree with you. We're in position now where, barring injury, going 6-3 before the bye is the minimum end result, and something like 6-2 after, to get us to 12 wins. And that's figuring in losses to Philly, KC and two of the harder opponents later on. 12-5 should be the base level if we're healthy. Take one of the next big ones, and the opprotunity is there to go higher.
I know the Eagles coaching staff has changed since last season but I'm surprised virtually nobody has brought up a possible competitive advantage Fangio gives us this week. He was on their staff last season and should know how to game plan against them well. If we signed a player off the Eagles practice squad it would give us hope for some inside knowledge so why wouldn't Fangio's familiarity do the same?
I disagree with you Dorf. I’m not taking anything away from Philadelphia. They are a good team but I don’t think they’re going to run all over us. I’m not saying we’re going to win (but I am certain we can) but I just don’t see this as an a$$ whooping coming our way. This is going to be a much closer game than some may think…32-27. Here’s to the Dolphins on the 32 end of it!
Fangio has been asked that by our writers, and he said that he gave the Eagles a lot more information than he got from them. He was basically a sounding board for then Eagles DC Johnathan Ganon, who's now the Cardinals HC. Current Eagles DC Sean Desai wasn't on the Eagles staff last season, he was with Seattle. Now, Desai does have a relationship with Fangio, having worked for him as a low level assistant while Fangio was the DC for the Bears. But how much is there that Fangio can take and use it against them, I don't know. Desai was the Bears secondary coach under Chuck Pagano, before becoming Chicago's DC for a year.
In an interview I caught online yesterday, Fangio said that if anything, it gives the Eagles an advantage against Miami. That surprised me since I thought it would be the other way around as well. Or maybe it was just coach-speak for the media soundbyte. In any case, I think we play Philly like we play Baltimore. Dial up pressure so he doesn't have time in the pocket. Hurtz is being coached to run less often this year and that's probably a mistake (similar to Tannehill w/ us). He's prone to mistakes and we have to exploit that to get him off his game. On offense, I hope the quick release is enough. If so, this could quickly turn into a blowout (not expecting that).
I think it’s getting better I think wikins Sieler and Long are getting better I hope Phillips is healed and ready to be a monster cause we all were expecting g that and haven’t got it and man has that hurt I don’t know who or how we stop AJ brown The defense needs Ramseys physalis presence and communication skills
Phillips was a full participant at practice on Thursday, so he should be good to go for Sunday, hopefully. Gotta bring the heat on Hurts, preferably with just 4.
I think the defense played well especially upfront against a great run team and O line with 0 penalties called. Held Swift to 4 yards per carry and sacked hurts while being constantly held. I just hope when Ramsey gets back he can play half as good as he talks.
I was actually very encouraged by the defensive performance. The front were able to put pressure on Hurts and they held the running game in check (which was the 2nd best in the league). That's probably the best OL they will face all year, who held a lot, yet they still managed to get pressure. You would expect against other teams with different officials that there would be 1 or 2 holding calls. There will also be addition by subtraction when Eli Apple is taken out of the starting line-up as he's a liability who couldn't even cover a TE who ran away from him on a crossing route. At some point Fangio is going to have to throw Cam Smith in if Ramsey and X don't get healthy soon as both Apple and Kohou cannot start on the outside. Both Long and Baker looked like they were finally starting to understand their roles better as well. Long was actually looking like the LB we thought we were signing during the off season. There was a lot to like about the defensive performance and this is coming from someone who thought they wouldn't figure it out this year.
Defense showed some flashes. Chubb had one of his better games as a dolphin. Phillips was flashing greatness. I think it really hurt losing Long as he was flying around. But then I look at the score and realize we still gave up 31 points
yes, that is odd. It seemed each player had a good play or two, but somehow as a unit they didn't perform well.
I think with Needham, Ramsey and Howard on the field, we have a good chance of beating KC. We’ll see who gets the green light this week against NE.
