Let’s talk about the Miami Dolphins

[duncan_idaho]

Dolphins fans are REALLY confident in their CB duo of Howard and Jones and their secondary overall.

Considering what the passing attacks of Buffalo, Seattle, and Arizona did to them, I don't quite get it...

Average performance from Allen, Wilson, and Murray was:
70% completions for 10.5 YPA, 341 yards, 2.7 TDs and 0.3 INTs

Those teams each put up 31 points. KC has a deeper/better group of playmakers and a better QB than each of those teams.

I expect KC to put up something like 38 points and 500 yards. Big day for Mahomes, especially early if the Dolphins try to leave Howard and Jones on islands against Hill and Watkins.

Having Watkins back is so big. If teams are employing the New England approach and doubling both Kelce and Hill, Watkins against single coverage (and, at best, CB #2) is the matchup KC can use to kill them.

[VanDolPhan]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Dolphins fans are REALLY confident in their CB duo of Howard and Jones and their secondary overall.

Considering what the passing attacks of Buffalo, Seattle, and Arizona did to them, I don't quite get it...

Average performance from Allen, Wilson, and Murray was:
70% completions for 10.5 YPA, 341 yards, 2.7 TDs and 0.3 INTs

Those teams each put up 31 points. KC has a deeper/better group of playmakers and a better QB than each of those teams.

I expect KC to put up something like 38 points and 500 yards. Big day for Mahomes, especially early if the Dolphins try to leave Howard and Jones on islands against Hill and Watkins.

Having Watkins back is so big. If teams are employing the New England approach and doubling both Kelce and Hill, Watkins against single coverage (and, at best, CB #2) is the matchup KC can use to kill them.

While I don't expect Miami to win. I feel the need to clear up some issues with your post. Early on in the season Howard was still working toward being 100% from his knee injury. He was on limited snaps the first week in NE. Jones went down the first few plays of the Buffalo game. Miami inserted 20 year old corner Noah who got his butt whooped bad. Kid just wasn't ready. Suffice to say Miami would have won that game if Jones hadn't gone down. Noah also gave up several critical plays against Seattle in what had been a tight game. Against the Cardinals they just couldn't stop Murray from escaping all the time (He literally ran for over 100 yards).

So basically you all haven't seen zero blitzing the way Miami does it combined with having 3 solid corners and 2 solid safeties (former corners). At the same time Miami is crap at handling mobile QB's. Get Mahomes on the move and he will run all day long.

It should be an interesting matchup as CB Nik Needham has been playing well lately. Giving them 3 good corners combined with a solid set of corners/safeties. Where K.C. should hit them is our LB's. They've been pretty terrible in coverage and in stopping the run. Also sticking with the run is the way to go as besides our LB's sucking in run support. So do our safeties beyond Brandon Jones as he's the only real safety out there. McCain and Rowe are former CB's who aren't that good at playing the run.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by VanDolPhan

While I don't expect Miami to win. I feel the need to clear up some issues with your post. Early on in the season Howard was still working toward being 100% from his knee injury. He was on limited snaps the first week in NE. Jones went down the first few plays of the Buffalo game. Miami inserted 20 year old corner Noah who got his butt whooped bad. Kid just wasn't ready. Suffice to say Miami would have won that game if Jones hadn't gone down. Noah also gave up several critical plays against Seattle in what had been a tight game. Against the Cardinals they just couldn't stop Murray from escaping all the time (He literally ran for over 100 yards).

So basically you all haven't seen zero blitzing the way Miami does it combined with having 3 solid corners and 2 solid safeties (former corners). At the same time Miami is crap at handling mobile QB's. Get Mahomes on the move and he will run all day long.

It should be an interesting matchup as CB Nik Needham has been playing well lately. Giving them 3 good corners combined with a solid set of corners/safeties. Where K.C. should hit them is our LB's. They've been pretty terrible in coverage and in stopping the run. Also sticking with the run is the way to go as besides our LB's sucking in run support. So do our safeties beyond Brandon Jones as he's the only real safety out there. McCain and Rowe are former CB's who aren't that good at playing the run.

You're going to have issues with Travis Kelce for one.

Also if they line up DB heavy like that and try to blitz, the Chiefs will pound the ball as well. They don't do that often but when they do (see Buffalo) they can be pretty good at it.

[VanDolPhan]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

You're going to have issues with Travis Kelce for one.

Also if they line up DB heavy like that and try to blitz, the Chiefs will pound the ball as well. They don't do that often but when they do (see Buffalo) they can be pretty good at it.

Rowe vs Kelce I am looking forward to. Rowe has been shutting down TE's since halfway thru last season (after a decade of TE's having their way in Miami). He's going to be tested very hard with Kelce. I expect your running game to have a very good day. It's where Miami is clearly weakest.

They don't send the DB's on blitzes very often. They'll mix it up with the LB's. The only time you might see heavy blitzes is in clear passing situations. Honestly I don't think they'll heavy blitz unless it's like 3rd and 9 or longer. I think at most they'll send 1 extra blitzer. Likely they'll keep their safeties back. Never know what Boyer will call up.

Hell I'll consider it a good day if we keep your passing under 300 yards.

I love the way this team is building but they aren't ready for top tier teams yet. Basically were a fiesty team with an opportunistic pass defense and excellent special teams who are crap against stopping the run, stopping mobile QB's from running.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by VanDolPhan

Rowe vs Kelce I am looking forward to. Rowe has been shutting down TE's since halfway thru last season (after a decade of TE's having their way in Miami). He's going to be tested very hard with Kelce. I expect your running game to have a very good day. It's where Miami is clearly weakest.

They don't send the DB's on blitzes very often. They'll mix it up with the LB's. The only time you might see heavy blitzes is in clear passing situations. Honestly I don't think they'll heavy blitz unless it's like 3rd and 9 or longer. I think at most they'll send 1 extra blitzer. Likely they'll keep their safeties back. Never know what Boyer will call up.

Hell I'll consider it a good day if we keep your passing under 300 yards.

I love the way this team is building but they aren't ready for top tier teams yet. Basically were a fiesty team with an opportunistic pass defense and excellent special teams who are crap against stopping the run, stopping mobile QB's from running.

How did the Phins let Denver beat them?

[VanDolPhan]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

How did the Phins let Denver beat them?

Young OL crapped the bed pretty badly that day. By far the worse day the OL's had all season. This game we basically are starting a rookie QB, 3 rookie OL, 2 journeyman OL (center and wherever they play Jessie Davis) and only 1 viable WR in Parker. Not to mention a mish mash of after thought running backs. Rest of the WR's are all gadget, rooks/waiver wire pick ups.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by VanDolPhan

Young OL crapped the bed pretty badly that day. By far the worse day the OL's had all season. This game we basically are starting a rookie QB, 3 rookie OL, 2 journeyman OL (center and wherever they play Jessie Davis) and only 1 viable WR in Parker. Not to mention a mish mash of after thought running backs. Rest of the WR's are all gadget, rooks/waiver wire pick ups.

Well, KC has a maddening habit of shooting themselves in the foot and sometimes just appearing to lack focus.

Take last week for example; KC literally scored two more TD's than are on the final scoreboard on a catch that wasn't reviewed and a really questionable holding call. Also Mahomes just flat missed a wide open Hill for what would've been another. So they play "down" to opponents a lot, just playing well enough to win. That bit them in the ass in the first Raiders game.

You're going to need to be able to run the ball, and hit some big plays off of play-action. You're going to need to be able to get to Mahomes with 4 and play really disciplined zone with 7. You can't play man. You just can't.

And you're going to need The Chiefs to come out kind of ho-hum and just screw some stuff up, which they do fairly often.

Get a turn-over or two and play relatively mistake free and hang around to the end and maybe you catch 'em napping.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by VanDolPhan

Rowe vs Kelce I am looking forward to. Rowe has been shutting down TE's since halfway thru last season (after a decade of TE's having their way in Miami). He's going to be tested very hard with Kelce. I expect your running game to have a very good day. It's where Miami is clearly weakest.

They don't send the DB's on blitzes very often. They'll mix it up with the LB's. The only time you might see heavy blitzes is in clear passing situations. Honestly I don't think they'll heavy blitz unless it's like 3rd and 9 or longer. I think at most they'll send 1 extra blitzer. Likely they'll keep their safeties back. Never know what Boyer will call up.

Hell I'll consider it a good day if we keep your passing under 300 yards.

I love the way this team is building but they aren't ready for top tier teams yet. Basically were a fiesty team with an opportunistic pass defense and excellent special teams who are crap against stopping the run, stopping mobile QB's from running.

There's no way they just put a guy on Kelce and hope for the best.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

There's no way they just put a guy on Kelce and hope for the best.

He is only the guy with the 2nd most receiving yards in the NFL just 6 yards behind DK Metcalf

[mililo4cpa]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

You're going to have issues with Travis Kelce for one.

Also if they line up DB heavy like that and try to blitz, the Chiefs will pound the ball as well. They don't do that often but when they do (see Buffalo) they can be pretty good at it.

I'll say this: The worst thing the Dolphins could do is go cover 0....that will not end well for them....

[Lionstone]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

You're going to have issues with Travis Kelce for one.

Also if they line up DB heavy like that and try to blitz, the Chiefs will pound the ball as well. They don't do that often but when they do (see Buffalo) they can be pretty good at it.

Yes, we will have a difficult time with Kelce. Rowe has been very good versus TEs, but this will be a more difficult assignment than when he erased Kittle from the game versus the 49ers.

[Floresdontplaythat]

Originally Posted by Lionstone

Yes, we will have a difficult time with Kelce. Rowe has been very good versus TEs, but this will be a more difficult assignment than when he erased Kittle from the game versus the 49ers.

Agreed. Xavien and Byron should be ok but Rowe on Kelce worries me. I think we'll see a lot more Grugier-Hill in this game to help with him.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by Lionstone

Yes, we will have a difficult time with Kelce. Rowe has been very good versus TEs, but this will be a more difficult assignment than when he erased Kittle from the game versus the 49ers.

I doubt Rowe slows him down too much. Its pretty clear that Kelce is and has always been Mahomes #1 target. In spite of that he has a record five straight 1,000 yard seasons. If slowing him down was that easy someone would have figured out how to do it long ago.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by tredadda

I doubt Rowe slows him down too much. Its pretty clear that Kelce is and has always been Mahomes #1 target. In spite of that he has a record five straight 1,000 yard seasons. If slowing him down was that easy someone would have figured out how to do it long ago.

CHUNG!

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by VanDolPhan

While I don't expect Miami to win. I feel the need to clear up some issues with your post. Early on in the season Howard was still working toward being 100% from his knee injury. He was on limited snaps the first week in NE. Jones went down the first few plays of the Buffalo game. Miami inserted 20 year old corner Noah who got his butt whooped bad. Kid just wasn't ready. Suffice to say Miami would have won that game if Jones hadn't gone down. Noah also gave up several critical plays against Seattle in what had been a tight game. Against the Cardinals they just couldn't stop Murray from escaping all the time (He literally ran for over 100 yards).

So basically you all haven't seen zero blitzing the way Miami does it combined with having 3 solid corners and 2 solid safeties (former corners). At the same time Miami is crap at handling mobile QB's. Get Mahomes on the move and he will run all day long.

It should be an interesting matchup as CB Nik Needham has been playing well lately. Giving them 3 good corners combined with a solid set of corners/safeties. Where K.C. should hit them is our LB's. They've been pretty terrible in coverage and in stopping the run. Also sticking with the run is the way to go as besides our LB's sucking in run support. So do our safeties beyond Brandon Jones as he's the only real safety out there. McCain and Rowe are former CB's who aren't that good at playing the run.

If Miami zero blitzes, we'll score 50. Who your corners are literally doesn't matter anymore. You can't cover Hill, Watkins, Kelce, and Hardman manning up. Mahomes is also ranked #1 against blitz packages, and yes, quite comfortable moving outside the pocket, where he is also ranked #1.

That's not the way to slow this offense down, and if Flores tries to do that, it'll get really ugly really fast.

I think Flores is a hell of a coach, and I expect him to do the exact opposite. Stop the run and play coverage, mulitiple looks, etc. Make Mahomes dink and dunk and hope for a turnover. Although he's become quite a bit more patient this season, so that's still kind of picking your poison. And if you can't cover Kelce, you're still screwed.

Your best shot is really to be able to get to Mahomes with 4 rushers. If you can do that and play zone, you've got a shot.