Eagles’ Scouting Report Of the Dolphins
Ryan Tannehill. (USA Today Sports)
If you ask Chip Kelly, there is a distinct difference when watching the Dolphins since Dan Campbell took over for Joe Philbin as head coach.
“I think they played harder when Dan took over early in those first two games,” Kelly said. “When you watch them in the Texans game and the Tennessee game — and I think there has just been some subtle changes, but nothing really drastic [scheme-wise] when you look at what they were doing in the games before that happened.”
To get a better feel for what the Eagles will face this week, we talked to players and coaches about the Dolphins. Here’s what they said, plus stats detailing where Miami ranks in the NFL in points per game, yards per carry, passer rating and turnovers on both sides of the ball.
OFFENSE
| PTS/G | YPC | RATE | GIVE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21.4 (21) | 4.9 (2) | 89 (16) | 12 (T-15) |
Bill Davis on similarities between the Eagles’ offense and the Dolphins’ offense: “There really is a lot of the offense that Chip runs, and [former Eagles Quarterbacks Coach/current Dolphins Offensive Coordinator Bill Lazor] took a lot of that with him. So we see a lot of familiar plays that we’ve seen over time and that we practice all offseason. He’s got a great scheme. He’s got a running quarterback who played receiver [in college] and played it well, so he’s got the mobility piece. They have designed quarterback runs; a lot like we [faced] in Carolina.
“There’s a big bubble-screen element to it, so after the zone-read is read out, they can still hit a bubble at the end. So it’s a really dynamic offense with shifts and motions on every play, so there’s a lot of moving parts that really stretch your communication part of it. There are unique motions. So we’ve got to make sure that we’re on top of what we’re doing, but we are familiar with this offense. It’s what we see a lot of in the offseason.”
Davis on how much the Dolphins use tempo: “They go more than most. Not as much as us, but more than the rest of the league. Lately it’s been 50-50, but I think that’s [because of] some of the lopsided scores they’ve been involved in. But it’s more than most teams, not as much as us.”
Davis on if quarterback Ryan Tannehill has the full playbook available to him for audibles at the line of scrimmage: “I don’t think as much. No, I don’t. I think it’s run a lot like ours. There’s pieces he does. He’s got a lot of read options, like when you read, you can hand it, you can give it, you can keep it and you can throw the bubble. He’s in control. He’s really throwing a nice deep ball. He really impressed me when I turned on the film to watch him. In the pocket, he’s calm in the pocket, he’s not nervous in the pocket, and he throws the ball downfield well. He really was.”
Nolan Carroll on wide receiver Jarvis Landry: “He’s their main weapon on offense. He’s what makes those guys move. He’s tough, he’s competitive and they’re always trying to get him the ball — reverses, screens, whatever it might be, they’re always trying to get it to him.”
DEFENSE
| PTS/G | YPC | RATE | TAKE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25.8 (23) | 4.5 (26) | 97.1 (22) | 8 (T-27) |
Kelly on if Miami uses Ndamukong Suh similar to how Detroit did: “Yeah, he’s playing inside defensive tackle, playing the three-technique form. They’re using him as an inside kid. There are two guys, you got to know about him and you got to know about [defensive end Olivier] Vernon. They’re two dynamic players, one on the edge and one inside. They’re using him in a similar manner, yeah.”
Jason Kelce on how the Dolphins utilize Suh: “They’ve done some things, recently, to put him in better positions. Early in the season he was doing a lot of techniques where he was kind of head-up, and he wasn’t playing his usual technique of penetrating and getting off the ball. As of late, they’ve kind of let him get back to doing that.”
Kelly on how Miami defends the slot receiver: “They do a variety of things. They play a lot of zone coverage and quarters coverage. They play some match-up bracket. It’s not just a single one-on-one operation, so they give you a lot of different looks in terms of what you’re going to get over there. So it’s not always the nickel; it can be the strong safety. Sometimes if base is in the game, there’ll be a walk-down linebacker; if they’re in quarters coverage, you could get an outside linebacker out there. So you’ll see a lot of different looks in the slot.”
Kelly on the Dolphins losing Cameron Wake to a season-ending injury: “He was playing at a really, really high level. It’s obviously tough when anybody gets injured, but when you watch tape of those games when he was playing, he was playing. He was outstanding. He was as good a pass rusher, I think, in the first seven games in the season as there was in the National Football League. I would think they would miss him a little bit.