The Miami Dolphins will be ready to close the book on a frustrating Week 1 when they arrive at the team facilities tomorrow to begin preparations for yet another AFC East opponent next Sunday. Miami, who will face the Buffalo Bills in Week 2, will need to learn quickly from their errors on Sunday — and perhaps learn a lesson or two from how they handled personnel amid the swings of momentum throughout the game for the Dolphins throughout their 21-11 loss to the Patriots.
Scanning through the summary of snap counts for Miami offers no shortage of surprises — and we’ll need the next few weeks to identify whether these usage trends are a sign of something bigger or simply offer a look at Miami’s game to game flexibility in personnel.
Here are the biggest standouts from Miami’s Week 1 snap counts against the Patriots.
Defensive bookends
The Dolphins saw Shaq Lawson (60 snaps) and Emmanuel Ogbah (55 snaps) serve as staples for the Dolphins up front. The usage of both ends dwarfed both primary interior defenders in Christian Wilkins and Davon Godchaux (who logged 43 and 44 snaps, respectively). Yet for their volume of snaps, the Dolphins couldn’t quite seem to secure a consistent level of production from either player — and the Patriots had success on several reps working the edges against the Dolphins in the zone read game. Miami knew coming into the season that neither defender was super fluid or twitchy to move in space, but how the team looks to counter in the coming weeks as teams attempt to replicate New England’s success on the edge will be a critical storyline to watch.
Myles Gaskin’s big day
RB Myles Gaskin logged more snaps (39) than any other back against the Patriots. It wasn’t particularly close, either. The next highest total for a back was Matt Breida’s 14 snaps. Was this a matter of a hot hand against New England? Or is this a troublesome sign for anyone expecting Miami’s two-headed approach of Jordan Howard and Breida helping to boost their fantasy team?
Gaskin did the best job finding room to run, but his per-carry production was equal to what we got from Breida. There’s no apparent answer here for now, but this will be a trend to watch as Miami searches for which players they can trust the most with the ball.
Isaiah Ford out-snapping Jakeem Grant
Isaiah Ford was the Dolphins’ second most-active receiver with 46 snaps on the day, a full 13 more than what Jakeem Grant saw on offense. Given Grant’s campaign this offseason to prove himself a competent receiver, the Dolphins may not necessarily agree. It is understandable to be conservative with Grant due to his durability history, but Isaiah Ford pulling that level of snaps was certainly a surprise.
If Ford is going to pull that workload in a potential absence of DeVante Parker, he’s going to have to be a lot more productive for Miami to justify keeping him in such a prominent role.
