Miami Dolphins: 5 Things We Learned After Week 4
What a difference a week makes for the Miami Dolphins. Maybe they should’ve considered benching their starters in the blowout in week 3 to rest for their matchup against their division rivals the week after. With that being said we’ve got some concerns for the Dolphins after this:
Defense Wins Championships
Vic Fangio has the Miami Dolphins looking better, but not enough to get excited over. True, Miami is missing star players like Jaelen Phillips and Jalen Ramsay, but injuries happen and adjustments should be made. The rushing defense isn’t clicking yet and Buffalo still passed all over them. There were a few great stops but those seemed to come as Buffalo took their foot off the gas. In order to make a deep playoff run, this team needs to find some explosiveness on defense.
Diggs Needs More Attention
Stefon Diggs made sure the Miami Dolphins kept their losing streak in Buffalo. Miami had no answer and to his credit, Kader Kohou did his best. No disrespect to that young man, but there’s no way he should’ve been one-on-one with one of the top 5 WRs in the league after getting beat so badly. At some point, someone should’ve made an adjustment and found a way to double him up. Miami needs to find a way to keep him from controlling the game.
More Miami Dolphins: What We Learned After Week 3
De’Von Achane May Be Legit
Achane again rushed for over 100 yards and two touchdowns on just 8 carries, against one of the top defenses in the league. His counterpart, Raheem Mostert, rushed 7 times for nine yards by comparison. That gives him 6 touchdowns total and over 300 yards in just 3 games. Now as Jeff Wilson Jr gets healthy and Raheem Mostert is given a carry his productivity might get caught. Still, he’s making a strong case to be their featured back.
Terron Armstead Needs To Be Healthy
What a difference once Armstead went down. The rushing lanes were much smaller late in the game and Tua had fits getting the ball out without taking a sack or sailing it over his receiver’s head. Buffalo might be one of the league’s top defenses, so it may look worse than it was, but at the end of the day, teams will look to this game as a blueprint for rattling the Miami Dolphins QB.
Waddle & Hill Disappear In Division Play
No one in the NFL is expected to go out and have over 100 yards every game. While the average may hover around 75 yards per game for the top receivers, the performance of these two is well below that to the tune of less than 60 yards. Division rivals always have more experience defending star players, but if Diggs can go off like that in Miami, why can’t Hill or Waddle? The chances of their rivals being on their path to the Super Bowl via the playoffs are high. They’ll need to find a way to get these two more involved in games that matter more.
The Miami Dolphins aren’t out of it yet, but week 4 had them come crashing back down to Earth.
Rick ODonnell aka Caveman Rick has many years covering the Miami Dolphins, Sports, and all sorts of movies and television.
