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Upon Further Review: More Takeaways from Dolphins' Week 4 Win

The Miami Dolphins got their first win of the season, and the film shows some improvement across the board.
Dante Collinelli|
Miami Dolphins tight end Darren Waller (83) reacts after the game against the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami Dolphins tight end Darren Waller (83) reacts after the game against the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

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Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins got their first win of the season on Monday, and it came against the division rival New York Jets.

So, for the first time this year, we can actually evaluate the tape of a winning football team. While there were a good bit of positives, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in South Florida. Still, the Dolphins showed some steps in the right direction on both sides of the ball. 

Let’s take a look at some takeaways from the tape. 

A New Offensive Wrinkle? 

It’s a bit of a small sample size, and the Dolphins might’ve only done it because the Jets were struggling to guard it, but Miami had six under center, play-action passes on Monday — the most since Week 10 of last season. 

This is nothing crazy from a scheme perspective, but it’s historically not something the Dolphins do much. In fact, Monday night featured the highest passing rating (135.4), most completions (4), and most passing yards (55) on such concepts since the 2022 season. 

Here’s one early in the game to Tyreek Hill. He comes in motion before the snap, telling Tua Tagovailoa that this is likely zone coverage. However, the Jets are in man. 

There’s a lot to watch with this play, but the first point is New York’s linebackers. Watch how hard they commit to the run. Miami’s formation and personnel (two tight ends on the line, Ollie Gordon) scream run. 

The next player to watch is Sauce Gardner, the CB at the bottom of the screen. He tries to stay connected to Hill, but he gets picked by Julian Hill’s route. Plus, Waddle’s vertical cleared out the other CB, and all the linebackers are flowing to the run. 

Miami came back to a similar play later in the game. With Hill injured, Waddle gets the backside route this time, and again, Gardner is the CB in coverage. He tries to pass Waddle off, and nobody is home, leading to an easy completion. 

Tua’s second touchdown pass to Darren Waller was another under center, play-action pass, and it was the Dolphins’ first touchdown on such a concept since Week 15 of 2023 against the New York Jets. 

Again, it’s difficult to say how relevant this will ultimately be. Perhaps Miami saw the Jets overcommitted to the run on tape and knew it could win with a few of these. 

However, with Hill out, it is in the Dolphins' best interest to continue building on this, even introducing Tua to more traditional play-action concepts without the use of boots. 

Welcome Back, Darren Waller

The other big story on offense was Waller’s debut. He caught three passes on four targets for 27 yards and two touchdowns, so it was a pretty efficient debut. 

This is another small sample size, but Waller gives the Dolphins something different, and they’ll need all the juice they can get without Hill in the lineup. 

Waller’s first catch is a good example of his ability to win in man coverage. Watch his motion from out wide into the bunch. 

This gives him a leverage advantage on the cornerback, and Waller’s above-average athletic profile lets him win easily. 

His first touchdown is a more impressive play, though. The Dolphins haven’t had a player capable of high-pointing the ball like that since Mike Gesicki in 2022. Waller’s body control and natural ball skills jump off the screen on this catch. 

Asking Waller to be a high-volume player doesn’t seem wise. Miami had a specific plan for him on Monday, and it worked. However, he gives the Dolphins something different to do in the passing game. He’s a physical receiver capable of winning a jumpball — they can lean into that at all three levels of the field. 

Run Defense Woes 

The Dolphins’ run defense got off to a rough start against the Jets. New York’s opening possession featured 79 rushing yards and would’ve resulted in a touchdown if Jack Jones hadn’t punched the ball out of Braelon Allen’s hands at the goal line. 

A lot of the opening drive looked like the play below. This was the first play for New York, which featured six offensive linemen and two tight ends. 

Watch the entire Miami defensive line get collapsed to the left, right off the snap. Rookie Kenneth Grant gets pushed about two gaps out of his spot, and it’s all just dominoes falling over from there. 

Even when the Dolphins did get some penetration, they couldn’t capitalize. Watch Jordan Phillips get into the backfield but miss on tackling Breece Hall for a loss. 

Now, it would be fair to point out that the Dolphins’ run defense settled in a bit in the second half. If you remove the 79 yards on the opening drive and Fields’ 43-yard scramble, the Jets only ran for 75 yards the rest of the game. 

Miami did play marginally better against the run in the second half. Zach Sieler held his ground better, and Grant blew up a play, too. However, the Jets only ran the ball 12 times in the second half because they were down by two scores most of the half. 

Still, Miami’s run defense is an issue. The interior defensive line is getting blown off the ball early in games way too easily. The Jets, for all their faults, are a good running team, but the Dolphins must find more consistency up front against the run. 

Pass Rush Improvement? 

Perhaps the biggest theme of the Dolphins’ season was the lack of pressure generated by the defensive line, forcing Miami to blitz way more than it wanted to. 

Well, the Dolphins showed some progress in this area on Monday. Pro Football Focus awarded Miami 20 pressures, and seven of those came on blitzes. 

That combination has moved the Dolphins from last in pressures to 27th, and from the most blitz-heavy team to the second most blitz-heavy team. 

While Miami’s pass rush showed signs of life against the Jets in general, PFF was pretty generous with some of the pressures. A few of them came super late in the rep when Fields already had plenty of time from a clean pocket. 

There were also a couple where Miami got into the backfield because they sold out on a short-yardage play, and the Jets tried to run play-action, leading to easy free runners. 

Still, though, even if Miami should have 15 pressures and not 20, that’s a huge improvement. Monday was Miami’s first game with 10 pressures since last season. 

Although Miami is still blitzing too much, it was nice to see some of its pressures get home. Watch Tyrel Dodson come as a late looper to get the strip sack on Fields. 

The Dolphins drop Bradley Chubb into coverage and send Dodson late, encouraging the RB to run a route instead of staying home to protect. 

This isn’t sustainable, but it’s also the closest Miami has gotten to being the type of defense it wants to be — we’ll see if it can build on that. 

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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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