Dolphins week 13 opponent preview: San Francisco 49ers

This Sunday, the Dolphins will travel to San Francisco Santa Clara, California to do battle with a hot 49ers team in a game that really should have been flexed to Sunday night. Sunday afternoon will feature two division leaders go head-to-head in what many are calling a “revenge game” for Dolphins’ head coach Mike McDaniel.

Here is what you need to know about McDaniel’s former squad:

The 49ers are going streaking.

Since getting embarrassed by the Kansas City Chiefs 44-23 in October, the 49ers have been on a tear.

San Francisco has won four straight and the Niners’ defensive unit has only allowed 10 points per game over that span, including a 13-0 shutout of the New Orleans Saints last weekend. There are all-pro-level players on every level of the defense.

It all starts with Nick Bosa. Bosa, who was just announced as the NFC defensive player of the month for November, is a game-wrecker. The DPOY candidate has 11.5 sacks on the year thus far and has a 29.6% pressure percentage on his pass rush snaps — that’s just insane.

Bosa’s pass rush presence also allows other players on the Niners’ defense to flourish, such as linebackers Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, who have 81 and 80 tackles on the year, respectively. If the Dolphins want any chance to end the Niners’ hot streak, they must limit Nick Bosa’s damage and make the other guys beat you.

That may mean we see the Dolphins go with the quick game — Tua might have to get the ball out quickly on Sunday. It would be risky to rely on long, developing routes since we saw the Texans eat Tua alive four times last weekend.

This 49ers pass rush is astronomically better than Houston’s.

Jimmy Garoppolo is efficient… in a clean pocket

Overall, Jimmy Garoppolo is a very average quarterback.

The difference between the good Jimmy G and the disaster we all saw in Super Bowl LIV is how comfortable the defense lets him get. If Garoppolo is able to stand in the pocket untouched all day, he will pick apart a defense.

However, if he starts to feel pressure, that’s a different story.

The Dolphins must find a way to get some pressure on Garoppolo. With Deebo Samuel questionable to play with a quad injury, the quick passing game and receiver runs may not be there for San Francisco, forcing Garoppolo to drop back and look downfield.

This is a perfect opportunity to show why the Dolphins traded for Bradley Chubb. If there was one game to break out, it would be this one. A good sign from last weekend’s game was that the Saints were generating pressure by rushing only four; they did not need to blitz to rattle Garoppolo. The 49ers only scored 13 points.

Make Jimmy Garoppolo uncomfortable and the overthrows and interceptions will come.

Sunday may come down to who can make one explosive play

The 49ers absolutely love the low-scoring defensive affairs. That’s just NFC West football.

The Dolphins are not used to that, especially this season. Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are pretty used to doing whatever they want against defenses and putting up 30-40 points a game — full of explosive plays.

This 49ers defense is a different animal.

The big plays simply won’t be there on Sunday night. That defensive unit is just too sound. Sunday may come down to who can make one explosive play. Will it be Christian McCaffrey breaking one free for San Francisco or can Tyreek Hill get behind the corner for a long ball? One play may be the difference.

The bottom line

Sunday will in all likelihood be a frustrating game to watch as a Dolphins fan. Be prepared for lots of punts, sacks, and turnovers — and not a lot of scoring. If you can, pick up Jason Sanders or Robbie Gould for your fantasy team. They may be the highest-scoring options for this game.

It will be an ugly game that will truly test the resilience and adaptability of the Miami Dolphins. What happens when the offense can’t score every drive? Can the defense pick up the slack if the Dolphins punt it ten times on Sunday? Can the Dolphins beat the Niners at their own game?

It will be a really good litmus test for how far Miami can make it in the postseason as the weather gets colder and the defenses become stiffer.

Kickoff is slated for 4:05 ET at Levi’s Stadium. The 49ers open up as four-point home favorites.