The one big thing the Miami Dolphins need to do to get that sweet sweet revenge over the Chargers is...
By Matt Serniak
Do you like that for a Sunday tease? You may or may not. Those are your only choices because there is no way you feel nothing toward that headline.
I wrote the other day about the sneaky keys to the game for the Miami Dolphins to pull off the Vegas line upset of the Los Angeles Chargers. You can read all about those here.
That article composed of under-the-radar elements that the Miami Dolphins, in my opinion, need to accomplish to win today. This article is about the one big thing I think Miami needs to get done in order to go 1-0.
I've racked my brain over and over on what exactly the Dolphins need to do to beat the high-powered offense of the Chargers now with a competent offensive coordinator like Danny Ocean coming up with the plans needed to pull off a heist.
There are so many ways to look at it. Obviously, folks will say the one big thing is to score more points and to that I will laugh a bit.
But you can say that the Dolphins need balance on offense, win the turnover battle, convert a good amount of 3rd downs, or simply tackle better. These are all things that kind of need to happen.
But the one thing I keep coming to that I feel is the most important aspect is whether or not the Dolphin's front four can get pressure and disrupt the timing of Justin Herbert.
I don't fancy myself an X's and O's junkie or anything like that. I didn't go back and watch tape of Vic Fangio's tenure in Denver. But from what I can remember and from what most others are saying, Fangio isn't huge into blitzing so I wouldn't expect any more cover-0 that we've seen the last three seasons.
Instead, Fangio likes to move his linebackers and secondary around like chess pieces in order to confuse QBs thus putting them in situations to make mistakes.
What this means is that whoever is on the defensive line is responsible for getting home without much-added help. That's fine with me because the Miami Dolphins are well-equipped or at least should be well-equipped to get pressure on QBs with just the front four or potentially front five if we're counting outside backers which we probably will.
Jaelan Phillips, who is getting a lot of love from the media as being a breakout candidate needs to be the beast his physique suggests he is. Bradley Chubb needs to return to his Bronco form where he was his best which coincidentally was when Fangio was his coach.
Christian Wilkins needs to play angry and take his contract issues out on Los Angeles. Zach Sieler needs to let everyone know that he isn't just some nice player that he is still a game wrecker.
Emmanuel Ogbah will be coming off the bench in pass-rush situations, I would expect. That's really good for him. I think he will do well in that spot. Andere Van Ginkel will get sprinkled in there as well
These guys and probably even more guys I didn't mention need to make life hard for Herbert because we know he can tear any defense apart if you don't make him work. I mean he can torch Miami even if they are making him move around but his life will be easier if he has all day back there.
I'm already JJ Stoked about today's game. I like the 4:30 start but it's going to make make antsy all day. It's only 8:20 and I just want to watch some Dolphin's football.
I hope everyone enjoys week one and know full well that we can all talk about how the season is over after the game, if we need too. Hopefully, we don't need too. Depends on if the Miami Dolphins show up. I think they will.
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