MIAMI — Grand designer of the Miami Dolphins offense Chan Gailey loves to, as he has said repeatedly, take what the defense gives him.
I don’t love that approach for reasons I’ve explained in the past but Gailey’s the Miami offensive coordinator and they do what he says.
So last week the Dolphins were presented with an opportunity to take what the New England Patriots were prepared to give. The Patriots, you see, have struggled to stop the run lately and, to prove it, they allowed 186 rushing yards the game before they played Miami at Hard Rock Stadium.
So, sure enough, the Dolphins got in their take-what-the-defense-gives-you mode and tried like the dickens to run the football against the Patriots. Yes, it took them a whole half to get the memo — the Dolphins rushed for 75 yards in the first half and 175 yards in the second half — but eventually the Miami offense exposed the Patriots’ obvious weakness.
This week another opportunity arises with the Las Vegas Raiders because their defense has shown obvious warts and clues of what it’s willing to give.
And by that I’m saying the Raiders are willing, like it or not, to give you a dynamic passing game.
The evidence:
The Raiders pass defense yielded 369 yards and four touchdown passes to Tom Brady ...
... Gave up 340 yards and 2 touchdowns to Patrick Mahomes in the first game, then 348 yards and 2 touchdown passes in their second meeting ...
... Gave up 312 passing yards to Drew Brees ...
... Watched Justin Herbert roast them for 326 yards and 2 touchdowns without an interception in their first meeting and 314 yards and 2 touchdowns without an interception last week. Herbert, by the way, is a rookie.
So, in keeping the Christmas spirit all year long, the Raiders have been giving away a lot of passing yards and passing first downs and all things passing game. That’s what their defense gives you.
Well, that and points.
The Atlanta Falcons scored 43 points, the Indianapolis Colts scored 44, the New York Jets scored 28, and the Chargers scored 30 points against the Raiders in their last four outings.
In that Chargers’ game last Thursday night, the Raiders were dealing with some issues outside their control.
Cornerback Nevin Lawson missed the game with a non-COVID illness.
But the Raiders have actually been dealing with problems in their secondary throughout the season.
Their best cornerback Damon Arnette is a rookie who has missed much of the season because of COVID or injuries. Also, second-year cornerback Trayvon Mullen has been solid most of the year but was really bad last week against the Chargers. And starting safety Jonathan Abram, in his second season, has fallen victim to play-action fakes throughout the season.
All of this — all of it — suggests the Dolphins must pass the football down the field against Las Vegas on Saturday.
Right, Brian Flores?
“Relative to downfield passing, I think if there are opportunities for passes down the field, you take them,” the Dolphins head coach said Wednesday. “If there’s not, you try not to force them.
“At the end of the day, it’s about moving the ball and trying to score points and put ourselves in good position. And again, it’s like I tell the players, let’s do all the little things and then the big things hopefully show up. If you try to force the big things — you shouldn’t force the big things, you should just do all the little things.”
Did I mention Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther was fired two weeks ago?
New defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli is very experienced and perhaps one of the best defensive line coaches in the NFL. But obviously that had not quite taken yet against the Chargers.
None of this is good for the Raiders defense, particularly the pass defense. And that, of course is really good for the Dolphins offense because it presents an obvious opening that can be attacked.
So Gailey has done his homework on how to take what the Raiders will give him.
“We try to look at Rod and I really call upon those other coaches that have faced him because as we talked about a couple of weeks ago, I threw away all of my notes,” Gailey said. “I don’t have any more notes. I remember when Rod was in Dallas that we played them. I’ll try to think back to that, but it’s just you try to see what they did last week that was different from the weeks before and see where they may be headed with their defense, and you just adjust.
“This really is going to be a game of adjusting on the move.”
Here’s an idea: Adjust to throwing the football against those guys.
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