Miami-Washington is the first of the Super Bowl rematch games that they’re highlighting this year (as we work our way towards Super Bowl 50 (which isn’t being called Super Bowl L, but they’re going back to Super Bowl LI next year, I believe). As part of these guys, it looks like they’re going to have the old stars on the field to handle the coin toss and what. Anyway, I re-watched this game to help put it in context.
The most notable takeaway for me was the lack of a physical component in Miami’s offense. They don’t seem willing or able to impose their will on an opponent and punch out a tough yard. They’re not even carrying a fullback this year, and they’re light at tight end. Jordan Cameron is really more of a wide receiver. Dion Sims is their one true tight end, and he left this game in the second quarter.
So when the Dolphins have a third-and-one or a play at the 1-yard line, they don’t have the ability to line up and pound out that yard. Instead, they just treat it the same as third-and-5 and run their offense. That didn’t work in this game at all. They had a third-and-1 early, and Lamar Miller didn’t come close to getting it. I think that was before Sims left the game. And in the second quarter, they went for it on fourth-and-1 and Damien Williams couldn’t get it.
So to me, Miami doesn’t look like a team that is consistently going to punch out touchdowns when it gets the ball to within 1-2 yards of the goal line. I have moved down their rushing touchdown projection on my board. As far as who’s scoring them, Miller is the main back here, with Williams picking up maybe a third of the work.
Entering this game, I had Washington penciled in for last in the NFC East, but they’re not actually that bad. They might sneak by New York. They carried the fight on this Sunday, consistently running the ball against the Dolphins, and consistently stopping Miami’s offense. The Dolphins pulled it out on the punt return. I see Washington and Chicago as similar teams. Both realize they are lesser teams with poor defenses, and both might be entering games with the mindset that they need to run the ball, control the clock, avoid turnovers, shorten games and whatnot. Both played better than expected (I expected, anyway) in Week 1.
Alfred Morris ran the ball a lot better than I expected. They spelled him some with Matt Jones, and they used Chris Thompson on passing downs, but Morris gashed Miami, going over 120. This is the Miami defense that was supposed to be top-level now that it’s added Ndamukong Suh, but we will have to re-visit how good they are up front. They consistently got moved on Sunday. For Week 1, this was definitely one of the bottom half-dozen run defenses in the league. I’m not a big Morris fan (given his situation) but there are certainly games on the schedule where he can be productive – Giants twice, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans.
DeSean Jackson went down with the hamstring injury. When that occurs, I believe they leave Pierre Garcon and Andre Roberts (their No. 3 guy) in their roles. Ryan Grant steps into the Jackson role. Grant isn’t Jackson – doesn’t have that kind of speed – but would make the 53-man roster on most teams. They’ll also use Jamison Crowder some. I don’t see any of these receivers “stepping up” a bunch with Jackson out. They’re simply not as good (and that includes Garcon).
Jordan Reed. I like the way the used him. In 2014, he caught 29 passes in his four healthy games when Washington didn’t use RG3. And he’s back in that kind of form. He’ll be a huge part of their passing game (until he gets hurt in a couple of weeks).
Ryan Tannehill. He got the big contract, but he doesn’t look like a big-time quarterback. I wouldn’t want to sign him with the expectation he’ll be one of the league’s top-15 quarterbacks. On this Sunday, he looked pretty similar to the other quarterback, Kirk Cousins.
Joe Philbin. I didn’t understand the decision to bench, then release on Monday, LaMike James. They spent the last six weeks practicing and decided that James would return kickoffs and punts. In the third quarterback, James returned a kickoff, and while cutting at top speed near the 20, he leaned enough that his knee knocked the ball out of his own hands, creating a fumble. And that was it. His Miami career is over. Tannehill had a much uglier fumble in the third quarter. With the team in scoring position, Tannehill held the ball too long, creating a sack, then tried to throw it away while getting tackled and got the ball knocked loose, creating a lost fumble 38 yards down the field the other way. Tannehill was not benched or released. This benching of James caused the Dolphins to go back to Jarvis Landry on punt returns, and he ended up winning the game in the fourth quarter on a punt return.
Miami receivers. Jarvis Landry and Jordan Cameron are the main guys. I don’t see a lot of difference between the others. Greg Jennings, Kenny Stills and Rishard Matthews all played a lot. They’ll start working in DeVante Parker more as he gets healthier and more confident with what he’s doing.
The CBS broadcast crew put up one notable factoid that I liked. I had the turnover percentages for active quarterbacks. Kirk Cousins is the worst, up at something like 3.4 percent. (That is, he either throws an interception or loses a fumble on 3.4 percent of his rushing/passing plays.) Next in line was Jay Cutler, who was at (I think) 2.4 percent, and Ryan Fitzpatrick at 2.2 percent.
—Ian Allan