of miami dolphins At 2-6, they were on the verge of losing their season heading into Monday night's away game. Los Angeles Rams. With their backs against the wall, the Dolphins defeated the Rams 23-15, essentially saving their season.
Many people associate the Dolphins with an explosive and high-volume offense, but it was their defense that saved their season. At the beginning of the year, I was incredibly optimistic about this defense, but against the Rams they had their best performance of the season.
It was a great performance by the Dolphins defense and I was looking forward to watching it. Let's take a closer look at how they did it.
First, they had a great performance from their defensive line. The Dolphins pressured QB Matthew Stafford 17 times on Monday, but only blitzed four on dropbacks. Everything worked out very well for the secondary as the combination of Zach Seiler, Calais Campbell, and Chop Robinson had Stafford fighting for his life in the pocket.
Robinson really stood out. As a rookie, he was supposed to be brought in only for spot pass-rush snaps, but has been forced to play more due to injuries to EDGE's Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips. This defense has seemed to work well for him in his role this season, and he was rewarded with a sack on Monday. He was supposed to run a pick on the defensive tackle, but he's so quick off the ball that he gets to the QB before he can properly set up the stunt. The Rams slide their protection to the left side of the formation, leaving the right side in man protection. Robinson darts inside and gets a sack on the play.
Not only was the pressure hitting home, but Stafford was rattled. LB Anthony Walker runs the pick to defensive tackle, but this time it's from deep and bounces off the middle. The DT wraps around and Walker just barely gets there, but the immediate pressure forces Stafford to make an erroneous feed. Anthony Weaver had all his buttons activated on Monday.
Stafford missed a few throws yesterday (including this one), but the pressure from Anthony Walker on the stunt definitely affected Stafford's handling.
Anthony Weaver had all the solutions. What a great game from the defense. #finsup pic.twitter.com/MWVmHVKNzj
— Kevin Fielder (@RivalsFielder) November 12, 2024
This sack of Jevon Holland was pretty cool and showed how the Dolphins defense was forcing the Rams into a corner. The Dolphins line up seven defenders at the line of scrimmage, but the Rams call for a blitz. They slide everyone to the left where the blitz was supposed to come from. But just before the snap, the Dolphins deflected the blitz call to the right, putting the Rams on the back foot. LB Jordyn Brooks was free in place of Robinson and made a sack with Holland. A great overall performance by a Dolphins team that needs just that.
Chop Robinson has struggled this season, there's no question about that.
But for the past two weeks? High level soccer from rookies. He understands that, that's what you want.
The bags will still arrive because the process exists. It may have been his best game as an NFL player. pic.twitter.com/Ku6z29ohGw
— Kevin Fielder (@RivalsFielder) November 12, 2024
The Dolphins essentially saved their season with Monday night's win. QB Tua Tagovailoa had his ups and downs as the offense entered a lull, but it was the defense that saved the day. Throughout this season, Miami's defense has been 12th in EPA per play allowed, and with a fairly light schedule going forward, they could ride that defense and backdoor the AFC into the playoffs. You can.
