Marcel Louis-Jacques, ESPND28. December 2023, 6:00 p.m. ET
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- Marcel Louis-Jacques joined ESPN as a beat reporter in 2019, covering the Buffalo Bills before joining the Miami Dolphins in 2021. The former Carolina Panthers beat writer for the Charlotte Observer won the APSE Award for breaking news and the South Carolina Press Association Award for business writing in 2018.
MIAMI – The Miami Dolphins, the same team that had 70 points against the Denver Broncos in Week 3, scored an offensive touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 16.
And they won 22-20.
These are the new Mike McDaniel-led Dolphins.
In 2022, Miami was an offensive team. It ranked sixth in yards per game, but ranked 24th in scoring defense, 18th in yards allowed per game, and 21st in defensive expected points added. When their offense faltered, which was noticeably the case in the final month of the season, the Dolphins' young defense and running game exposed the team as one-dimensional.
The perception of Miami as a fast, finesse team that gets pushed around by physical opponents is a narrative the Dolphins can finally shed with a win this weekend against the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens (1 p.m., ET, CBS).
“If I spent my time worrying about narrative, I would be a stressed person,” McDaniel said. “I find it kind of strange though. I feel like – I haven't checked lately – but I feel like we're pretty good at stopping the run and running the football. That’s not generally associated with cuteness.”
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“However. I mean, there will always be something.”
After an offensive outburst early in the season that left some searching for the NFL record book, Miami's defense has been the most reliable unit in the final stretch of the 2023 season. That's not to say Miami's offense has stalled, as the Dolphins lead the league with 30.9 points per game and 411.5 yards per game. But they've cooled off a bit since Week 8, averaging 367 yards per game over the past two months, tied for the sixth-most in the NFL. Miami declined the most in yards per rush at 3.9 yards per carry; It averaged 6.3 yards per rush through the first seven weeks of the season, which is a league best.
However, the defense has let up some ground. Since Week 8, the Dolphins rank second in defensive EPA (61.98), first in scoring (15.9 points per game) and yards per game (253.8), and fourth in sacks per dropback (9.4%). With two games remaining in the regular season, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's unit has already set a franchise record with 52 sacks in a single season.
In Week 16, Miami held the Cowboys — the NFL's highest-scoring offense last month — to 20 points.
It's a stark turnaround for a team that lost arguably its best pass rusher in Jaelan Phillips, its starting middle linebacker in Jerome Baker and its starting safety in Jevon Holland.
“Well, it’s a new deal every season,” Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said. “I would say it sounds cliché, but every season … you hope and pray that this is the team.”
“I think what sets this team apart from all other teams is the leaders we have on both offense and defense and the guys who are willing to… do what they need to do, to be held accountable. I would say it feels a little different this year than maybe the other years, with the teams we've had.”
It will be a challenge to keep up with the Ravens, especially after Baltimore beat the San Francisco 49ers 33-19 in Santa Clara. While Sunday's win over Dallas secured a spot in the playoffs, a win against the Ravens would secure Miami's first AFC East title since 2008 and keep its pursuit of the conference's top seed alive.
“That was an ultimate goal for the team, so they would be very happy with it. It would be secondary right now to this game and winning this game,” McDaniel said. “They want these types of games. They want to compete against the best, and that alone warrants 100 percent of our attention.”
“But you want to talk about a team that will make you pay if you go outside the boundaries of where you should be focused. They will teach you to respect them quickly and furiously. We've got our hands full in this regard, but we're also in a really, really cool moment to be a part of and enjoy because we're building on a full season of work.”
The Dolphins have caught the attention of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who said he sees similarities between the Dolphins' defense and the one he faces in practice. The Ravens defense is giving up a league-low 16.3 points per game.
“The defensive line is phenomenal,” Jackson said. “[Their] secondary is also phenomenal, [and their] Linebackers.
“Yes, I see similarities.”
ESPN Ravens reporter Jamison Hensley contributed to this report.