Patriots will run the football and Davis is a BIG key in stopping it
The Week 1 game against the New England Patriots is a big one for the Miami Dolphins. If Miami wants to make something good happen this season, beating the Patriots at home will go a long way towards that success. You can be with the best pay per head that the Patriots will run the football often with Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson because it’s the foundation of their offens. So, the Phins rushing defense is critical in notching a win. This is why it’s very bad news that Raekwon Davis, who is the heart of the Phins’ run defense, is limping into the game. How well Davis plays hurt and the rest of the Dolphins defense rallies around him is the biggest storyline on defense.
Davis plays a critical role in the run defense
Davis suffered a nasty injury to his knee Week 1 of the 2021 Season. It took until the second quarter of the season to make it back on the field, but his gusty return never had him reaching his dominating play he displayed before the injury. The 2022 Season was expected to be a bounce back season and continuation of his excellent play of the 2020 Season. But, when he suffered an injury on the same knee in the the third preseason game when a player again rolled on his knee, not much was made of it because he returned after a drive off. But, when Davis turned up as limited on the Thursday injury report and again on Friday, concern is brewing.
The Patriots can run the football with giant 380lbs Trent Brown and 340 lbs Michael Onwenu on their offensive line. With this kind of beef up front, even mammoth 330lbs Davis needs to be on his A game to handle like sized giants. What concerns me is his right leg being injured is this puts him having to handle the load of Onwenu coming hard at an angle on zone stretch runs with a bad knee as the brace leg. It’s been near three weeks since the injury, so with back to back injuries on the same knee, you have to wonder how bad it is and how long it will take for him to get back to 100%?
Davis has has big a heart as a body… BUT!
Davis proved to be tougher than nails coming back like he did last year and playing most of the season in the heart of the trenches on one leg. But, tough doesn’t mean effective. With the Patriots, Ravens, Bills, and Bengals coming up, Miami needs Davis desperately… none more so than this Week 1 match up. How bad is the knee and can Davis play and control the A-Gap. The good news is John Jenkins is quality back up, but Miami will need as many bodies as they can get to control the middle of the defense.
To me, Davis is as big a storyline as the health of Waddle going into Sunday. A nice sunny day will help a ton because Davis playing on one leg on a slick, rainy field won’t be good news. Let’s hope for sun, Davis to be well, and a big win against the Patriots to kick off this critical season. Go Phins!!!