Miami Dolphins Mid-Week News and Notes: Week 2 against Buffalo on Sunday

By: Jason Sarney

After a victorious opener at New England, the Dolphins prepare for another divisional rival as the Buffalo Bills head to Miami Gardens and Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday. 

Here are your mid-week news and notes heading into Week 2. 

-The Dolphins kick-off their home schedule at 1-0 against the 0-1 Buffalo Bills. The Dolphins are 24-15 at Hard Rock Stadium since the 2016 season. (There was a London game that counted as a home game back in 2017).

-MIA has a 61-52-1 all-time record against Buffalo which includes 4 playoff games (MIA 1-3).

-Miami is looking to end a five-game losing streak against the Bills. The Dolphins’ last win against Buffalo was on Dec. 2, 2018.

-Jaylen Waddle was the 6th overall pick in the 2021 Draft & made an impact in his 1st NFL game. Waddle caught a 3-yard TD pass from Tua Tagovailoa in Miami's Week 1 win at New England. His 61 receiving yards were the most by a Dolphin receiver in his NFL debut & 3rd most by any Miami player in their 1st NFL game.

-With 2 fumble recoveries in the win at New England, Miami now has a takeaway streak of 23 consecutive games dating back to November of 2019.

-The Dolphins finished 6th in the NFL in scoring defense in 2020, allowing 21.1 points per game. After holding the Patriots to just 16 points in their Week 1 win on Sunday, Miami is already ahead of last year’s scoring defense pace.
-It will be an ALL FERGUSON Day in Miami when Brothers in Long Snapping & podcasting, share the Hard Rock Stadium field. Reid and Blake... Fun day for the Ferguson family.
 
-9 different Miami Dolphins got their hands on the ball Sunday against NE: Whether it was Forced Fumbles, Passes Defended or a Fumble recovery.

Rowe (FF)
By. Jones (PD)
McCourty (PD)
X. Howard (FF and FR)
Ogbah (PD)
Scarlett (PD)
E. Roberts (PD)
Holland (FF)
Sieler (Recovery).

-Myles Gaskin has two nice chunk plays of 15 yards against the Patriots. Volume may not ever be there with 20+ touches a game, but efficiency will always be there. 76 scrimmage yards against New England on 14 touches with his 5 catches (led team). He averaged 5.4 yards a touch Sunday.

-Miami made 16 1st downs on Sunday. 9 via the pass and 7 on the ground.

-According to Pro Football Reference, out of his 27 attempts on Sunday, Tua Tagovailoa made 4 "Bad Throws" That's 14.8%

Comparatively to other QBs Week 1:

Herbert (5 bad throws out of 47= 10.9%)
Burrow (5 bad throws out of 27 = 19.2%)
Josh Allen (9 bad throws out of 51 = 18.4%).

-In 50 Games played, Jacoby Brissett has 12 rushing TDs. He is a career backup, and 2021 short-yardage sneaky specialist. O/U on rushing TDs this season is 0.5. Slam the O. (I made that line up and haven't seen it). 

-DeVante Parker’s two most productive NFL seasons have come in the past two years. He has had his best years in receptions and yards in 2019-20. His 1,202 receiving yards in 2019 were 5th in the NFL that season.

Coaching quotes from Tuesday's coaches press conference:

On Tua: “I think that’s the position and it’s a very complicated equation. He’s growing each day. There’s a lot of different defenses we see and a lot of different personnel groupings and ways to strategically align that. When you combine our play with the amount of defenses that are possible, there are a lot of variables. We try to give him as many looks as possible; but ultimately when we get to game day, there is probably a new look we’re going to have to discern and make quick decisions. We harp on that with him, and he knows that. It’s a matter of being decisive. We try to give him as many looks of that in practice and move forward from there.” - George Godsey

On the offensive line, and Myles Gaskin: “Just overall with the offensive line, we were able to run the ball at times. It’s hard when you’re looking at an average and you take three knees at the end of the game. That average can kind of get a little skewed. Those guys know there are some opportunities there for some bigger plays. In the pass protection, that’s a good pass rush front. That group will cause some problems during the year for sure. For our situation at line, being able to handle some changes there during the week, and be effective and give us enough time to distribute the ball, we think that group needs to continue to improve but it was a good first outing. As far as the pistol is concerned, it’s another alignment that we look at. Some teams look at it as a back in the back field, other teams still look at it as a (shot)gun. For us, it’s just another formation. Our guys have done a good job of ball-handling to make sure we can execute that when we need to call that. On that particular play, it was well blocked for us to get the 15-yard run.” - George Godsey

-“We were able to run the ball at times.” -George Godsey
 
-“As far as the pistol is concerned it’s just another alignment” -George Godsey

-Assistant HC/ST coach Danny Crossman- “We have multiple people we feel very confident about in the return game” He references a few “young guys.”

-Danny Crossman mentions the importance of making ST plays to help in the overall field position battle. He was asked about the Touchback on a Michael Palardy punt that Mack Hollins acknowledged he should have downed. Crossman said it’s those plays that need to be made.
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“We work with all of our guys as a group.” In terms of drills to start practice to help get to the ball. -Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer on turnover and fumble creation.

-Regarding rookie Jaelen Phillips, “I think with all players, you expose them to a variety of different things and then ideally what you’d like to do is you’d like to utilize their talents to what they do best within the scheme or the structure of what we’re trying to do, given our game plan. Again, I thought Jaelan did some good things out there. I thought there were some things, like all of us, that we can improve. We’ve kind of put all of that stuff behind us and we’re full steam on Buffalo.” - Josh Boyer

On the "QB Spy" strategy and a matchup like Josh Allen: “I think there’s a time and a place for everything. The game has been around for a long time. I think we’ve kind of seen it all and things go full cycle and I think you just pick out what you feel is best for the group that you have against the group that you’re going against. Without kind of saying too much on that, I think it really comes down to personnel, what they do, what we have and what we can do. I think there’s a number of different options that you have on that. Honestly, it really goes back to you’re just trying to put your players in the best position to succeed.” - Josh Boyer