The Miami Dolphins have confronted Josh Allen 10 occasions in his 5 NFL seasons.
That’s a variety of familiarity with the Buffalo Bills quarterback — and familiarity for Allen towards the Dolphins.
The stakes are kicked up a notch this Sunday as Allen and the Bills meet Miami for the primary time within the postseason in Sunday’s 1 p.m. wild-card-round kickoff on Sunday at Highmark Stadium.
Allen, the two-time Pro Bowler, has principally had his approach with the Dolphins in these earlier conferences. He’s 8-2 in his profession towards the Dolphins. He has thrown 27 touchdowns in comparison with 5 interceptions and accomplished 63.7 p.c of passes for two,684 yards.
Although Allen has Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis, Cole Beasley, tight finish Dawson Knox and working backs Devin Singletary and James Cook to throw to, simply as necessary can be to forestall him from reeling off huge positive aspects scrambling when the protection is strong.
“I think you got to give him different looks,” Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer mentioned. “If you sit in the same [defense], they do a very good job.”
In the Dolphins’ 32-29 loss in Orchard Park, New York on Dec. 17, Allen went for 77 yards on 10 rush makes an attempt, which was probably the most he had towards Miami since his rookie 12 months, when he ran for 135 and 95 yards in his first two appearances towards Miami in 2018.
“One of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the league,” edge rusher Jaelan Phillips mentioned. “Their offense kind of revolves around him and, obviously, they got other pieces that can hit you with the home run as well, but being able to contain Josh is going to be a huge part of our game plan, for sure.”
Added linebacker Jerome Baker: “That second half last game, he really got it done on the ground. We got to limit that. We got to do different things to slow him down.”
One of these issues might be to decide to a spy monitoring Allen in sure conditions, basically following his motion whereas not blitzing or taking part in move protection, however that additionally comes with the caveat that the protection should go away itself susceptible someplace else.
“Any time that you devote a spy or someone that’s going to be on the quarterback, then obviously you’re pulling him from somewhere else,” Boyer mentioned. “So, either you’re pulling him from the rush or you’re pulling him from the coverage.”
Ideally, a protection needs to stress the quarterback with out having to ship further move rushers, but when dashing 4 is ineffective towards Allen, Boyer might really feel urged to blitz. But then if he brings further move rushers at Allen, there’s fewer defenders to take him down past the road of scrimmage if he slips by means of on a scramble.
It’ll take a group effort of all 11 defenders on any given play to guarantee Allen is contained.
“It’s being coordinated,” defensive position coach Austin Clark mentioned. “How many guys are we bringing? Your rush lanes, your eyes, gap integrity, level rush, middle push. All those things kind of factor into it, depending on how many guys we’re bringing.”
And those which can be dashing Allen, might must be cautious to not over-pursue as a result of, if anyone defender relinquishes an opportunity to deliver him down, it might be expensive with the house he’ll need to run afterward.
“Is this an opportunity where we can get really aggressive? Or is this an opportunity where everybody’s got to do their job?” Dolphins exterior linebackers coach Ty McKenzie mentioned he’ll stress to his gamers. “It’s 11 vs. 1 with Josh Allen out there. He’s dynamic and he can make some big plays.”
Said cornerback Xavien Howard, who has seen his justifiable share of Allen and can doubtless match up towards Diggs: “There’s a lot of stuff on the table he can do, so we just got to stop him, try to contain him and just get some takeaways from him.”
That can be a pleasing shock if the Dolphins can power Allen into turnovers. They rank among the many backside three groups within the NFL in creating takeaways with simply 14 on the season after it was one thing the unit prided itself on over the earlier two seasons.
Allen had a stretch in the midst of the common season the place he turned inclined to turnovers — throwing two interceptions in three consecutive video games. He then snapped out of it with one over a course of 5 outings, however he tossed three picks in his final two appearances coming into the postseason.
In Allen’s two regular-season outings towards Miami, he had 5 fumbles — misplaced two — and, whereas he didn’t throw any interceptions, he had eight turnover-worthy performs in these video games, based on Pro Football Focus.
The protection’s efficiency turns into paramount Sunday contemplating the Dolphins are doubtless leaning towards beginning third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson whereas Tua Tagovailoa stays out on account of concussion protocol and backup Teddy Bridgewater nurses a dislocated pinky finger on his throwing hand.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com