What and who to watch on Miami Dolphins defense tonight

The Miami Dolphins will have their hands full on defense tonight as they face a Carolina Panther team that completely embarrassed them a year ago.

The last time the Miami Dolphins visited the Carolina’s they looked as though they stayed at home. Miami’s defense gave up 41 points to the Panthers in 2017 and we will repeat that next week when they face the Ravens. Miami gave up 40 to them last year.

Tonight, the Dolphins are hoping that their defense comes to play. Last week they did not look good against the Buccaneer’s starters and they gave up a late drive that lost them the game. Lucky for them these mean nothing in terms of wins and losses.

Will tonight be any different? Here is what to watch.

Jerome Baker – Baker had a good first outing but can he do it again? He was moved up to the first team ahead of Stephone Anthony but don’t think he is going to play like one of the starters meaning he will play a series or two then sit down. He is going to play quite a bit tonight and he needs to continue that progress. Hopefully we see more of what he did last week.

Raekwon McMillan – The fact McMillan was on the field last week was great but you could see that he wasn’t where he needs to be and tonight will give him more valuable reps in a full-contact environment with game situations. He needs to step forward from last week and he has put the film work in this week to correct those mistakes. We will see if it pays off.

Edge – Miami got little or no pocket push from the edge last week and that was a bit of a surprise given the talent. So it will be interesting to see if they can do something tonight.

2nd corner – I doubt we see much Xavien Howard tonight but we should see plenty of Bobby McCain, Cordrea Tankersley, Tony Lippett, and Torry McTyer. The Dolphins have not been pleased with the the “2nd corner” spot so expect a lot of work out there tonight. If they still are not impressed, expect the team to make trade sometime next week.

Minkah Fitpatrick – His debut last week was o.k. The highlights didn’t really show much more than his speed. He didn’t really make plays but was in the area of the ball. I want to see him make some plays not just hit a guy after the ball goes passed him or another that is in the process of dropping the ball.

Run stopping – The defensive front was horrible again last week against the run. They need to find a way to stop bleeding for opposing offenses. Carolina has a good stable of backs so they will try and exploit that weakness for the Dolphins.