Dolphins Offense Ready To Shine Against Lions...Or Else

Much has been made in recent weeks of how the Miami Dolphins move the ball very well, but don’t always put the ball in the endzone.

Enter the Miami offense’s savior, the Detroit Lions.

Entering play this weekend, no team in the NFL has allowed more points per game than Detroit, to the tune of a 32.3 mark. They’re not particularly good at stopping anything, so the Dolphins even have options in this one. A 100-yd game from Raheem Mostert? On the table. A pair of them from Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle? A definite possibility. Only Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have accumulated more passing yards than Miami, and the Fins are top ten in overall offensive yardage.

Bottom-line, this has to be Miami’s best offensive showing since the Baltimore game. Starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is playing, and has had a full game and week of practice to shake off the rust from his long absence. Terron Armstead is suiting up, as are Hill and Waddle. There’s no excuse for the Dolphins not to have at least their second highest scoring game of the season Sunday, and it would be entirely fair to call anything less than that a massive, and concerning, disappointment.

Plus, it would also be nice if the Dolphins find a way to, you know, win the game.

Although, it should be said that the last bit is arguably second to offensive domination. Miami’s 2022 plan for success was based on two assumptions: a new explosive offense and an existing dominant defense. The pillars of that envisioned offense will all be on the field when the game starts this weekend. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of Miami’s defense. That unit has been decimated by injuries, and is in dire need of reinforcement. And while they seem to only get weaker by the week, Detroit is starting to get healthy.

The Lions could be getting back two massive playmakers this weekend in running back D'andre Swift and wide receiver Amon Ra St. Brown. If he plays, tight end T.J. Hockenson will be the biggest threat Miami has faced at that position since Baltimore’s Mark Andrews- and he made Miami’s secondary look silly even when they had Brandon Jones and Nik Needham back there to help out. Detroit’s defense is terrible. Their offense is a different story, and is entirely capable of trading blows with Miami. This game could easily be high scoring. In truth, the only reason to really feel confident in Miami’s chances of shutting them down beyond the teams’ respective win-loss records is a 2020 Dolphins-Rams game, when Josh Boyer’s blitz heavy defense was able to heavily rattle former Rams/now Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Goff had two picks and two fumbles in that one. On the one hand, quarterbacks that have seen the Dolphins bag of tricks tend to fair better the next time out. On the other, Jared Goff isn’t exactly Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen. Whether or not he can adjust to Miami’s scheme, and whether the Dolphins can generate the kind of pressure and/or takeaways they did in that Rams game will go a long way to deciding the outcome.

In short, the defense could well struggle. Understandably so. Miami could even lose, as anything can happen in a shootout.

All of this is to say that the Dolphins front office knows they have injury issues, and are very likely currently weighing how aggressive they should get with bringing in outside help by the NFL trade deadline. Win the game, or at least lose it in a way that shows that some part of the 2022 plan is working, and fans should expect that help to be acquired. Lose badly though? Either blown out, or just on the wrong end of the kind of game fans saw Sunday night? The front office might conclude, somewhat justifiably, that they’re better off keeping the draft capital and trying again next year after picking a slew of linemen and corners.

The Dolphins should win. The Vegas scoring odds significantly favor them, even as a road team. That said, I just have a hard time seeing Miami’s defense squash this many playmakers. The final score might not end up looking like it, but much like last week, this will feel closer than you’d like.

Dolphins 34, Detroit 24.

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