Miami Dolphins Quarter Grades: Defensive Line

The Miami Dolphins have a solid defensive front but like every other position on the field they could use some improvement. Against the rush the team is ranked 13th in the league which isn’t all that bad but it is right in the middle. Anchored by free agent Earl Mitchell, the Dolphins front defensive lineman have had early mixed results.

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The unit was fantastic against the New England Patriots adding pressure on Tom Brady and collapsing the pocket while taking away the running game of the Patriots. In Buffalo the unit struggled to contain the combination of C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson and couldn’t get any pressure on E.J. Manuel who has now been replaced as the starter. The team did very poorly against the Kansas City Chiefs before shutting down the Oakland Raiders.

Again, like the rest of the team it’s an up and down week to week battle where inconsistency has shown it’s ugly head.

On offense it’s easier to point to a spot and say that is the problem, a dropped pass, bad throw, fumble. On defense it’s harder to find fault in one area as a sack can be attributed to coverage and a long gain run can attributed to lack of linebacker support. It’s not as easy as looking at the score and saying you lost.

For the most part the defensive line has played well enough to win ball games and they will continue to get better. Jared Odrick is having a very solid year as is Randy Starks who missed last weeks Oakland game. Odrick is becoming a leader on the field and off while still maintaining his typical warped sense of humor.

Sliding outside to the defensive ends we find Cameron Wake having a typical Cam Wake season. Strip sacks have been his game this year when he isn’t being double teamed like he was in Kansas City but it’s the Buffalo game that defines his inconsistency when a rookie was able to handle him on his own. Olivier Vernon has been relatively quiet this year and that is a surprise as we thought he would have far more of an impact continuing his very good season last year.

A larger issue with the defensive front however is defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle. The Dolphins have been a little out of place at times and that is his mistake. We have seen Cam Wake drop back into coverage and give up a touchdown while Coyle had not front line adjustments to handle the Kansas City triple TE set they ran so well against them. It’s these kind of issues that make it difficult to simply grade out a unit on the defense, especially one that is designed more or less to put the linebackers in position to make plays.

Final Grade: B  When I look at this unit I see a lot of good things in spite of bad scheme use and I see very good individual performances and team performances that need to get more consistent.

What to expect in the next four week?

The Dolphins front d-line need to become more dominant and take over games at the line of scrimmage. A simple coaching strategy at all levels has been for the interior lineman to push the play outside while the OLB’s drive the play back into the defensive end. If there is one thing the Dolphins have been very good at this season is stretching the field and you can see they have improved on their pursuit angles as well. Now they just need to keep it up week to week and drive to drive.