Week 8 Dolphins defense vs the Rams offense- Defensive analysis of The Miami Dolphins

 Dolphins vs Rams

The Miami Dolphins are becoming a top unit in the NFL. Lets look at some of the things they did against the Rams in week 8

The Dolphins played the Rams and did some good things to beat the Rams.

Things to understand about the Rams offense:

1. Early downs they use a lot of jet motion and wide zone boot.

2. They run condensed sets the majority of the time.

3. They like to go empty and utilize the short passing game. 

4. They don't have dynamic 1x1 wr. They excel more against zone coverages. Not the best route runners vs man. 

The Dolphins  basically did  4  things that stood out in my mind.

1. They played  zone on early running  downs against the Rams condensed look and played their bear look, some pro 6-1 stuff and a little 3-4 variation with 4i's  and mostly  cover 3. As the game went on they went more bear.

2. Also, on 1st down they bought some sam pressures because the Rams do like to run some wide zone boot on 1st down. They did this 4 times and on each time the Rams ran wide zone boot. Nice job scouting.

3. Vs. Empty they went to some double mug b looks and some 3 man mug looks and brought 6 and got home numerous occasions, They didn't think Kupp, Woods and Higbie could beat them in the passing game. They were right for the most part.

4. On passing downs they played a lot of snaps of man and brought pressure:

This forced the Rams to change their protection and get out of empty and go more 6 man and max protections

Empty Breakdown

rams vs mug cover 0  2/8.   11 yds ,  sack returned for td , interception,  and a missed easy interception.

vs man free            2/3 for 31 yards

vs.  cover 3.         2/4 for 23 yards with a hurry

vs 2 man (hole). 0/2 with 1 hurry

MAN TO MAN 

Again the Rams went man on 15 snaps the whole game. 

In addition to above the Rams got man on 7 snaps with single back.

The Dolphins went cover 0 - 7 times. The Rams were 4/7 for 42 yards 1 interception but were under duress quite often. 

There were some other aspects but that's really the nuts and bolts of the situational football the Dolphins played

Lets look at the early downs.

So here is a first and 10.

Trips bunch right

Rams run boot off the wide zone

Dolphins bring the sam linebacker and play cover 3 on 1st down on 4 occasions

and each time the Rams ran wide zone naked boot.

Sam comes unblocked 

Here's a 1st down in the 2nd quarter

In the 2nd half the Rams run wide zone boot to the 3x1 side but this time keep 2 guy in to block the 

blitzing sam lb for the 4th time.

They run the dover route for 34 but its called back on a hold.

Next

Rams run a ton of jet motion and plays off it. 

Dolphins stayed cover 3 vs it and played it straight.

Rams run wide zone and get 6 yards with a nice cut. 

Back makes a good cut and gets 6 yards

Here are 3 clips of the Dolphins Bear front on early downs vs the Rams with cover 3

As you can see the Dolphins have a very solid run defense. They run three front with their bear, pro look and 4-2 defense and really shut the Rams down with a  great game plan.

Dolphins vs Rams:

The Dolphins ran a 6 man pressure early in the game twice out of base personnel early in the game and the Rams checked to their quick passing game but get a pick later in the game by dropping the def lineman with the appearance of the same pressure. 

6 man pressure- Man Coverage

The 1st example is man to man and bring 6. Teams will bring double mug looks and mug the a or b gap with the linebackers. 

Here the Dolphins go double b gap look ? Why double B, you force a slide protection and the end comes free.  

They ran this pressure the first 2 times in the Ram game. One incomplete, one interception.

After 2  times of running the double b mug look with 6 man pressure, still man but  they drop 2 men into the passing lanes and get a pick. Lets explain 

Here they run a slant and the Dolphins send 6 man pressure, straight man to man 

    

                                         

     

  The Rams try to hit the quick slant 

  So the next time, on 2nd and 2 they show the same look and drop 2 players underneath. 

Its a Simulated 6 man pressure with 2 rat defenders

The  Dolphins get smart and drop two players anticipating the short throw

Rams Drop def lineman and LB as Rats

                        

Def Lineman gets the interception

Watch the 2 plays detailed above!

 

Rams ball 3rd and 13

Dolphins go cover 3

At half time the Rams make an adjustment in empty. they check release the tight end and rb. Here another double mug look but the Dolphins go cover 3

Rams are tentative, leads to a Dolphins sack as the mug look, sim pressure gives the Rams headaches

But the single high look should give away they are probably going to bail on 3rd and 13

Rams get the sack as the cover 3 bail technique gives the Rams problems

5 man pressure man free no rats underneath(rat is just someone playing underneath)

The last thing the Dolphins did was play single high man free vs Empty out of nickel.

They brought 5 man pressures and mixed it up with the pressure. Rams were 1/2 vs it in the first half for 17 yards. 

                                  Both situations were 3rd and long . 3rd and 9 and 3rd and 10

This was the coverage they ran on both empties. 2nd time they run a game out of 3-2  dime.

2nd quarter after a big turnover,, the Rams can possibly score but

Here is another big play,

Double Mug , send 6 straight cover 0

Dolphins get the sack, fumble and 78 yard td for touchdown(clip below)

CHANGED THE WHOLE COMPLEXION OF THE GAME.

14 POINT SWING. BECOMES 14-7 DOLPHINS

Below are 3 empty clips with cover 0

                                                        Its a 4 -2 double mug , blitz b, cover 0

In the 3rd quarter they run the same blitz and 

easily could have had a pick 6. The cb drops the ball.

As discussed the Rams went man vs 1 back formations as well.

Here the Rams are in single back and the Dolphins bring 7. The rb should work lb to ss.

He blows it and gets Goff almost knocked out of the game and the Dolphins get an interception. 

Rams cover 0 pressures

Here are some clips 

In closing,  The Dolphins had a great gameplan and really did a nice job defending the Rams and taking away what they do best.

Dolphins Defending the run , Bear, under, pro look vs The 49ers , Jets,Rams

The Dolphins are now the #1 defense in the NFL

The Miami Dolphins, under Coach Brian Flores are playing competitive football. They are being led by their defense who have put up 2 very good games the past 2 weeks.

In the last 2 weeks, they held the Jets to 148 passing yards and 49ers to 128 passing yards. That's pretty impressive.

2020 Defensive stats:

Scoring: 3rd in the NFL 18.8 points per game

3rd down percentage: 1st holding teams to 31% efficiency

Sacks: 6th in the NFL in sacks led by Emmanuel Ogbah. Ogbah is playing very good both against the run and in pass rush situations.

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Xavier Howard hasn't let up a reception in 2 games. Pretty impressive corner back.

Eric Rowe and especially Brian Mccain are playing very well in the secondary at safety.

 McCain is a top 10 safety right now.

Dolphins vs. 49ers

The Dolphins went to the Bear front on early downs.

The Dolphins used 2 coverages when they went to the bear front.

They played man free and played combo on the running backs with the 2 ilb.

They sent a five man pressure

They also played cover 3 where they dropped the safety to the weakside into the box to play cutback and give them an 8th defender in the box.

Here are some clips in which you will see some of the concepts above.

On 1st and 10

The  Dolphins go pro vs. 21 and bring the safety down to the tight end side. The safety plays cutback and they have every gap covered. They end up getting 5 on the play but a solid scheme. video clip #1 below.

On 1st and 10 a few plays later,

the Dolphins are in a pro look and they play cover 2 to the bottom of the screen and 1/4's to the top.

They cause confusion with the LT Williams and thus he gets beat inside because he gets no help from the guard. This puts the 49ers off track and into a 2nd and 17 situation. see the 2nd video clip below.
 

The 2 clips of the above diagrams are below.

Situation 4th and 1:

Dolphins up 7-0

49ers in gun

Dolphins: Pro Look 3,5 and 9 tech to the tight end side.

The 49ers get 11 yards on 3rd and 12. It sets up a 4th and 1 and watch the job #91 Ogbah does on this play. Wilkins #94 does a nice job as well against the left side of the 49ers line.They stuff them on 4th and 1 and this was a big play. 

As you can see the Dolphins do some good things on defense. They shut the Jets out the following week and I think this unit will get even better. 

Vs. The Jets

1st and 10 

3 yard gain that Gore makes something out of nothing.

The Dolphins send the slot and slant the front side to the A and B gap.

                                                

Should be no gain as the LB is in perfect position

2nd and 2

The Dolphins play good fundamental football. Squeeze with the de, lb fills and spills it. no gain

1st and 10

The Jets go 13 personnel and the Dolphins go to their 4-3 base personnel with an  under front .Olb plays crease technique but gets blown off the ball a little bit. The Jets get 3 on the play . 

                                                 

Dolphins spark the defensive end and go cover 3 

Here are the 3 clips  from above.

Dolphins vs Rams

The Dolphins played the Rams.

Things to understand about the Rams offense:

1. Early downs they use a lot of jet motion

2. They run condensed sets the majority of the time.

3. They rely on placation and misdirection on the early downs.

The Dolphins used many bear fronts against the Rams on early downs in conventional sets and when they went empty, they really went to double mug looks and gave the Rams issues with lots of pressure.

So here is a first and 10.

Trips bunch right

Rams run boot off the wide zone.

                                          Dolphins bring the sam linebacker and play cover 3

Sam comes unblocked 

Rams run a ton of jet motion and plays off it. 

Dolphins stayed cover 3 vs it and played it straight.

Rams run wide zone and get 6 yards with a nice cut. 

Back makes a good cut and gets 6 yards

Here are 3 clips of the Dolphins Bear front on early downs vs the Rams with cover 3

As you can see the Dolphins have a very solid run defense. They run three front with their bear, pro look and 4-2 defense and really shut the Rams down with a  great game plan.