The Miami Dolphins defense has regressed this season, and it’s been a big disappointment. The Dolphins basically brought back everyone, including their coaching staff, with a couple of new faces. The defense was the reason the Dolphins went on a 7-game winning streak last year and carried the team, so why not bring back everyone? But how a season has changed things, the defense, in some regards, has become a weakness of this team. 


Now injuries have been an issue, especially in the secondary. Bryon Jones hasn’t played this year because of a setback in his off-season surgery. Nick Needham and Brandon Jones both suffered season-ending injuries earlier in the year. With Byron Jones out, the Dolphins can’t play enough press coverage on the outside because of the inexperienced depth, but Kador Kohu has played well this year. The defense doesn’t blitz the safeties as much with Brandon Jones out. The secondary is playing more zone or soft coverage at times than in previous seasons. 

However, the defensive front has a very talented group led by Christian Wilkins and Zach Seiler. They both have played well against the run and clogged up the running lanes. The problem is the edge rushers aren’t getting to the quarterback consistently. The Dolphins did lose Emmanuel Ogbah to a season-ending injury at midseason, but he was having a down season even before the injury. Melvin Ingram has had 6 sacks this year, but he’s been quiet for the most part the last month, and at 34 years old, his body is wearing down from the grind of the season as he gets older. Jalen Phillips has seven sacks and has been coming on of late. In fact, his overall game has improved, but it must go to the next level in the last three games if the Dolphins are going to make the playoffs. 


 The player that really must step up is Bradley Chubb. The Dolphins gave up a first-round pick and gave him a big contract to the pass rusher to close out games, and so far, he hasn’t done that. He has 2.5 sacks in 6 games and isn’t making the impact the team was looking for when general manager Chris Grier made this deal. Grier made this move because he believes Chubb is an elite pass rusher who can take the defense to the next level. Well, this is the time of the year that the best players play their best, and Chubb must step up if the Dolphins are going to make the playoffs and become serious contenders. 

A good pass rush can help the defensive backs out because they don’t have to cover as long and potentially get exposed. Think back to the late 90s into the 2000s; the Dolphins could rush four and get to the quarterback, and defenders didn’t have to cover as long or the quarterback got rid of the ball early and forced a turnover. The Dolphins aren’t generating sacks. A criticism of this defense is they don’t play well against better quarterbacks and ones that can move around, like Josh Allen last week, and it’s a fair point. The week before against Justin Herbert, they got pressure, but he was able to keep the play alive because the defenders didn’t finish the play or allowed the quarterback to break contain and make big plays. That will be the issue with Aaron Rodgers on Sunday. Even though the Green Bay Packers are having a disappointing year, they still have Rodgers, and he is dangerous outside the pocket. It concerns me a great deal in this game. If the edge rushers can set the edge and keep Rodgers in the pocket, they should be fine. 

The Dolphins also aren’t coming up with 3rd down stops as teams the last few have been converting over 50% on 3rd down conversions. Part of that is the pass rush or lack of. It’s good to get pressure, but the Dolphins must finish plays on 3rd down and that includes sacking the quarterback. If Rodgers is given time, it could be a long day for the Dolphins. 

These last few games are why the Dolphins acquired Chubb to improve the pass rush to get us over the hump. It’s time for him and the others to generate a pass rush the last few weeks or our season won’t include the playoffs.Â