How Dolphins are Preparing for Potential Inclement Weather

The Miami Dolphins will travel to Cleveland to play the Browns on Sunday in a battle of 1-5 teams. While there are plenty of matchups worth discussing on the field, a non-football variable could introduce some chaos for both teams. 

The weather in Cleveland isn’t exactly expected to be South Florida weather. The forecast is calling for a high chance of rain and wind up to 20 or 30 MPH, according to The Weather Channel. The game could also include wind gusts up to 60 MPH, FoxSports 640's Andy Slater reported earlier this week.

Heavy rain and wind will make holding on to the ball tough for multiple facets of the Dolphins’ operation, and it’s something head coach Mike McDaniel is incorporating into the team’s preparation. 

“We all know weather predictions are an inexact science,” McDaniel said. “I think you make the opponent the team you’re playing, not the weather. And then as you get closer, you start talking about the details and the fundamentals of what your plan will be when that’s closer to reality.” 

McDaniel is right in saying that weather reports can be wrong. And it makes sense he wouldn’t want to spend too much of the week preparing for the weather and not working on the other issues that have plagued Miami this season. 

However, the team is doing what preparation it can. 

Ball Security and Special Teams Are a Focus 

When you hear there’s likely to be heavy rain during a game, the first thing that comes to mind is ball security. Trying to handle a wet ball causes a lot of problems for all three phases of the game. 

Special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman is leading the charge on Miami’s preparation in this area. That work involves using water bottles to wet the ball during practice. 

“Wet ball stuff that we can end up doing, putting the ball in water and things like that, the handling of it with our returners, the handling of it with our punter,” Aukerman told reporters on Thursday. 

“Not only on the punts but on the field goals, we’re going to be working some type of drill. We’re going to still do it with Joe Cardona, the long snapper. We’ll be working the wet ball drill with him too, because obviously he’ll have to have a good grip on the ball to end up snapping it for us.”

Ball security concerns will cut both ways, though. Both Miami and Cleveland’s offenses will need to deal with the rain, and the Dolphins have forced six fumbles and recovered four in the last three weeks alone. 

Of course, ball security is important, but Aukerman’s group has a much more difficult challenge: kicking into the wind. It’s easy to simulate snapping, throwing, and running with a wet ball. 

It’s basically impossible to simulate wind gusts during practices. 

“That’s why we've got to get out there early,” Aukerman said. “That’s going to be the biggest thing. Having those guys out there early, understanding which way the wind is, is it left to right, right to left, or is it going to be on your back, is it going to be towards you? 

“Those are the things that we’ll have an open dialogue with the kicker and the punter, myself and (Head Coach) Mike (McDaniel), because that’s a lot of things that could happen. ‘Hey Mike, we might not be able to kick a 55-yard field goal here into the wind. Hey Mike, it’s got a really strong left to right wind, we might need it on this hash at this certain time.’ That’ll be an open dialogue that we’ll have during the course of the game and before the game too.”

If the forecast is correct, we might see the Dolphins go for some fourth downs they would otherwise kick field goals on this week, but as Aukerman mentioned, that plan will get set Sunday. 

A Repeat of Last Year's Game vs. Cleveland?

The Dolphins played in Cleveland late last season and also had to deal with some less-than-great weather conditions. It didn't end up being cold, but it was rainy and windy, causing both teams to have trouble holding on to the ball at times.

That said, Miami wasn't charged with a lost fumble. Backup quarterback Tyler Huntley fumbled the ball once but recovered it, while Da'Shawn Hand recovered a Browns fumble forced by Emmanuel Ogbah.

As for the kicking game, Jason Sanders, who won't play in the game this season due to injury, was perfect on his field-goal attempts. He did have a 54-yard attempt bounce off the crossbar and go in, but it counted the same.

The Dolphins won that game 20-3, and they would be more than happy if they dealt with the elements the same way this season.