Miami Dolphins are 3-2 against Chargers in last five games

The Miami Dolpins and the L.A. Chargers have been pretty close of late with Miami having a 3-2 lead.

The last time the Miami Dolphins played the Chargers, they probably wish they could forget about it. Miami lost 30-10 at Hard Rock Stadium last season.

While the Dolphins own the series lead 18-16 the last five games have been interesting with the Chargers blowing out the Dolphins last year but Miami blowing the Chargers out 37-0 in 2014. That was a brutal game for the Chargers that was highlighted by Dan Campbell’s second win as the Dolphins interim head coach.

The three games in the middle of this five game stretch? The Dolphins have won to close games by a combined nine points. In the lone Chargers win, a 30-14 ugly loss by Miami, the Dolphins opted to not show up.

Looking back to last season it is amazing how much has changed for both teams. Phillip Rivers is now the starting quarterback for the Colts and Josh Rosen who started for the Dolphins last year is now on the Tampa Bay practice squad.

This week will feature two rookies taken not only in round one but one selection apart with Tua Tagovailoa going at number 5 and Justin Herbert at number 6 overall.

In 2019, the Dolphins held an early first quarter lead but by the end of the quarter the Chargers were on top 10-7. Miami would tie the game in the 2nd quarter a late TD drive by Rivers would put the Chargers up 17-10 and they never looked back in the 2nd half.

Miami gave up 13 points in the second half but the anemic offense couldn’t add to their total.

Today should go a lot different. The Dolphins defense, gutted a year ago, is looking stellar and while they will miss Kyle Van Noy and Christian Wilkins who are both on COVID-19 IR, Miami’s defense should be able to get to Herbert and force him to play out of his rythym.

On the other side of that line, the Chargers will be without Joey Bosa and that should help the Dolphins tackles keep Tua Tagovailoa upright. Miami has faced tough defenses the last two weeks against the Rams and Cardinals but the Chargers defense is inconsistent and while the offense has jumped out to big leads, the defense has consistently let the team down and blown those leads.

Today should be a good game and it will likely be close but if the Dolphins defense can get inside Herbert’s head and make him throw when he doesn’t want to, they could shut them down. The good news is that of the three QBs they have face in the last three weeks, Herbert is the least mobile.