Dolphins' ‘little fireball' Raheem Mostert aims to inspire 30-something running backs

MIAMI GARDENS — On the players’ day off the other day, Raheem Mostert drove up to his hometown of New Smyrna Beach to visit his brother. Hanging out at the park where they played as kids, Mostert and his brother were in a reflective mood.

“We just started reminiscing about the time where we both had Ricky Williams’ jersey at one point when we were younger,” Raheem said Thursday.

Raheem has more than memories and that old No. 34 jersey now. He has Williams’ coveted Dolphins rushing touchdown record, having rushed for Nos. 17 and 18 in last weekend’s blowout of the New York Jets.

And he’s not even close to being done.

Thirty-four also happens to be the number of rushing yards Mostert needs for the first 1,000-yard season of his career. He said it would mean “a lot” to him. He hopes it would mean plenty to others, too.

“I keep hearing these chatters about my age and everything like that,” said Mostert, 31. “I mean, obviously my age isn’t stopping anything. I’m just trying to set the standard for the next group of guys that want to come in and feel like if you want to be a 31-, 32-year-old running back, it’s OK. You can go out here and still produce at a high level because obviously, I’m doing that at an exceptional rate.”

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The context of what’s to come Sunday isn’t lost on anyone. When the Dolphins play the visiting Dallas Cowboys at 4:25 p.m. Sunday, it will be a matchup of 10-4 teams jockeying for playoff seeding. The difference is the Cowboys just lost to Buffalo 31-10 on a day when Buffalo hardly needed to put the ball in the air. The Bills rushed 49 times for 266 yards and three touchdowns.

Don’t think that didn’t get the attention of Mostert, who as the leader of the Dolphins’ fourth-rated rushing attack would love to duplicate the Bills’ success.

“Of course, you always are trying to picture that, but at the end of the day, sometimes it doesn’t play like that,” Mostert said. “I try not to hype myself up too much. But yeah, it’s always appealing when you see the team before we played them get that many rushing yards.”

Cowboys: It would be ’stupid' for an opponent not to exploit our run defense

While the Dolphins know they can’t necessarily read too much into it, the Cowboys know in this copycat league, opponents are bound to feel them out to see if Buffalo hit on a blueprint.

“It would be a stupid football team not to exploit it,” cornerback Jourdan Lewis told Cowboys reporters.

Coach Mike McDaniel believes whatever is going on inside the Cowboys’ training facility might have a familiar ring to his Dolphins, who had to hear about their late collapse against the Titans for a week before releasing their frustration in a 30-0 rout of the Jets last weekend.

“The Dallas Cowboys have prided themselves on a lot of things football, and they are hearing about it to the nth degree, so we know exactly what to expect this Sunday,” McDaniel said. “And that’s something similar that we can relate to in terms of what we went through.”

Dolphins running back Jeff Wilson added: “With them knowing that they’ve got to go in and watch the film, they’re getting hammered about it. The coaches probably called them this, called them that. Once you hear that, it’s kind of like, ‘I’ve got to get this taste out of my mouth.’ ”

Which approach will Mike McDaniel take?

The Dolphins could approach this one of two ways. They could expect Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn — whom McDaniel coached under in Atlanta — to be focused on shoring up the run game while expecting Miami to try to ram it down Dallas’ throats. In that case, perhaps Miami sticks with its balanced attack. Or, if receiver Tyreek Hill isn’t running comfortably because of his ankle injury, Miami could put the ball in the hands of a healing quartet of running backs in Mostert, Wilson, De’Von Achane and rookie Chris Brooks. One certain thing: Much of the tough, inside running that hurt Dallas last week plays directly into what Miami’s backs do well. And it would help quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as he matches wits with elite edge rusher Micah Parsons.

Offensive coordinator Frank Smith said formulating a game plan requires coaches to look at the opponent’s entire body of work, not just 60 minutes of it.

“Who they are, how they work together, how they communicate, when are they at their best, how do they try and feature their guys,” Smith said. “All the things that go into our game plan, that drives your decision. It’s not like, ‘Man, they gave up this, so therefore they’re that.’ One individual result doesn’t necessarily equal who they are.”

Example: Denver gave up 350 rushing yards to the Dolphins early this year. The Broncos have held teams to fewer than 100 rushing yards in half of their games over the past two months. Plus, until last weekend, Dallas had not allowed more than 111 rushing yards in the previous nine games. One difference is the Cowboys were without Johnathan Hankins, a defensive tackle and run-stopper with an ankle injury that could continue to keep him sidelined.

Something not up for debate is that Mostert is enjoying the best season of his career. Erasing Williams’ name from the touchdown record makes it even more meaningful to Mostert and his brother.

“To be able to break that record, I mean, it’s so surreal for both him and I because we looked up to Ricky when we were younger,” Mostert said.

Raheem has since met Williams and was congratulated by Williams via social media this past week.

“Pretty cool,” Mostert said.

Teammates happy for Raheem Mostert's success

Mostert’s teammates think it’s cool that he’s cementing his place in the Dolphins’ record book, with the 1,000-yard barrier the next to target.

“Hopefully he’ll do it on a touchdown play so I can run up to him to give him a big hug,” said Wilson, whose days with Mostert go back to when they were with San Francisco.

Mostert believes the ball from his first touchdown against the Jets is headed up to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The second ball, he’s keeping, but only because fullback Alec Ingold skipped the TD celebration to retrieve the ball.

“I will retrieve every single ball that he wants to throw near to the stands,” Ingold said. “I’ll go grab all of them so he can have them.”

Ingold agreed his job blocking for the backs won’t be easy on Sunday.

“That’s a dangerous team and they’re coming down here with a point to prove,” Ingold said. “They’re going to be a little ornery.”

Mostert said he’s concerned with where the team is headed more than any individual accolades.

“I’m trying to worry about Dallas now,” he said. “Trying to worry about winning against them, dominate against them, trying to get to the postseason.”

Mostert’s singular career moment came four years ago when he rushed for 220 yards and four touchdowns against Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game before the 49ers lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl in Miami. Mostert wants another taste of that brand of football.

“I just want to help this team as best as I can to get into the postseason,” he said. “And once that happens, you know, I feel like I’m a little fireball. I start rolling in the postseason.”

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at  hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins' Raheem Mostert aims to inspire 30-something running backs