Three keys to a Miami Dolphins victory: Week 10 vs Los Angeles Chargers
How do the Dolphins keep the streak alive?
The Miami Dolphins have not lost in over a month. After beating up a couple of less talented teams, the Dolphins have won back to back statement games against the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals. Rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is improving with every drive and has left Dolphins fans with much to be excited about. Defensively, Josh Boyer’s unit has been outside of their minds and are top five in scoring. What must the Dolphins do to take down the struggling but talented Los Angeles Chargers.
Limit big plays
The Los Angeles Chargers run a very different offense than the Dolphins. While Miami loves to get the ball out quick and play on a horizontal plane, the Chargers love to go vertical and take shots downfield. Rookie phenom Justin Herbert has an absolute cannon attached to his right shoulder and is not afraid to chuck it deep when presented the opportunity. Their third receiver, Jalen Guytun, has emerged as Herbert’s favorite deep target, and has burned multiple teams for long touchdowns this year. The Dolphins could be one of those teams. With star cornerbacks Byron Jones and Xavien Howard paying a lot of attention to the Charger’s two premier receivers, Guyton has the ability to get behind Nik Needham or Noah Igbinoghene. The Dolphins need to keep everything in front of them and force the young quarterback to beat them with patient, methodical drives.
Capitalize on turnovers
As unbelievable as Herbert has played thus far, he still gives the opposition the ability to stay in the game. He’s still learning the game and has a slight turnover problem. The Dolphins, who boast one of the NFL’s most opportunistic defenses, need to capitalize on the one or two mistakes that Herbert makes. This is especially true given that Miami has their own rookie quarterback, who may make some mistakes as well, and is now playing without multiple key pieces on the offensive side of the football. There is a 100% chance that Miami’s ballhawking cornerback Xavien Howard will do everything he can to bait Herbert into a bad decision. Whether he will be able to capitalize on those plays will determine which side has the advantage.
Next. Miami Dolphins offensive power rankings heading into the Chargers game. dark
Find a way to run the ball
Without Myles Gaskin and potentially Matt Breida, the Dolphins need to find a way to gain some yards on the ground. The Chargers boast excellent pass rushers even without star edge rusher Joey Bosa. On the back end, the secondary is still among the NFL’s best even without superstar safety Derwin James. Asking rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to drop back and pass 40 times without some key pieces of his offensive weaponry is just not in the best interest of winning this football game.