Offensive Line Made A World Of Difference?

The Offensive Line was the lifeblood to their won over the Steelers.

Everything revolves around the play of the Offensive Line — even the defense.

The Miami Dolphins  made an effort this offseason to upgrade the Offensive Line by drafting Laremy Tunsil and signing Jermon Bushrod. On paper, this group with Albert, James, Pouncey, Tunsil, and Bushrod was supposed to be a massive improvement from previous years.

Unfortunately, the injury bug hit this unit early and often, and through the first 5 games at least one member of this penciled in starting unit has missed games with an injury. It took till the 6^th game of the season for the stars to align so all five starters could be healthy, and the Fins were able to start the entire unit.

As a result, this unit finally played as advertised, and they did it in a big way.

Ryan Tannehill was not sacked at all in the game. Let me repeat that: Tannehill was not sacked at all in the game.

If you consider that Tannehill was sacked 17 times in the first 5 games and was tied for 1^st as the most sacked QB in the league through the first 5 weeks of the season, this was incalculable improvement bordering on incredible. And any pay per head software fan would say the odds of it happen is close to hitting the Trifecta,

The Offensive Line was able to keep Tannehill propped up — which is close to a miracle.

But the improvement did not stop there.

Miami’s run game has been nearly nonexistent for the first 5 games of the season. With the revamped offensive line unit, Miami rushing attack rose like a Phoenix to the tune of 222 yards with Jay Ajayi amassing a career high 204 yards.

Anytime a running back runs for over 200 yards in a game that is impressive, but when you look deeper it becomes even more mind boggling. The last time the Dolphins had a running back run for over 200 yards in a game was way back in 2002 when Ricky Williams was on the team; the last time the Pittsburgh Steelers allowed a running back to run for more than 200 yards on them was back in the year 2000. In its one game together, this offensive line unit was able to do something that has not been achieved in nearly 16 years!

The million dollar question is, will this one game be an anomaly of health and performance, or this truly the beginning of this offensive line’s dominance? Frankly, I can’t say for certain, but I sure do hope so.  What I do know is that this 5 man group showed against the Steelers that they can rise to the level of elite. But, now they have to prove that they can be consistent and do it for more than just one game.

If they can stay healthy and continue to play at this level, then this could truly be the turning point for this offense…and maybe, just maybe for this 2016 season as well. Go Fins!!!