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A trio of Dolphins talking points to kickstart your Monday:
1. Dolphins finally realize: Pass-first is the way to go.
When Tony Sparano and Bill Parcells arrived in Miami four years ago, they made no secret of the fact that they wanted a big, tough, physical football team that could run the football.
This year, with Parcells gone and Sparano fighting to save his job, Sparano vowed that his offense would become more aggressive and try to move the ball more through the air.
But it took Sparano eight games to truly buy into that philosophy. And the result, coincidence or not, was a 31-3 thrashing of the Chiefs.
The Dolphins ran 18 plays in the first half, and 15 of them were pass plays (one turned into a scramble by Matt Moore). Reggie Bush, meanwhile, had three carries for nine yards. Daniel Thomas didn’t even touch the ball in the half.
“Early in the game, our thought was that we had to be the aggressor on offense, we had to throw it,” Sparano said afterward.
And it worked. Moore completed 11-of-14 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns as the Dolphins jumped out to a 14-3 lead. They also had five plays of 20-plus yards in the first half.
The run-pass balance evened out in the second half as the Dolphins protected their lead, with the Dolphins calling 27 passes and just 20 runs. (Yes, the Dolphins scored 31 points on just 47 offensive plays, an average of .66 points per play.)
And the Dolphins may not have completely re-shaped their identity as a pass-first team. Even after Sunday’s game, the Dolphins rank just 26th in passing attempts per game (31.2) and 16th in rushing attempts per game (26.8).
But it’s good to see that Sparano and the Dolphins have realized – at least for one day – that the NFL is now a passing league.
2. Miami’s inside linebackers aren’t so bad, after all.
Karlos Dansby and Kevin Burnett took a lot of flak during the first two months of the season for their subpar play. They missed tackles, got burned in coverage, didn’t make any impact plays and had fans wondering why the Dolphins gave them $22 million (Dansby) and $10 million (Burnett) in guaranteed money.
But the two have quietly stepped up their play in recent weeks, and were phenomenal in Sunday’s win.
Burnett, the free agent signee from San Diego who replaced Channing Crowder in the lineup, led the Dolphins in tackles for the second straight week with 12. He also had 1.5 sacks (his first of the season), three tackles for loss and two quarterback hits.
“Just because it didn’t show up in the stat sheet doesn’t mean I wasn’t playing well,” Burnett said.
Fair enough. But it’s a lot easier to talk about Burnett’s good play when it does show up in the stat sheet.
Dansby, meanwhile, finally looks completely healthy from a nagging groin injury. He was second with 11 tackles – two for loss – and a forced fumble.
Burnett, now in his seventh NFL season, said the losing and inconsistent play this year have taught him valuable life lessons.
“”This (season) is really teaching me to be more grateful when you win games, and it’s really teaching me to stay in the moment,” he said.
3. Give props to the pass rush, as well.
Through the Dolphins’ first five games, their entire defensive line combined for zero sacks. Yes, you read that right – zero sacks. And the linebackers weren’t doing much better.
Three games later, that problem has definitely been fixed.
The Dolphins sacked Tim Tebow six times and hit him another nine. The Dolphins only sacked Eli Manning once, but hit him seven times.
And Sunday, they made life miserable for Matt Cassel, sacking him five times and hitting him another nine. Tony McDaniel and Tyrone Culver picked up their first sacks of the season (and first sack of Culver’s career), while Jared Odrick had a sack, Cameron Wake had half a sack, and Jason Taylor hit the quarterback twice. The Dolphins also had nine tackles for loss.
“You can definitely say that those guys put the game on their backs, because Cassel was constantly running for his life,” cornerback Sean Smith said.
It’s funny how much better the rest of the defense looks when the Dolphins get consistent pressure on the quarterback.