5 Biggest Reasons for Dolphins' Defensive Improvement

The Miami Dolphins’ defense did not get off to a good start this season. The unit opened the season allowing three straight teams to score 30 points, and it allowed 27 points to the Carolina Panthers and 29 to the Los Angeles Chargers. 

The Dolphins didn’t even force a punt until the second half of the team’s Week 3 loss against the Buffalo Bills. However, things have somewhat turned around in the last four games. 

The defense delivered an impressive performance against the Bills in Week 10 and has produced a positive overall EPA in three of the Dolphins’ last four games, following a six-game streak of negative EPA games to start the year. 

What’s changed for the defense? Let’s look at five areas where the team has improved to see why the defense is rounding into form. 

5 Biggest Reasons for Miami’s Defensive Improvement 

1. Learning to Create Turnovers

The Dolphins didn’t force a single turnover in the first three games of the season, but made an adjustment before their first win of the year against the New York Jets in Week 4. 

The defense started punching at the ball significantly more often to generate some fumbles. Although that led to some tackling issues, it has produced some pretty solid overall results. 

Miami has forced eight fumbles since Week 3, and it’s recovered seven of them. Those fumbles have come in huge spots, too. The two against Buffalo stopped promising drives, and they forced one near the goal line against the Jets. 

The Dolphins could still secure more interceptions, as they have just two this season, but their adjustment to forcing fumbles has helped a defense lacking talent get offenses off the field. 

2. Rush Defense Improvements 

Miami’s run defense was probably the team’s biggest weakness at the start of the season. It still has a ways to go, but it’s clear the team has gone from “awful” to “average” over the past few weeks. 

Perhaps the team’s biggest improvement has been getting to ball carriers early in plays. The Dolphins have logged yards before contact numbers of 0.03, 1.12, 1.26, and 1.18 in the past four weeks. 

Those are four of the team’s five lowest marks this season (the outlier is Week 2 vs. New England). Miami is forcing opposing running backs to work harder for their yards and generating more tackles near the line. 

The Dolphins still aren’t a good tackling team, which was a big problem against the Ravens and Browns, two teams against whom Miami got into the backfield quickly. If it can get more consistent there, the defense can take another jump. 

3. Miami’s Zone Coverage Spacing 

It’s hard to quantify this with stats, but the Dolphins are a primary zone coverage team on the back end. Early in the season, the secondary was often found drifting out of zones and struggling to communicate effectively. 

Those struggles haven’t gone completely away, but the Dolphins have been responsible for far fewer coverage busts in recent weeks. 

Last week’s game against Buffalo was an excellent example. Every explosive passing play was either against man coverage, featured a heroic Josh Allen scramble, or was thrown into a tight window. 

Miami is playing a lot more connected on the back end, which makes sense given Jack Jones, Rasul Douglas, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Ashtyn Davis and Dante Trader Jr. never played together before this season. 

4. The Rookies are Much Better 

The Dolphins’ defense is relying on a lot of rookie contributors this season, which usually leads to some growing pains. 

Kenneth Grant, Jordan Phillips, Dante Trader Jr. and Jason Marshall Jr. have played a combined 902 snaps this season. Grant struggled a ton to start the season, but has found consistency against the run in recent weeks. 

Trader has had some lowlights — like his missed tackle against LA — but he’s played incredibly solid football across the last three weeks. Phillips has been stacking blocks all season, but he started shedding them against the Bills. 

These players’ improvement has pushed the unit’s floor much higher than at the start of the season. If they continue to develop, it’ll start to raise the defense’s ceiling, too. 

5. Coverage Disguise Has Improved 

This change is more specific to the last game against the Bills, but it’s an important trend to keep an eye on. Miami confused Allen quite a bit, as it became more creative with the fronts it presented and the defensive picture that emerged post-snap. 

Miami has always used a lot of simulated pressures under defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver. Early in the season, those weren’t working overly well, so it seems like Weaver has pivoted to moving Miami’s safeties around more often. 

They fooled Allen by spinning into two-high looks after the snap a few times on Sunday, and they even gave him a few man-coverage indicators before the snap and then dropped into zone. 

Weaver’s always been a good defensive mind, but the buttons he was pushing early in the season weren’t working. It seems like they’re starting to now. 

Defense’s Outlook for Rest of Season

Miami’s defense has gotten a lot better, but it’s still a flawed unit with some things to figure out. It’s 19th in the league in QB pressures and tied for 21st in sacks. 

The Dolphins got after Allen in Week 10, but that’ll have to become a trend if they want to climb out of the bottom half of the league. 

However, if you look ahead at the team’s schedule, there aren’t too many potent offenses left. The team’s next three games are against a battered Commanders unit, an underwhelming Jets team, and the mostly tanking Saints. 

After that, it’s a date with Pittsburgh, but its offense has also struggled quite a bit recently. It can’t run the ball, and Aaron Rodgers can’t seem to stay on the same page with anyone not named DK Metcalf. 

The Dolphins do have three big tests to finish the year against Cincinnati, Tampa Bay and New England. Those teams can move the ball pretty well despite each having its own limitations. 

We’ll see how good Miami’s defense is playing by then, but there’s no doubt it has an opportunity to become a reliable unit in the coming weeks.