3 sneaky keys for the Miami Dolphins to get back on track vs the Chargers

The Miami Dolphins have an elite offense and don’t have to change much of anything except maybe run the ball a hair more.

We saw last week against the 49ers that the Miami Dolphins and Mike McDaniel only ran the ball 8 times. That’s it.

Now, McDaniel came out this week and said that he needs to do a better job of mixing in the run. He also said that “game flow” sort of prevented him from thinking about running more. I can understand that.

Game flow is one of those things you hear coaches say often when they don’t run it enough. It’s annoying to hear because all we think is “well, you’re calling the plays, just call more runs.” It’s not that easy. Miami was down points all game except when they were up 7-0 and 7-3. After that, they were chasing points. It wasn’t a ton of points that Miami was down, but when you’re turning the ball over like the Dolphins were it makes every possession you have even more important to get points out of it.

The Miami Dolphins are fantastic at throwing the ball. So, when you’re down against a team who you know is going to try and bleed the clock, which is what the 49ers are all about, trying to establish the run and dominate the line of scrimmage is something you simply don’t have time for.

Plus as I’ve stated in this article and earlier in the week, McDaniel’s play calls yielded open receivers. Miami does run the ball more in last week’s game if the offense connects on more of those plays where receivers were open.

So, adding in a few more runs early particularly on 3rd and shorts where you know you’re going to be going for it on 4th down will help. You have Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. Let those guys eat. They didn’t get much run last week which means they should be dying to run with the ball.

The Chargers rank 29th against the run giving up 151 yards a game. Yes, run the ball a little more.

Keep the same passing game strategy that you always do. Obviously, passing strategies change based on the opponent a little but if you can get everyone open like they were against the 49ers, you certainly can do it against the Chargers. The Chargers rank 19th in pass defense, and 27th in pass defense over their last three games. Yes, pass the ball over the yard.