The Miami Dolphins entered Friday night’s contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a lengthy inactive list — many of the non-participants residing on the defensive side of the football. The Dolphins’ defense took the field without starters Raekwon McMillan, Kiko Alonso, Xavien Howard, Reshad Jones and T.J. McDonald — effectively half of the unit.
But the silver lining comes when considering how well Miami’s team defense played without these standout players — and the presence of those who were at the heart of making plays.
Linebacker Jerome Baker was once again everywhere — he easily could have logged 3 sacks on the night but had quarterbacks slip out of his grasp twice. His continued emergence and presence as a pressure player is going to alleviate a lot of the stress on Miami’s edge defenders. But he was joined by two former 1st-round picks in creating some pressure — DL Christian Wilkins and DE Charles Harris.
Credit where credit is due, Harris was impressive last night against the Buccaneers. He was forceful and acted with confidence off the edge, two things the 2017 1st-round pick has been lacking in his first two seasons.
But consider what Miami’s defense may look like when McMillan is back on the early downs and Jones/McDonald return to further free up Minkah Fitzpatrick to play to his strengths. The Dolphins’ defensive unit was better as tacklers on Friday night — but still need to polish up on their finishing skills. Add in Brian Flores’ exotic schemes and the Dolphins defense will likely be the heartbeat of this team — unlike the last two seasons under Matt Burke.
The return of defense to South Florida should be an entertaining watch — and if this team is healthy, it could provide some hard earned, low scoring wins along the way.
