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Upon Further Review: More Takeaways from Dolphins' Week 11 Win

The Miami Dolphins' running game showed a lot of promise against the Commanders.
Dante Collinelli|
Miami Dolphins running back De'Von Achane (28) carries the ball defended by Washington Commanders linebacker Jordan Magee (58) in the second quarter during the 2025 NFL Madrid Game at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Miami Dolphins running back De'Von Achane (28) carries the ball defended by Washington Commanders linebacker Jordan Magee (58) in the second quarter during the 2025 NFL Madrid Game at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins won their fourth game of the season Sunday, beating the Washington Commanders 16-13. That means we’ve got a second straight week of winning tape to review. 

It wasn’t a pretty win for the Dolphins, as they struggled in key situations on offense and relied more on Washington shooting itself in the foot than actually stopping them on defense. 

Let’s take a look at a few takeaways after watching the tape. 

Miami’s Running Game Is a Strength Now 

Washington has one of the worst defenses in the sport, but Miami has been building up to having a consistently strong running game for a while now, and it felt Sunday might have been the final piece. 

On the game’s first play, the Dolphins came out with three tight ends. Greg Dulcich was in the slot while Julian Hill was attached to the line, and Daniel Brunskill — a sixth offensive lineman — was offset next to him. 

The Dolphins then proceed to run a power concept, pulling Aaron Brewer and Cole Strange into space. Brunskill does a good enough job collapsing the end, and Brewer and Strange find work in space. 

On the next play, the Dolphins got even more creative. They come out in pony personnel (2 running backs) and have Brunskill as the H–back. 

The Dolphins run “crack toss” out of this formation, which asks a wide receiver — in this case, Cedrick Wilson — to block a defensive end, while the tackle (Larry Borom) pulls out into space. 

The wrinkle is Brunskill running out of the backfield like this will be a split zone concept. Miami keeps good numbers because it has Ollie Gordon offset as a lead blocker. Wilson gets enough of his man, and Borom connects on his block in space. 

It wasn’t just De’Von Achane getting all the diverse concepts, either. This run was a lead-counter concept that led to a good run for Gordon. 

Watch Hill’s pre-snap motion pull the linebackers one step to the right. That makes it easier for Brewer and Brunskill to climb to the second level and wall them off. We also get a good block from Jonah Savaiinaea, who seals his assignment backside. 

Brewer and Brunskill win at the second level, and Alec Ingold leads through the hole for an easy first-down run for Gordon. 

The diversity of Miami’s running game is what makes these plays so impressive. The Dolphins were practically an outside zone-only team under Mike McDaniel. Now, they’ve got jumbo formations, multiple tight ends, and creative power concepts. 

The addition of a sixth offensive linemen has been a game-changer. On 16 rushes with an extra offensive lineman, the Dolphins had 103 rushing yards and averaged 3.63 yards before contact. 

That is incredible efficiency, and while it likely won’t look this good every game, Miami’s strength on offense is running the ball. 

Dolphins' Short-Yardage Woes Return

While the running game deserves a lot of praise, one of the team’s old problems reared its ugly head on Sunday. Miami has mostly done well in short-yardage situations this season, but it struggled against Washington. 

The Dolphins had five rushing attempts on third and fourth down with less than three yards to go. They only had one conversion, Gordon’s touchdown in the fourth quarter. 

Miami ran Duo on this play, and the key blocks come from Hill, Strange, and the right side of Borom and Brunskill. Brewer doesn’t get a ton of contact off the snap, but Strange comes downhill to wall off the DT enough. 

Then, you get an excellent fill block by Hill, who clears Wagner out of the hole. The Borom and Brunskill blocks aren’t pretty, but they get enough of their guys to keep the hole open. 

As mentioned, though, this was largely an outlier for the Dolphins. 

This was the Dolphins’ first time getting stuffed. It’s third-and-2, and the Dolphins try to pull Savaiinaea across the formation and hit the gap he’s coming from. However, Strange gets swimmed to the ground by Javon Kinlaw, and Frankie Luvu stepping into a gap before the snap clogged things up a bit. 

This next one comes on the goal line. Miami’s offensive line does its job, as it collapses the line down to the right pretty well. Savaiinaea and Paul create solid displacement, but the key blocks on this play are Hill, Ingold, and Jaylen Waddle. 

Ingold shoulders his guy to the ground, but the opposite happens to Hill, allowing Luvu to get essentially a free run at Gordon. 

Here, we have another stuff on the goal line. This is a touchdown if Strange doesn’t get beaten by Kinlaw so quickly off the snap. Washington’s end tried to set a hard edge, but mostly just ran himself out of the play. 

This should be a walk-in for Achane, but Strange blows his block. 

This was the controversial fourth-down call, and it’s a lot of the same issues covered above. Miami goes with a jumbo set, but there are just too many losses up front for this play to have a chance. 

Strange gets compressed into the pocket, and Brunskill gets beaten by Luvu into the gap. There’s an argument that Brewer’s chip on No. 97 could’ve been better to help create an easier angle for Strange. 

However, I think Strange was supposed to seal that way regardless. Either way, the penetration from Luvu would’ve blown this play up. 

Coming into the game, the Dolphins were 13 of 16 on converting on third and fourth down with three yards or less to go. It just wasn’t a good day against Washington — it’s not the time to panic, yet. 

Quick Takeaways 

  • All three of Miami’s rookie defensive tackles made plays in this game. We’ll cover that in-depth in our rookie review. 
  • Chop Robinson needs to find an inside counter of some kind. He’s way too reliant on the outside, speed rush
  • The Dolphins’ passing game needs to continue building off play-action fakes from heavy personnel packages. The straight dropback stuff is brutal. 
  • Setting aside the surprising fourth-down decision, this was another well-called game from Mike McDaniel.

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Dante Collinelli
DANTE COLLINELLI

Dante currently serves as the deputy editor of Dolphins on SI, where he’s been contributing since 2022. He began his career covering the NFL Draft for Blue Chip Scouting and spent four years covering the Temple University Football team. For the past three years, Dante served as the Deputy Editor for The 33rd Team, working with former players, coaches, and general managers, while building a team of NFL writers.

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