Running game a pleasant surprise thanks to Lamar Miller

Written by Matthew Cannata at 1:45 PM EST | Twitter: @PhinManiacs

Lamar Miller is in his third year in the NFL and there were many questions about him coming into this year and rightfully so. In his second year and first as a full-time starter, Miller failed to get much of anything going. However, we weren’t sure what the reason was, mainly because of the poor play of the offensive line. Fast forward to now and Lamar Miller has broken out and has elevated the Dolphins’ rushing attack to the next level.

“It’s been good for us. Like I say every week, you just play with what shows up and I’ve had a few opportunities to run and get big plays for us,” Ryan Tannehill said. “But you never know when those opportunities are going to show up. You just have to take advantage of them when they do.”

In the offseason, Miller took yoga classes and he believes it helped him a bit as it helps him stay flexible and healthy throughout the season. In addition, Miller said he did Pilates, which helped his core.

“I feel a little different. I feel like that just comes with taking care of your body and just getting massages and getting in the cold and hot tubs. On the field, I feel like the offensive line has been doing a great job. I feel like once we get the run game going, everything else will fall into place. It will open up the passing game. We’ve just got to do our assignments.”

Some have said that if Miller gets more touches per game, he can be even more explosive but offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said that he doesn’t go in with a plan each week of how many exact touches a player is going to get.

“I don’t know if you know the answer to that until you get to it. We are probably going to have a game with more than 59 or 60 plays to figure that out. Obviously, the last couple of games, we haven’t had as many plays. The number of plays we’ve had isn’t as nearly as a concern to me as the number of touchdown plays we have.”

 

Through seven games, Miller has rushed for 469 yards and 4 touchdowns, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. He’ll look to continue his breakout year against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

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