5 things we learned about the Miami Dolphins dismantling of the Panthers
By Matt Serniak
I can write about how the defense is flat-out putting the boots to every team every week. I really can and I plan on to for the rest of the year.
One thing I love in particular was that after the Dolphins got beat by the DJ Moore play, something I’m not sure why it happened, and they didn’t say to themselves, “well, we have to change it up because we don’t want that happening again.” They stayed the course and knew that Cam Newton, PJ Walker, Chris Weinke, Jake Delhomme, Derek Anderson, or Jimmy Clausen were going to serve up terrible passes eventually and sure enough that happened.
The secondary was waiting for those arrant throws because the front seven were up in Newton’s and Walker’s grill all day. The Dolphins had five sacks even without the heat-seeking missile that is Brandon Jones out. Besides those sacks, there were a ton of pressures and hurries that never let the Panthers get into any kind of rhythm.
Even when Christian McCaffrey was out there, they shut him down and didn’t let Newton find him when the hounds were released. They made sure he was covered thus making Newton do what he’s not good at and that’s throw into tight windows. The Dolphin’s secondary had a vice grip on the Panther’s receivers all day making it a lot of fun waiting for a Panthers’ quarterback to throw.
Here’s a wild stat that I wouldn’t have guessed.
Xavien Howard (@Iamxavienhoward) recorded his 25th career interception in his 67th game today.
— NFL345 (@NFL345) November 28, 2021
He is the fastest player to record 25 interceptions since 1990, surpassing Marcus Peters (68 games). #CARvsMIA pic.twitter.com/tekt1h7A1N
That’s impressive. Through the new/old look Dolphin’s defense, Howard has been sort of forgotten due to all the publicity Holland and guys up front have been getting. But let’s not mix words here; Xavien Howard is still the Dolphin’s best player even with the young guys taking off.
The defense looks like they made the necessary three shots in a row and everything they do is on fire. You can’t tell me that on those three INTs and the five sacks that there weren’t flames coming off of them NBA Jam style.
The inept New York Giants come to Miami in six days. Keep the same approach and Danny Jones will love to serve up turnovers.