Friday Mailbag: Dealing with the Saints Defense, Why It Took So Long With Duke, Evaluating Tua, and More

The third and final part of the post-Jets, pre-Saints SI Fan Nation All Dolphins mailbag:

From Chip Paucek (@chippaucek):

What do you think is the biggest key to the Saints game?

Hey Chip, I’m fully confident the defense can hold the Saints offense in check, whether or not Taysom Hill is at quarterback, so to me it comes to the offense avoiding turnovers and coming up with that one big drive when needed.

From Jason Romero (@acking123):

Hi Alain, do you expect the Saints to play man up against the Dolphins offense?

Hey Jason, yes, I would expect the Saints to man up quite a bit against the Dolphins and there are few teams who have as many guys who can cover as the Saints with cornerbacks Marshon Lattimore, Bradley Roby, P.J. Williams and rookie Paulson Adebo as well as safeties Malcolm Jenkins, Marcus Williams and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. It's actually an abundance of riches the Saints have in the secondary. I easily could see the say putting Lattimore on DeVante Parker, Malcolm Jenkins on Mike Gesicki, but I'm curious as to how they'll choose to cover Jaylen Waddle.

From Brett Yarris (@b_yarris):

O-line will be facing their toughest test in a while: a D-line that just made arguably the best line in the NFL look ordinary. TB is a similar quick-strike offense. Brady and Tua are two fastest getting ball out. Will NO be well versed coming out of the TB game?

Hey Brett, yeah, I do think the Saints will be well versed on defense; the question to me is whether they can carry the same kind of intensity they had all night against the Bucs because that thing was coming through my TV set. Those dudes were just flying to the ball.

From Eric Roddy (@RoddyPFN):

Do you think Tua is good now?

Hi Eric, what an absolute fascinating question! The way you phrase it suggests you have decided that I didn’t think Tua was good before. That is something I absolutely have never written or even said in any podcast or radio interview I’ve ever done. What I have said is that I have my reservations and doubts as to whether he can become elite or a franchise quarterback because of his physical limitations (size and arm strength). I also don’t know your exact definition of “good.” For me, Tua has been very efficient — the word I keep using — for most of this season, though he clearly didn’t have a good outing against the Jets. The reality is the Dolphins have constructed their offense to complement the defense and to make life easier on the defense, as opposed to trying to win games on offense, and that means a lot of high-percentage passes and limited risk-taking. Tua has executed that offense very, very well, but at some point that offense is going to have to produce more if the Dolphins are to have championship aspirations. The offense is going to have to be more daring against better defenses, and the question is whether Tua can succeed under those circumstances.

From Chris Roney (@ChrisRoney0):

Watching the Saints vs Brady they crowded the middle of the field all night. Tua makes his living there. How do you expect Miami to attack this scheme...more RB throws, TE heavy attack or quick stuff to Waddle?

Hey Chris, I spoke with my SI Fan Nation colleage Kyle T. Mosley over at Saints News Network, and he told me what the Saints did to Brady wasn’t some one-on-a-kind thing, that they have the ability to do that to everybody. So, yes, the Dolphins are going to have their hands full. I can’t imagine they’d completely abandon the quick slants, but we certainly could see a steady diet of the quick roll-out throws if the Saints are going to pack the middle.

From Jeff Golden (@Goldenjeff72):

Alain, it seems like the O-line had to be near perfect to get any production from Gaskin and Ahmed, do you think Duke and Lindsay will take some of the stress off the O-line and maybe improve it’s play? Joyeux Noël mon ami!

Hey Jeff, Merry Xmas to you as well. I do think Duke and Lindsay have more talent than Gaskin and Ahmed as running backs and should make life easier for the O-line because I believe they’re better at reading blocks and finding creases, not to mention making defenders miss. That said, the backs can’t do it by themselves.

From Chris Brooks (@seabrooxx):

Hi Alain...we've supposedly had the Duke on our practice squad since October..why did they wait till the middle of December to bring him up? I don't think Gaskin's stats were good enough to not at least give the Duke a chance. Do you think we will see more Duke/Lindsay from here?

Hey Chris, it’s not supposedly. Johnson was signed to the Dolphins practice squad Oct. 26. Why did the Dolphins wait to bring him up? Well, he did get four carries against the Jets on Nov. 21. But the Dolphins didn’t bring him up again for another game because they obviously were satisfied with what they were getting from the backs on the roster (whether we agree with it or not is irrelevant). The Dolphins clearly felt after the second Jets game what Johnson could do for the offense and that’s why they finally signed him to the active roster.

From expatriated Floridian (@MattAlviere):

I don't get All-22 and TV only shows where the ball started and where it ended up. So my question is, are there receivers downfield who Tua isn't throwing to because he's checking down, or is Godsey dialing up 7-, 12-yard handoffs because Tua makes that possible?

Hey Matt, “Tua makes that possible”? My two-part answer is that throwing short plays to Tua’s strengths, which are a quick release and short- and intermediate-range accuracy, and it plays into the blueprint for success the Dolphins established going all the way back to last season, which is to minimize mistakes on offense but win mostly with great defense and special teams.