Miami Dolphins defensive grade against the New York Jets

In back to back weeks the Miami Dolphins defense did something I would not have guessed they could have done this season.

They gave up less than 250 yards of total offense.

The turnovers against the New England Patriots costed them that game, but the Dolphins’ offense did not turn it over this week and their defense carried them to victory.

I know it was against Joe Flacco and the New York Jets. I know that is not exactly a high powered offense, but the Dolphins’ defense did exactly what they should have done against an offense of that caliber.

I am giving the defensive performance from the Dolphins an A.

The consistency of the defense was impressive. In the NFL it is hard to consistently get stops. Whenever a defense has a great game it is usually because they force multiple turnovers. It is rare to see a defense only give up six points and not force a turnover.

Depending on who you are you will either complain that the Dolphins did not force a turnover, or you will be impressed by the fact that they did not need any turnovers to hold the Jets to six points.

A big reason why the Dolphins played at such a high level defensively was the defensive line. They were once again led by Christian Wilkins who will finish the regular season with 98 tackles.

That is utterly absurd.

He was second on the team in tackles with six behind safety Jevon Holland who had seven.

The front seven did not allow the Jets to run the football at all. The Jets ran the ball 20 times for 38 yards. That is under two yards a carry!! The Dolphins dominated the line of scrimmage defensively. Because of that the Jets had to throw the ball 33 times.

That is exactly what the Dolphins wanted. They wanted to make Flacco beat them, and he could not.

Part of that was the pressure the Dolphins put on him. The Dolphins’ defense had 10 quarterback hits on the day, Jaelan Phillips had four of them, but zero sacks to show for it.

The defensive line was once again the strength of this defense. The high level play from Phillips and Wilkins will have to continue if the Dolphins want to make a run in the playoffs.

Now, moving on to the secondary.

The secondary has been shaky at times this year. There have been some injuries, which has led to inconsistent play on the back end. Xavien Howard has not been as good this year.

They played well as a unit on Sunday though. I though Howard played one of his best games of the year. I know Garrett Wilson had a good day, but he was tageted 17 times, for nine catches, and 89 yards.

First, when a guy gets target 17 times he is going to have some receptions. Howard had three passes defended. In addition, 36 of the 89 yards Wilson put up were after the Dolphins surrounded him and he somehow slipped away. He caught the ball 11 yards down the field.

If the safeties had made the tackle he would have had under 70 yards receiving on nine catches. That is not a super impressive day.

I am not saying that Howard was amazing. I am just saying that he played well. Once again if a receiver is targeted 17 times he is going to have some receptions. There is no way around it. Outside of the impressive catch and run most of those receptions were for a minimal gain.

Despite being banged up, Howard is good enough to still be the Dolphins number one corner. He will need to have another good game on Sunday if the Dolphins hope to beat the Bills.