The Miami Dolphins currently own the NFL’s best scoring defense
What a difference a year makes. The 2020 Miami Dolphins, through seven games, are the NFL’s best scoring defense — the team has allowed 130 points through the first seven games of the season for an average of 18.6 points per game allowed. If the Dolphins have conceded less than 20 points in any game this season, they’ve won. Period. The Miami Dolphins aren’t a perfect roster and they’re certainly not a finished product, but this defense has recently found the perfect blend of bend but don’t break and going for the throat.
Look at the performance against the Rams as a prime example. The Dolphins were relentless early on, getting the Rams so desperate to stop Miami’s A-gap blitzes that they aligned their running back directly between the guard and center, as if he were taking a snap from a traditional under-center depth. And the Dolphins still rattled the cage of QB Jared Goff so much that they forced him into two interceptions and two additional strip-sack/fumbles. One of those was returned for a touchdown by LB Andrew Van Ginkel.
And, lo and behold. the Dolphins won.
Just how big of an improvement have we seen? Consider this. Miami has yielded 130 points in seven games this season. In 2019, the Dolphins yielded 238 points in their first seven games. Furthermore, Miami allowed more points (133) in their first three games of 2019 than they have through seven games in 2020.
You think the Brian Flores rebuild is taking hold?
Yes, the Dolphins have had the luxury of playing with multi-score leads in each of their last three games. The last team to take 18+ point leads into halftime in three consecutive games was the 2004 Indianapolis Colts; so Miami can’t get used to leaning so hard on the defense later in the games. But then again, Miami’s defense got a lot of reps of bend but don’t break on Sunday afternoon.
Miami took a 28-10 lead into halftime and the Rams managed just one touchdown in the final 30 minutes despite ripping off high-tempo plays that saw the Rams run 23 plays and log nearly 150 yards of offense on two fourth quarter drives. And yet Miami’s defense stiffened deeper in their own territory. Ignore the yardage. You win games by scoring points. And right now, no one is playing better at preventing points than the Miami Dolphins.
Imagine saying that on November 2nd of last year, when the Dolphins were averaging 34 points allowed per game at sat winless on the season at 0-7. Quite the difference in just one year, indeed.
