MIAMI GARDENS — Sometime during the middle of the season the Miami Dolphins run defense, which had been giving up big yardage totals on a regular basis, began to find its footing. The progress is in the numbers. The Dolphins, who still harbor “delusional” playoff dreams, have held three of their past five opponents to fewer than 90 yards rushing.

“I think it was probably Cleveland where you saw, ‘Alright, they’re starting to get it,’ ” defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said, “and as soon as that started to happen, that’s when everything started to look like how we all wanted it to look.”

The Dolphins (5-7), who have won four of their past five games, will see how far their run defense has come Sunday when they visit the New York Jets (3-9), who have won three of their past four games, at MetLife Stadium.

When these teams met on Sept. 29, a 27-21 Miami victory, the Jets rushed for 197 yards.

“It’s funny, you go back and watch that first Jets game now that we’re getting ready to play the second one and we don’t even look like the same defense,” Weaver said. “When the guys are watching it, some of the things they see, they’re embarrassed by it so that’s when you know you’re doing the right things.”

Before getting too caught up in the apparent improvement by the Dolphins run defense consider they rank 29th in the league at 137.5 yards allowed per game. Two games ago Washington rushed for 172 yards on Miami’s run defense in a 16-13 overtime loss to the Dolphins in Madrid, Spain. And two games before that, Baltimore rushed for 150 yards in a 28-6 win over Miami.

It’s also important to know that the Jets are No. 7 in the league in rushing at 133.7 yards per game. That sets the stage for one of the game’s biggest matchups because New York’s running game, led by running back Breece Hall (834 yards rushing, 4.5 yards per carry, three touchdowns), poses a serious threat to the Dolphins’ chances of winning.

But it should be noted Hall has struggled against the Dolphins more than any other AFC East opponent. Hall averages 54.4 rushing yards per game in five games against Miami, while averaging 67.4 ypg in five games against Buffalo, and 77.6 ypg in five games against New England.

The Dolphins are proud of their recent run game success.

The run defense has been led by linebacker Jordyn Brooks (league-leading 137 tackles) all season. But recently Brooks has received some long-awaited help from teammates such as defensive tackles Zach Sieler, the veteran who so far hasn’t lived up to his three-year, $67 million contract extension, and Kenneth Grant, the rookie first-round pick who hasn’t lived up to his draft status.

Youngsters such as defensive tackles Jordan Phillips, the first-round pick who might be the best draftee of the Dolphins’ 2025 class, and Zeek Biggers, the seventh-round pick who has earned playing time recently, have also helped the run defense along with veteran mainstays such as defensive tackle Benito Jones and linebacker Tyrel Dodson.

But there’s more. The way outside linebacker Bradley Chubb tells it, the run defense’s improvement stems from trust. Early in the season players were trying to do too much, they were trying to do their job and their teammates’ job because they didn’t trust that their teammates were capable. The result was the Dolphins were leaving big running lanes for their opponents. 

Now that players are trusting their teammates to do their 1/11th and no one is trying to do too much, the run defense is working better.

“(It’s) relying and trusting the guy next to you, not just feeling like you have to do the most, but knowing that they’re going to be right there and knowing they’re going to make you right, whatever you do,” Chubb said.

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There’s another factor in the Dolphins run defense success and that’s newly-added defensive coach Bill Shuey, who works with the outside linebackers along with Sean Ryan, who took over after Ryan Crow was arrested for battery before the season (the charges were eventually dropped).

Weaver decided Ryan needed some help and he contacted Shuey, the former Jacksonville outside linebackers coach (2022-24).

“I made a call after I talked to (head coach) Mike (McDaniel) and Brandon (Shore, senior vice president of football and business administration) and everybody at the time and just said, ‘Hey, we kind of need this add. This would help us,’ ” Weaver said. “(Shuey) was coaching his kids’ flag football teams, so it was funny. It was during the Cleveland week. I think he got here on Friday, and he traveled to the game. Still didn’t know (many) of the guys. The guys were like, ‘Who the heck is this guy?’ ”

Chubb said Shuey’s addition has worked well.

But again, let’s remember the Dolphins have one of the NFL’s worst run defenses and the Jets have one of the NFL’s better rushing offenses. If the Dolphins run defense does its job, it increases Miami’s chances of winning greatly.