Making the Case for Jarvis Landry, Miami Dolphins Offense in Week 11

The 5-4 Miami Dolphins have the very definition of a must-win game on Thursday night as they host the 5-4 Buffalo Bills (8:25 p.m., NFLN). 

In order to beat the Bills it is paramount that the Dolphins offense produces, for that has been the unit that has failed Miami in their last three games against the Bills, all Miami losses. 

The Dolphins are currently 11th in scoring offense in the NFL; however, against the Bills the last two seasons, they have scored an average of 10.3 points per game while gaining an average of 228.7 yards per game. 

In other words, Buffalo's defense has dominated the Miami offense in a way that no other team has over the last two seasons. 

This troubling trend will have to end Thursday night in order to beat the Bills, a game Miami must win to have a shot at the postseason and to take away Buffalo's current head-to-head advantage over the Dolphins. 

The way to do that would be to utilize a player who was at LSU last season and only played 44 snaps in their Week 2 matchup: Jarvis Landry. 

Landry provides quarterback Ryan Tannehill and Miami's offense with options in the intermediate passing game and can help out with deep passes. We haven't seen a Tannehill-to-Landry deep-ball connection, but that's because it hasn't been attempted all season. 

The two did connect deep during training camp on occasion, but it is an underutilized weapon that deserves some exploring. 

Thursday night—with Bills cornerback Leodis McKelvin likely covering Landry—would be the right time to break that weapon out. 

Why McKelvin? Other than the fact that McKelvin will likely cover Landry the most on Thursday, there's the fact that he has struggled throughout the season.

Thus far, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), McKelvin is ranked 60th in coverage, being targeted 59 times and allowing 40 receptions for 518 yards (174 after the catch) and two touchdowns. 

If Tannehill is accurate with his passes and Landry is crisp with his routes, this is a matchup that should be exploitable. 

Photo courtesy of NFL Game Rewind, Artwork by Thomas Galicia

One reason why you don't see Landry go deep with the Dolphins is due to the presence of Mike Wallace. Wallace is usually Miami's deep threat. However, despite a great play in Jacksonville, he's still having trouble in that department with Tannehill. 

Landry isn't the speed demon that Wallace is, but he's a much more precise route-runner, which would make throwing to him deep an easier proposition. This way, instead of Tannehill just throwing it deep the way he does to Wallace (attempting to lead him like he did when he overthrew Wallace by two feet against Detroit), he could throw to a spot deep behind the corners and safeties and, more likely than not, Landry will be there. 

Landry also has the hands to haul in any kind of pass, whether it's short, intermediate (which is the usual route he runs) or deep. Per Pro Football Focus, in 48 targets this season, Landry only has two drops to go with his 37 receptions. 

Game	Targets	Receptions	Yards	Touchdowns	YAC	Drops
Week 1 vs. New England	1	0	0	0	0	1
Week 2 at Buffalo	6	5	49	0	37	0
Week 3 vs. Kansas City	7	3	24	0	17	1
Week 4 at Oakland	4	4	38	0	31	0
Week 6 vs. Green Bay	7	6	75	1	37	0
Week 7 at Chicago	5	4	46	0	34	0
Week 8 at Jacksonville	3	3	23	0	19	0
Week 9 vs. San Diego	6	5	46	1	46	0
Week 10 at Detroit	9	7	57	0	25	0
Totals	48	37	358	2	246	2

Landry's best asset is his yards after the catch, which is another reason why he should be used deep. 

He's currently 26th in the league in that category (ahead of T.Y. Hilton, Anquan Boldin and Sammy Watkins) and leads all rookies with 232 yards after the catch. 

Yards after the catch are what the Dolphins will need on Thursday to open up the offense, and because of that Landry should be a focal point. He provides the skills that Miami's offense need to bump them into the next level (as we have seen through his play the last five weeks) and brings more consistency to the table than the rest of Miami's receivers. 

He's not the biggest receiver, nor is he the speediest. What he is for the Dolphins is their surest thing, and their best chance to get a good pass offense going against the Bills. 

He just needs to be the primary target. 

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

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