Dissecting Most Crucial Matchups in Miami Dolphins Week 9 Matchup with San Diego

Thanks to a successful two-game road trip, Sunday's game between the Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers has heavy playoff stakes. 

It feels great to write that and even better to know that the matchup is in Miami, where the Chargers haven't won since 1982's classic "Epic in Miami." 

Even better news for the Dolphins is it's a 1 p.m. game on the East Coast, an advantage for the Dolphins as the body clock for the Chargers players will be set to 10 a.m. Add in the heat and humidity (which won't be as suffocating as usual but still a slight factor) and the Dolphins will have home-field advantage in the truest sense of the word. 

Both teams have three losses on the season, with Miami having only four wins due to their Week 5 bye week, while San Diego hasn't had their bye week yet. While the Chargers are a half-game ahead of Miami, a victory by the Dolphins would swing the pendulum greatly in Miami's favor, as it would push their record vs. the AFC to 4-2, while the Chargers' record vs. the AFC will fall to 4-3. 

However, in order for the team to win, the players must win their individual matchups. Here are five of the most important matchups of Sunday's game between Miami and San Diego.

Brent Grimes vs. Keenan Allen

Joel Auerbach/Getty Images

Last season when these two teams battled each other, Brent Grimes was the hero of the afternoon, intercepting a pass intended for Vincent Brown in the end zone to seal the Dolphins' 20-16 victory.

Miami hopes that they won't need Grimes to be so heroic again on Sunday, and one way to ensure that would be for Grimes to shut down second-year wide receiver Keenan Allen.

Allen won't be the only receiver on the Chargers who will see Grimes this Sunday, as Grimes will likely also spend some time on Eddie Royal and Malcom Floyd, but he'll be on Allen the most.

Allen is coming off a great rookie season where he caught 71 passes for 1,046 yards and eight touchdowns, but his sophomore effort has been a bit lacking at times, catching 43 passes for 427 yards and one touchdown.

He's still a threat, despite his rather pedestrian numbers, and if anyone would know about bouncing back after struggling this season, it would be Grimes.

Grimes' start to the season was not what he would've wanted it to be; however, in his last two games he has bounced back, including a pick-six last week against Jacksonville.

This will be Grimes' biggest test since Chicago (which he passed with flying colors), and the Chargers passing game as a whole will be Miami's secondary's biggest challenge since Green Bay. Success in stopping San Diego's offense will result in success for Miami.

Cameron Wake vs. D.J. Fluker

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

In last season's Chargers vs. Dolphins matchup, Cameron Wake ate against rookie D.J. Fluker. 

Wake only recorded one sack and two tackles for loss, but he had rented plenty of space in Philip Rivers' pocket and helped to open up the flood gates for Olivier Vernon and Jared Odrick, who also recorded sacks. 

Fluker has improved since last season, a season where Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded him out at minus-11.8 with seven sacks allowed. 

This season he grades out at minus-2.6 with three sacks allowed, per PFF. There's growth but not much. 

As for Wake, he's still the beast he was last season, as he currently has 5.5 sacks, not to mention the success he has in getting other players sacks due to his pressure and the attention that he commands. 

This was a fun matchup to watch last season, and it will be just as fun to see this year.

Dion Jordan (or Chris McCain) vs. Antonio Gates

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

I'm not quite sure who will cover Antonio Gates on Sunday. 

It should be Dion Jordan. Miami's pretty stacked with pass-rushers, but Jordan offers the athleticism and skill needed to keep up with one of the best tight ends of all time. We all saw last season how well Jordan matched up against Rob Gronkowski, and we all know Miami's problems against elite tight ends. 

Gates, like Gronk, is an elite tight end, and deserves the attention of having Dion Jordan cover him for part of the game. 

But Chris McCain is no slouch either and could fill in this role. McCain creates results when he's on the field and could create a positive result while covering Gates. 

I just know of one player whom I would not want covering Gates under any circumstances on Sunday. That player of course is Philip Wheeler, who last season was abused by Gates, who caught his lone touchdown of the game against Wheeler.

Branden Albert vs. Corey Liuget

Peter Aiken/Getty Images

Here we have two players who should be very familiar with one another. 

While Branden Albert was Kansas City's blindside protector, he sparred with Chargers right defensive end Corey Liuget four times (the other two games were missed via an injury to at least one of the two players). 

In the head-to-head matchups, Liuget was able to record a sack on Albert in three of their matchups, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), with those three matchups being the three most recent ones. 

This season they face off for a fifth time, and for Liuget it will be a much tougher challenge than what he had last season against Bryant McKinnie.

In that game, Liuget didn't record a sack but was constantly in the pocket. He got a hit on Tannehill in the second quarter of that game that resulted in a roughing-the-passer penalty, which wiped out what would've been a key San Diego turnover as they were up 7-3 on the Dolphins. Miami would score a touchdown only two plays later. 

This week, Liuget should not have such an easy path to Tannehill to even think about any roughing-the-passer penalty in order for Miami's offense to flourish.

Branden Oliver vs. Jelani Jenkins

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

If you play fantasy football, then by now you know all about the speedy and shifty Branden Oliver, the undrafted free-agent rookie out of Buffalo who has drawn comparisons to former Charger Darren Sproles while either sinking your team or raising it to victory in the past this season. 

If you don't play fantasy football, allow me to introduce you to a man who will likely give Miami one of its toughest issues in the backfield this season. 

Oliver has so far run for 352 yards and two touchdowns on 85 attempts and has done more damage as a backfield receiver catching 21 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown. Remember the issues Miami had with Denard Robinson? The same thing applies to Oliver. 

Oliver should be picked up by Jelani Jenkins, who started off slowly against Robinson but came on strong as the game went longer. Jenkins has shown that he can cover backs out of the backfield on passing plays well this season and can prevent the big play (which Oliver is more than capable of) as well. 

This matchup is one to watch, as San Diego's run game isn't very good (it's ranked 30th in rushing), but Oliver "can eat" against Miami's linebackers.

Statistics provided by NFL.com and Pro-Football-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. 

Follow @thomasgalicia