Mike Wallace Continues Physical Play

Mike Wallace was not a favorite of many fans last season. He was a one dimensional speed player and when you took that away from him he was nothing more than a body in a uniform. Last season Wallace played the diva card and more often than not stepped out of bounds to avoid the hit, refused to go up after a poorly thrown ball and fight to bring it down, give up on a play even after it led to an interception. In other words, Mike Wallace was a waste of $60 million of Stephen Ross’ money.

We sure are glad that we were wrong.

The Miami Dolphins 2014 Mike Wallace is nothing compared to what he was last season. He still has the speed that Ryan Tannehill can’t connect with and his yards per catch has dropped to around 12 but he is playing with more physicality than he has played with in his entire career. Wallace continues to lower his shoulder and drive defenders back along the sideline for an extra two yards. On Sunday he did it twice. One of those amounted to his lone touchdown of the day. A quick screen that he muscled into the end zone on. The man is playing possessed. It’s his 4th touchdown in five games dating back to last season.

The Dolphins only targeted Wallace three times on Sunday but there will be games like that in the NFL and he knows it.

"“It’s football, but it’s still a game,” Wallace said. “As long as you’re having fun out there, the sky’s the limit.”"

Thus far in this short season Wallace has 20 receptions for just over 250 yards and has only two receptions greater than 20 yards. That is the fault of Ryan Tannehill and not Wallace. His longest reception is 30 yards, half of what he was used to in Pittsburgh most of the time. While Wallace is ranked 31st among receivers in yardage he has really helped the team with converting downs into a new set. Wallace has 13 first downs on the season. Take away the three scores and and only four of his receptions have not amounted to moving the chains.

Wallace has found a new mindset and it’s working well within the concept of the team. He attributes it to the more aggressive approach of OC Bill Lazor and was not a fan of Mike Sherman’s offense from a year ago. If Ryan Tannehill can figure out how to hit Wallace deep, the entire offense will open up and Mike Wallace will become that home run threat everyone expects him to be.