It’s an unusual and oddly wonderful identity crisis the Miami Dolphins enjoy right now.
Namely, is this who they really are?
A run-first team. A smash-mouth team. A suddenly physical team built around De’Von Achane’s running and an offensive line that as center Aaron Brewer said about the latest win against the New York Jets, “We’re out there breaking their will and forcing our will on them. It’s our day, it’s our world. We can do whatever we want to. It’s amazing, great feeling.”
For the previous three years and nine games under Mike McDaniel, this was a pretty, pass-first team centered on the speed of receiver Tyreek Hill and the accuracy of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Even in the snow in Buffalo and the cold of Kansas City, even when Hill was injured in the fourth game this year, even when up 17-0 against Carolina, they kept throwing.
Then came the sudden and stunning transformation.
“We’ll look at the tape and change our style if we have to,’’ McDaniel said after losing to Cleveland and falling to 1-6.
He did, too. There was some necessary lineup changes the next game against Atlanta as, with two tight ends hurt, lineman Daniel Brunskill played tight end, just as he has for about one-third of the offensive plays since. That brought in a jumbo package of six linemen.
“I even go into all the motions of a tight end,’’ Brunskill said.
Even more, there was a larger change of an offensive line slowed by injury and rookie play for the opening stretch of season. It began to click for rookie guard Jonah Savaiinaea. Veteran guard Cole Strange, picked up a week before the opener, felt more comfortable.
Suddenly, a maligned offensive line became aligned, and McDaniel’s run-game background offered fresh ideas.
“For how we operate, how we’re breaking the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage, and just with our style of offense, (defenders) don’t know what’s coming,’’ Brewer said. “You can just see it in their face, they look confused. They’re spooked, they don’t know what they’re going to get hit with.”
Look at the change. The Dolphins averaged 97.2 yards rushing and just under five first downs on the ground over the first nine weeks of the year, ending in Cleveland. They’ve nearly doubled that run production over the past six games by averaging 192.3 yards rushing and 10.5 first downs.
They also have run for more than 160 yards in these past four games. That’s first time that has happened since 1977 for the Dolphins.
It’s more than just those numbers, thought. There’s also the oddity of this passing game not finding a complementary tailwind. Just the opposite, in fact. Tua had just two games that he finished with under 175 yards passing in the previous three seasons under McDaniel. He has six such games this year, including all four on this run-heavy stretch.
It’s helped over these past six games that the Dolphins have played defenses ranked in the bottom third against the run (Atlanta, Buffalo, Washington, New Orleans and the New York Jets). Next is Monday night against Pittsburgh, which has given up 249 yards on the ground to Buffalo and 217 to Baltimore the past two weeks.
“They kept running the same two plays, and we couldn’t stop them,’’ Pittsburgh edge rusher J.J. Watt said after the Baltimore loss.
Watt was hospitalized with a lung concern on Wednesday, perhaps adding to the Steelers’ issues come Monday night. The main issue, the one that has fed the change this Dolphins season, is this old-school, new identity of the offense centering on this line making room for Achane.
“There’s a difference between emphasizing it and talking about it and actually executing it,’’ McDaniel said. “I think what you’re seeing is an accumulation of so many deliberate hours. You don’t just all of a sudden wake up and want to.
“This is something that guys have worked tirelessly from coaching it to individual (drills). You guys peek at (offensive line coach) Butch Barry’s individual (drills) every day and it is full sweat, full sweat.”
Suddenly, this is who they are. Surprisingly, it looks to carry them to wherever this season goes.