How can Dolphins slow Josh Allen after frustrating Week 1 run defense?
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before — but the Miami Dolphins had a hard time on Sunday bottling in a mobile quarterback. It seems as though athletic passers have been the bane of Miami’s existence over the past several seasons and that Patriots quarterback Cam Newton’s Week 1 performance against Miami is just the latest reminder of how much this team has struggled to box in playmakers at quarterback who can use their legs.
The good news for Miami? You’ve now got a week to adjust your game plan. The bad news for Miami? You’re going to be tested in very many of the same ways in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills. Bills quarterback Josh Allen has made a killing off of playing the Dolphins over the first two years of his NFL career — he’s put up stats at an exponentially higher rate against the Dolphins versus literally every other NFL team. And after Newton rushed 15 times for 75 yards against the Dolphins, you can be sure that the Bills are taking notes on the game plan.
With Allen recording a career high 14 rush attempts for 57 yards in Week 1 against the Bills, Allen appears poised to test Miami in all the same ways as a big, physical, athletic quarterback inside the pocket and on the edge of the defense. So how do the Dolphins stop it? CBS commentator and former NFL quarterback Tony Romo observed during Sunday’s 21-11 loss to the Patriots that Miami did a nice job adjusting their personnel to load both A-gaps and try to win the numbers count in the box against New England, but the Patriots had too many wrinkles on top of those existing looks that the Dolphins had no tape to prepare for. By starting to account for what mistakes were made in the zone read — specifically on the edge where the Dolphins gave up contain and several big plays in the run game, Miami can hope to button up the run defense.
Another thing to consider is that while the Buffalo Bills have a good offensive line, it isn’t to the caliber of the one Miami faced in the New England Patriots. The trio of Joe Thuney, David Andrews and Shaq Mason might be the best G-C-G combination in football. Stopping the run is an attitude up front, so players like Davon Godchaux, Raekwon Davis, Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah need to take Week 1 personally and bring a bigger presence against a skilled (but lesser compared to the Patriots) offensive line in Week 2. Notably absent from that group? Christian Wilkins — who we could only be so lucky as to see him replicate his individual performance from Week 1 each and every game.
How do the Dolphins stop Josh Allen from replicating the running success that Cam Newton had in Week 1? Get their eyes right on their assignments and take the struggles of Week 1 personally would be a good start. From there, it is up to Brian Flores and Josh Boyer to make the tweaks needed to cut down on the persistent push of yet another quarterback with the ball in his hands.
