Dolphins Defense Needs Improvement to Earn Elite Distinction

Coming off a masterful performance against the Buffalo Bills in Week 11, the Miami Dolphins had two more full days to prepare for their next opponent than a traditional week would allow.

The Thursday-night victory was crucial, as the Dolphins’ playoff chances would have nearly dissipated had they lost to the Bills for the second time.

When Miami held the Bills to just 237 total yards and nine points, the Dolphins deserved to be praised for getting the proverbial monkey off their back. The victory was spurred by a solid performance by the entire team, but the defense was swarming throughout the game and allowed a comfortable victory.

With the confidence created from the streak-snapping win, Miami’s defense should’ve entered the team's Week 12 battle versus the Denver Broncos focused and motivated. That’s far from what transpired in Mile High on Sunday, where the Dolphins allowed 39 points and 450 total yards of offense.

Of course, the Dolphins were playing Peyton Manning and his very talented surrounding cast, so points and yards were bound to happen.

Allowing the Broncos to dominate the game in the trenches and be in scoring position for all but one drive is embarrassing for a defense that was just crowned as the NFL’s best by Andy Benoit of the MMQB.

Plays	Yards	Result	Possession Time
12	53	FG	7:12
3	6	Punt	1:35
11	77	TD	5:45
8	80	TD	1:42
13	65	Missed FG	6:54
9	60	TD	3:02
11	70	TD	6:16
2	8	TD	:17
4	26	End of Game	1:34

Just one week ago, the Broncos offense was feeling the effects of a decline in Manning’s play. The St. Louis Rams defeated the Broncos because they got pressure in his face and challenged Manning’s arm strength by giving him tight passing windows.

The result was surprising because of how the Rams have fared this season, but the process of how they limited the Broncos to seven points was reproducible for a defense with similar talent.

By stopping the running game, the Rams forced Manning to throw 54 times. Although he racked up 389 yards, he forced two interceptions and was sacked twice. The offense lost balance and the defense pinned its ears back, giving the Rams control of the game.

The Dolphins’ defensive unit was unable to even sniff that type of success, as Manning had an efficient but good enough game. He was 28-of-35 for 257 yards and four easy touchdowns. He was sacked once, but only because he tripped over himself.

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

Worse yet for the Dolphins defense, rookie running back C.J. Anderson ran rampant up the gut all day for 167 yards on 27 carries. His average of 6.2 yards per carry wasn’t inflated by numerous long runs. Rather, it accurately reflects the beating the Dolphins’ front seven took all game long.

Seeing defensive tackles Earl Mitchell, Jared Odrick and Randy Starks shoved off the line of scrimmage and pushed downfield was simply stunning. The rotation has been a major strong point of the defense, allowing the linebackers to crash on run plays and quickly suffocate those efforts.

On Sunday, Denver was by far the better team in the trenches while on offense.

Miami’s lack of a pass rush was somewhat to be expected because of how quickly Manning gets rid of the ball, but on deeper throws, Manning never saw pressure.

Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon have been terrific this season, accounting for 14 sacks and 47 quarterback hurries, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). However, the duo had little to no impact on Sunday, and the defense couldn’t compensate.

Without gap integrity or penetration from the defensive line, the linebackers were unable to find clear lanes to attack Anderson before he breezed past them for significant gains.

Even Jelani Jenkins, who has been a major breakout performer for the Dolphins this season, struggled mightily to clean up plays from his weak-side alignment.

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press/Associated Press

Behind the poor play of the front seven was a secondary that utterly failed to be in position several times.

On the Broncos’ touchdown drive before halftime, second-year cornerback Jamar Taylor got too aggressive on a double move. He tried to jump Emmanuel Sanders’ cut inside, which allowed Sanders to explode past him for a 35-yard gain.

The mistake was understandable, as the Dolphins often line up eight yards off the receiver so they can try to jump underneath routes, but it was costly and ill-timed. The Broncos converted the 3rd-and-20, putting them in position for a much-needed touchdown before the half.

Taylor later left the game with a “serious” shoulder injury, as reported by Omar Kelly of the Sun-Sentinel.

Miami’s nickel cornerback, Jimmy Wilson, had a memorable game—but not for good reasons. He was called for two penalties that gave the Broncos a total of 24 yards and two first downs, and was out of position in coverage a few times.

Wilson has generally been a reliable slot corner for Miami, but his play was not up to par Sunday.

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press/Associated Press

Even Brent Grimes wasn’t his normal self. The star of Miami’s secondary was burned deep twice, although both passes were poorly thrown by Manning. Grimes was responsible for Demaryius Thomas’ third touchdown reception of the game, offering next to no challenge on the play.

Worse yet was the play of Miami safety Reshad Jones. Jones has been tremendous since returning from his suspension earlier in the year, but he will have a rough day in the film room when the team reconvenes this week.

On Manning’s second touchdown pass to Thomas, Jones did not read Thomas’ route correctly, giving Manning an easy pass over the top to an open receiver.

The lack of impact by both Jones and Louis Delmas cannot continue as the season progresses. Miami utilizes the duo as mirror players, meaning they’re interchangeable in roles because of their skill sets.

On some plays, Jones will stay up high and protect against deep passes. On other plays, Delmas will fulfill that role and Jones will act as another linebacker. This strategy was completely ineffective against the Broncos, as neither was in position or close enough to the ball to affect the play’s outcome.

Each layer of the Dolphins defense put forth a bad performance against the Broncos, which ruined a stellar offensive performance by Miami.

Denver deserves a lot of credit for their execution against Miami, but for a defense that wants to be considered elite, it needs to step up in pressure situations more effectively.

Miami’s defense has had opportunities to close out three games in the last seven weeks, but Week 12 once again showed the unit isn’t where it needs to be for a Super Bowl contender.

Its collapses against the Packers and Lions were gut-wrenching, but foretold that the Broncos would be able to storm back and score when they really needed it most.

The uncharacteristic play by individuals like Wake, Grimes and Jones aren’t likely to continue, as each has been excellent this year in their own right. But Miami cannot afford to have their entire defense outworked, out-hustled and outplayed, and expect to win games.

With five games left in the season, the Dolphins defense is the unit that must learn to play in crunch time more effectively or it will doom Miami to another year without the playoffs.

It’s time to help the offense and be the dependable unit that a playoff-worthy team should expect to have.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats used are from Sports-Reference.com.

Ian Wharton is a Miami Dolphins Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report, contributor for Optimum Scouting, and analyst for eDraft.

Follow @NFLFilmStudy