The Phins offense woke up, but the secondary went into a coma
Against a linebacker depleted Bills defense, the Phins offense showed up as expected. Unfortunately, the Dolphins secondary was a complete disaster allowing Josh Allen to have a career day with 4 T.D.s and 417 yards. Hopes for Miami to make the playoffs in 2020 is now in serious jeopardy with a short week and a Thursday night game against the Jaguars in Jacksonville ahead of them.
First, Jimmy Bourbon nailed the prediction and I was wrong.
Ouch!
But, in my defense, I never expected the Phins high-priced free agent corner, Byron Jones, to go down on his first drive with a groin injury. Still, there’s no denying I’m eating crow on this one.
Just because you want to… doesn’t mean you can
Yes, I get the loss of Jones is big and Noah Igbinoghene is a rookie… and obviously, the lack of pressure compounded the issue. But there was more to the ugly coverage than just this.
The Phins defense was a primary focus of this offseason, so should one player going down cripple it? It would seem that we need to include the rookie defensive coordinator Josh Boyer in the equation.
The Bills were very obvious about using crosses to stymie man coverage right out of the shoot. You’d figure with your elite man corner down and the opponent using constant crosses that mixing in more zone coverage would be smart.
There was the power outage, so I didn’t see every snap, but I believe the first zone coverage didn’t get called until there were 5 minutes left in the 1st Half! It was when they added a good dose of zone coverage that Allen slowed down. This adjustment came too late. But, we need to remember that this Boyer’s first go-around at coordinator. A learning curve is to be expected.
But, what won’t be understood is if the Phins continue to force a flawed defensive model.
Let me be 100% clear: This secondary is currently terrible in man coverage. Again, part of this failure is the lack of pass rush with only 15% of Allen’s passes getting pressure. But, even still, the coverage was nearly always trailing the receivers early and the disruption at the line was minimal. Clean get offs by the receivers makes man-coverage very hard without a pass rush. It might serve the Phins well to mix up coverages because if they don’t this ugly play will continue… at least until Jones returns–we hope.
Man coverage by the nature of its design is unforgiving on a defense. And when you are a rookie as Igbinoghene is or not exceptionally gifted physically like Needham, the margin of error is razor-thin. The Bills went after Igbinoghene 11 times for seven completions, 145 yards, and two touchdowns. Why did it take so long to protect him?
To be fair…
The defense did limit Allen for a stretch in the game, had a crucial stop negated by a penalty, was in position for two big interceptions, and caused and recovered a fumble. So, there are positives to take out of this game both on offense and defense because Miami put themselves in a position to win the game in the 4th Quarter…
… But, Brian Flores adheres to the Art of War like his mentor Bill Belichick and flexibility and quick adjustment are keys to victory according to Sun Tzu. So, we need to see a better gameplan, more diverse looks, and quicker adaptation to circumstances and the opponent going forward. With a new OC and DC, it’s expected. But, we should see a strong improvement from both soon… if they are the right men for the job.
The Bills have exposed the Dolphins secondary in their current makeup. You can bet with the Pay Per Head Reviews that the Jags will do the same. Will this weakness continue when Jones returns? I don’t know. I sure hope not with all that was spent. Either way, we need better results starting this Thursday. Go Phins!!!
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