By Mike Rifkin
The Miami Dolphins entered their bye week with a record of 6-3 and in first place in the AFC East. But people only like to talk about how they’ve only beaten bad teams and struggled against great ones. The Dolphins’ six wins are against the Chargers, Patriots (2x), Broncos, Giants, and Panthers. Their three losses were to the Bills, Eagles, and Chiefs. Now, here’s my problem with this “narrative.” The NFL is not the NCAA; where the coaches make the schedule, the NFL has its process for making schedules.
But let’s start with the positives at the bye week. The Dolphins offense has been fun for the most part this season. Averaging 31 points per game, they are at the top of the leaderboard in total offense (435.3 yards per game), Passing yards (287.4 yards per game), and Rushing yards (147.9 yards per game). Miami has two legitimate MVP candidates (whether people want to admit or not) in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and receiver Tyreek Hill. Tagovailoa has a 69.5 completion percentage, 2,609 yards, 19 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. Tyreek Hill is already over 1,000 yards for the season, and he said that his goal was 2,000 before the season. On Sunday, Hill will see a team he has had a lot of success against, the Las Vegas Raiders. Hill has 54 catches for 794 yards and nine touchdowns against the Raiders.
The Dolphins run game, which has been excellent for the most part this season, should get a boost with the return of rookie Devon Achane back from injury. Achane was sailing along before he was out with a knee injury. Achane and Raheem Mostert have given the Dolphins a lot on the ground.
Under first-year coordinator Vic Fangio, the defense has played a bend-but-not-break style for most of the first half. The defense is ninth in sacks, led by Bradley Chubb’s six. Jaelan Phillips, who many people expected to break out this season, has three and a half but did miss a few games with an injury. The Dolphins’ defense has nine takeaways on the season, but I expect that number to rise with the return of Jalen Ramsey.
The Dolphins will have chances to erase a narrative of beating good teams. They still have games against the Ravens, Bills, Cowboys, and Jets (if you deem them good). But this week, they play a Raider team that has won its last two games after firing Josh McDaniels. Defensively, they have to take away Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs. Put pressure on rookie Aidan O’Connell. Offensively, you must keep Maxx Crosby from taking the game over. The other thing I’d like to see early is establishing Jalen Waddle. Miami comes out of the bye and plays a solid game.
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