Coaching staff looking for big plays and turnovers on defense

Written by Matthew Cannata | Twitter: @PhinManiacs
Heading into the game against the Oakland Raiders, the Miami Dolphins defense weren’t producing the turnovers and impact plays needed to change the momentum of the game. More specifically, they had zero interceptions after three weeks of playing football and those in the secondary were starting to get a little frustrated. However, against the Oakland Raiders, the defense intercepted the ball three times and recovered one fumble for a touchdown. It goes without saying then that Joe Philbin was pleased with the defensive side of the ball.

“Yeah, we haven't had any interceptions, and as you guys know, sometimes they kind of come in bundles.  You don't have any for a while, and then you get a bunch of them.  It was good to see different guys get them and make some plays out there." 

Against the Raiders, the Dolphins played a complete game with players contributing on offense, defense and special teams. This is something that the players and coaches have openly talked about an issue that was plaguing the team the first few weeks of the season.

"We wanted ‑‑ obviously we were a little disappointed we fumbled the ball early in the second half.  I thought we were in good shape.  We put together a nice drive, really one of the nice throws Ryan made was really ‑‑ we didn't have 3rd and long a whole lot.  I think we had what, a 3rd and 8 or 12 or something like that early in the second half.  And I thought he threw a really nice pass to Brian, one of the better ones, tough conversion, and then put together a whole drive and got down there and fumbled. You know, I thought we played ‑‑ certainly played well today, but I'm sure there's a lot of things we can do better,” said Philbin.

That work to get better will begin again on Sunday when the coaches report back to work and then on Monday when the players return to prepare for the Green Bay Packers on October 12.

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