The Miami Dolphins will take the field this weekend for another showcase of young quarterbacks — this time with Miami hosting fellow top-10 overall pick Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers just one week after clashing with the Arizona Cardinals. With the Dolphins looking to continue their strong offensive play and prove that they made the right decision to draft Tua Tagovailoa, Miami’s offensive game plan will look unique without the presence of WR Preston Williams and RB Myles Gaskin.
How can they best set Tagovailoa up for success?
Here’s three areas of focus for the Dolphins’ offensive attack for Week 10:
Continue to keep Tua Tagovailoa on the move
Miami has called more designed rollouts with Tagovailoa at the helm of the offense and they’ll need to continue that methodology this week against a talented pass rush duo in Los Angeles. Joey Bosa appears on track to play this week and pairs with Melvin Ingram to give the Chargers a potent 1-2 punch rushing the passer; Miami must be ready to counter by moving the launch point and keeping these two guessing on where they need to be aiming to get home.
Let Mack Hollins absorb Preston Williams’ role
We saw at the end of the game against the Cardinals that Hollins has the size and ball skills to be a viable receiver. Hollins has all the same size that Williams affords and while he may not be as clean with his body control, he was a downfield threat during his time at North Carolina and is arguably a more smooth athlete than Williams, too. Hollins’ special teams role has allowed him to develop plenty of physicality — which he showed just before half against Arizona when he threw a critical block that allowed RB Patrick Laird to scoot out of bounds on a check down to get a first-down conversion and stop the clock.
Isolate the linebackers in coverage
The Chargers’ top three linebackers (Kyzir White, Kenneth Murray and Denzel Perryman) are all allowing opposer passer ratings in excess of 100 on the season when targeted in coverage. Whether that comes from receivers in the slot, the tight ends or the running backs, the Dolphins would be wise to dare this trio to beat them in coverage and test them early and often. If the Chargers counter by working into lighter sub-packages, Miami can then come out and counter punch with the run game against lighter boxes once they’re able to throw their weight around with their front five (regardless of who gets the call to start).
