Dolphins Defense Ready to Be Elite This Year

Photo Credit: shaft20904 on Flickr

Looking back at last season for the Miami Dolphins, you see a lot of things both good and bad. Most of the bad came from the underwhelming and predictable offense. On the contrary, most of the good came from the Miami Dolphins defense.

The Miami Dolphins defense jumped from the 22nd best in 2009 to the 6th best in 2010. The biggest reason for this huge improvement was defensive coordinator Mike Nolan. Here is why: in 2009 the Denver Broncos defense was the 7th best with Mike Nolan at the helm, last season they were the worst. Not only that, the young players on the Dolphins defense grew up quickly. Paul Soliai, the nose tackle out of Utah, finally showed his worth clogging up the middle in his break-out season. Likewise, defensive end Randy Starks emerged as a pro bowler. Newcomer Karlos Dansby had 95 tackles and 2 forced fumbles and that is with two games missed due to injury. The most impactful player on the defense though was Cameron Wake, who had 14 sacks and 3 forced fumbles last season.

Looking at this season, expectations are high for this group. Fans are looking at this unit as possibly the best since the early 2000s when the defense was anchored by the likes of Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor, Tim Bowens, Patrick Surtain, and Sam Madison. The expectation is for this defense to be in the top five, and that is a definite possibility. Last year, the Dolphins entered week 17 as the 3rd best in total defense before taking out their starters and getting demolished by New England Patriots.

The aforementioned defensive line has incredible depth; with 2010 first round pick Jared Odrick coming back from injury, veteran defensive end Tony McDaniel, and often injured Phillip Merling. The line backing core I mentioned before should be even better than last season. Karlos Dansby and Cameron Wake will have another year with Nolan’s system. New addition Kevin Burnett has looked great in pre-season and seems to be an upgrade over Channing Crowder. Bringing back Jason Taylor as a situational player was a good move by the Dolphins so he can try and mentor the young guys.

Looking at the secondary, the only weak spot is Free Safety. Cornerbacks Vontae Davis and Sean Smith look to be among the best tandems in the NFL. Vontae even said so himself, much to the chagrin of New York Jets counterpart Darrelle Revis. That cockiness and “swag” is something that I appreciate and something this Dolphins team hasn’t had for a while. All Mike Nolan wants is for these guys to back up the talk on the field and I believe they can do so. If Smith can hold onto interceptions, I see these guys having double digit interceptions combined between the both of them. At strong safety, you have the reliable and very athletic Yeremiah Bell and at free safety it looks like 2nd year player Reshad Jones will get the nod with Chris Clemons hurt. I like the potential of Jones; he is a play maker and is always around the ball. He showed what he can do in a few games last year and during his days at Georgia.

I think this stacked defense will be a top five defense in the NFL this year even with their very tough schedule. The defense kept the Dolphins in games last year; let’s see if the new offense can take a little bit of the pressure off the defense this year.