Chris Perkins: Dolphins’ offensive line continues to tempt and tease … in a good way

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — At some point this season we might stop being surprised when the Miami Dolphins’ offensive line, the biggest question mark on the team entering the season, puts together a good performance.

But that element of surprise won’t disappear anytime soon.

We’re still pinching ourselves, thinking there’s no way this is real.

In Sunday’s 24-17 victory over the New England Patriots, the Dolphins’ offensive line cleared the way for running back Raheem Mostert to rush for 121 yards on 18 carries, and for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to stay fairly clean once again, allowing one sack and a mere two quarterback hits. And that’s against a unit that includes pass-rushing linebacker Matthew Judon, the four-time Pro Bowl selection who had 15.5 sacks last season.

In the season-opening 36-34 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, the offensive line didn’t allow a sack against pass-rushing mavens Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack.

It seems too good to be true, even if it’s only two games.

However, the harsh reality is this Dolphins’ offensive line might actually be good.

I didn’t say adequate or acceptable or capable. They might be good.

We all want to believe everything is finally OK with this much-maligned offensive line.

You just can’t fully commit yet.

After all, this is the Dolphins’ offensive line. If you’ve been following this team the past, say, 20 years, you understand the gravity, the danger, the folly of allowing yourself to believe.

You’ve believed in this offensive line before and been hurt.

So now you’re saying you’re not falling for this likely mirage.

At the same time, it’s tough to avoid the allure.

It’s exciting, promising, tempting.

The Dolphins’ starting offensive linemen — center Connor Williams, right guard Robert Hunt, right tackle Austin Jackson, left guard Isaiah Wynn and left tackle Kendall Lamm — know the dilemma. They’re not fazed. They believe.

“I wish more people could actually be at practice and see what we’re really and truly working toward as our standard,” Lamm said.

“From our perspective, when you set a foundation and set a standard, that’s what you want to uphold.”

At the risk of being hurt once again, let’s acknowledge something: there’s a chance this offensive line is good, and there’s a chance general manager Chris Grier figured out how to build an offensive line.

Both of those remain statements of hope more than statements of fact, but they’re possibilities that didn’t exist a few weeks ago.

This Dolphins offensive line has been darn good through two games.

And, yes, I realize it’s only two games.

However, when you consider the offensive line is doing this without its best player, Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead, the only player in the entire unit who has been to a Pro Bowl, this feat becomes much more impressive.

“I wouldn’t say it was without Terron,” wide receiver Tyreek Hill said. “T-Stead has been doing a phenomenal job helping those guys out even though he’s not on the field.

“To the guys that were out on the field, shout out to them working their tail off, taking pride in protecting the quarterback and just understanding if they protect the quarterback big plays are going to happen whether it’s Raheem, (wide receiver Jaylen) Waddle or myself. So those guys are doing a great job up front.”

On that note, look at what the Patriots did and how the offensive line had to adjust.

New England decided it wasn’t going to allow Hill and Waddle to beat it. So the Patriots played a cloud coverage, keeping their safeties deep. Early in the game they bumped Hill at the line of scrimmage when possible.

As a result of the tight coverage, Hill ended with just five receptions for 40 yards, and Waddle only had four receptions for 86 yards, much of that coming on receptions of 32 and 28 yards.

That meant the Dolphins had to find other ways to generate offense, and they did.

They ended with 30 rushes and 30 passes, a balance rarely seen in the brief 20-game era of coach Mike McDaniel.

The offensive linemen speak about firing off the ball, saying that when that happens they accomplish their mission of knocking opponents off the line of scrimmage and blowing open holes.

One thing leads to those outcomes.

“It’s our speed off the ball,” Lamm said.

The offensive line is far from a finished product. And to those who have watched the Dolphins for the past, say, 20 years, well, you know to never consider the offensive line anything above a work in progress.

But perhaps, maybe, possibly this time they’re really on their way to being a solid, reliable unit.

Yeah, Williams still has some snapping issues. There were three bad snaps Sunday, two from the shotgun and one while Tagovailoa was under center. Tagovailoa took the blame just as Williams took the blame for the three bad snaps against the Chargers.

So you can’t yet say this offensive line is good.

But we’re still taking steps down that path.

And if this progress continues for another few weeks, we might finally be able to declare, after all these years of frustration, that the Dolphins have a good offensive line.