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| Vontae Davis Has Been Great For The Miami Dolphins Thus Far |
The Miami Dolphins defense really showed up three weeks ago against an ailing Minnesota Vikings team by forcing multiple turnovers and huge defensive stops.
But, since then Miami has allowed a combined 72 points to the New York Jets and New England Patriots. Yes, a nice chunk of those points are because of poor Dolphins special teams, but the blame cannot completely fall on the special teams unit.
The Miami Dolphins haven’t forced a singe turnover in either of the last two games, and that has been a problem because we have turned it over 4 times in that same period. It is hard to win games when you are turning the ball over, and it is even harder when the defense is not getting you the ball back with a few turnovers of their own.
You may not remember, but a big reason for the Miami Dolphins successful turnaround two seasons ago was their ability to constantly turn the ball over on defense more than they allowed on offense. Their turnover ratio for that season was +17, and it showed with an 11-5 record.
Last season’s turnover ratio wasn’t nearly as good at -8, and it showed with a 7-9 record. So far Miami has a –3 turnover ratio, and their record reflects that at 2-2. The correlation between turnovers and wins in a season is incredibly strong, and it just reinforces the importance of a potent defense that can get you the ball.
So, will the Dolphins defense come back after two pretty bad showings?
I am confident that they can, and here is why:
The points allowed by the Dolphins in the last two weeks do not tell the whole story. We already know about the special teams allowing a lot of points, but what we don’t hear much about is the fact that our defense was able to shut down both the Patriots and Jets offenses for much of their respective games.
If it wasn’t for the two touchdowns allowed in the beginning of the Sunday night game against the Jets, the Dolphins would have held New York to a lot less in terms of yards and points. As soon as they figured out how to shut down the Jets they were able to really hold them to a lot less production.
Miami was able to hold the Patriots to even less than they held the Jets, too. At the end of the first half of the Monday night game against New England the Dolphins had only allowed 6 points, and if not for poor special teams that really just put the game out of reach I am confident that the Dolphins defense would have continued their great play.
This bye week also couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. Our defense gets plenty of time to regroup and fix what they have done wrong so far. A lot of the players on our defense, and especially our secondary, are young and they are headed in the right direction, but a little bit more time for preparation will be huge in helping them play better.
I am confident that this bye week is just what the Dolphins need to regroup, and it will give us enough time to prepare for this next brutal stretch in our schedule starting with Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. So, look out Green Bay, because the Dolphins defense will be gunning for you for their shot at redemption.
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