What Should Miami Dolphins Expect from New Defensive Coordinator Lou Anarumo?

Now that Lou Anarumo has been named defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins, the question is: What can he do to help the team turn its defense—and its season—around?

Make no mistake; one man cannot be asked to carry the entire team to victory, but in firing Kevin Coyle as the defensive coordinator, interim head coach Dan Campbell made a statement that something has to change.

The only problem for Anarumo is that there's only so much he can change in such a short period of time. 

"They've mentioned a few things but honestly this deep in to the season you can only do so much different," defensive end Derrick Shelby said, according to Andrew Abramson of the Palm Beach Post. "We're still going to do some of the things we're doing but maybe just a few little tweaks here and there. Still doing over-under defense, things like that."

2015	Dolphins	NFL rank
Points	101	20
Yards	1598	29
Pass yards	956	15
Yards/attempt	7.9	28
Passer rating	95.8	20
Sacks	1	32
Rush yards	642	28
Yards/rush	4.4	22
Third down %	42.1	27
Red zone %	60	21

Those words might travel through the ears of some Dolphins fans like a baby leaving the womb—slowly and painfully—but no one could have expected the coaches to completely change course 25 percent of the way through the season. 

This is a team that's been surrounded in controversy over its use of a two-gap scheme on the defensive line—controversy which Anarumo says is unfounded: "We do not play two-gap here. We haven't played two-gap here since I got here four years ago," he said at his introductory press conference.

In a two-gap defense, a defensive linemen must control the man in front of him and is responsible for the gaps on either side of that man. On a closer look at the tape, the Dolphins haven't been two-gapping as much as some people might think. They're not necessarily two-gapping, either; they appear to just be having a hard time shedding blocks. 

In that respect, the Dolphins defensive linemen need to get back to the nature of the one-gap system, where the linemen are asked to play aggressive, get off the ball, shed those blocks, make plays in the backfield and make life torturous for the opposing offense.  

With that in mind, there are some minor tweaks Anarumo can make, but it's going to take a collective effort from both the coaches (in the form of those tweaks) and players (in the form of improved execution).

"I think it is kind of a combination of both," Anarumo said. "The good news for us is that we are on a bye week, so we are getting into looking into everything that we are doing and communicating with the guys. I think it would be a combination of both, to answer your question."

The good news is, the players should be fired up. If watching their head coach get fired isn't enough motivation, nothing will be. And according to Jeff Darlington of NFL Media, Campbell and Anarumo might be just the right men for the job.

In order for Anarumo's changes to have an effect, he needs to view things from not just a macro level but a micro level as well.

The most important player to really get going is defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Suh hasn't been the only reason the Dolphins have struggled, and he may not even be playing as poorly as the media narrative indicates. He hasn't yet tallied a sack, but according to Pro Football Focus, he had five pressures (four hurries, one hit) of New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in Week 5. He also had three tackles, two of which were assists.

So, clearly, Suh is capable of making plays. Anarumo just has to find out how to help him make more down the stretch than he did in the beginning of the season. But there's no magic wand he can wave that will fix the Dolphins' problems on defense. 

At some point, the players just have to step up on their own.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release.