Ahead of the Miami Dolphins’ matchup with the San Francisco 49ers this week, a lot is being made from the familiarity the 2 head coaches have with one another, particularly their offenses.
And Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel definitely has a stage of familiarity with the 49ers protection led by coordinator DeMeco Ryans, which matches each methods with Ryans most likely ready for lots of what McDaniel has up his sleeve.
Where Miami might have an edge is in its protection dealing with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense, a matchup that went closely within the Dolphins’ favor final time they performed at Levi’s Stadium.
That 2020 displaying started an early-season turnaround to catapult the Dolphins to finish up a sport out of a playoff berth by season’s finish when Miami went into Santa Clara 1-3 towards the defending NFC champions as nine-point underdogs.
Dolphins defensive coordinator Josh Boyer was in his first season in that function for Miami, and his sport plan on the street towards a crew that had simply come off a run to the Super Bowl was excellent. It helped the Dolphins earn a 43-17 street victory and spark a five-game successful streak.
“I remember the game plan was we kept doing a lot of our max pressures,” stated linebacker Jerome Baker, who smiled as quickly because the final assembly with the 49ers was talked about in a query at his locker Thursday. “They really couldn’t figure it out. They really couldn’t pick it up.”
It’s one thing that has come up this week as Miami prepares for a uncommon rematch with an NFC opponent two years later because of the NFL’s additional sport on the schedule in a 17-game season.
“Obviously, we’ve looked at that game,” Boyer stated Thursday. “I think there’s some subtle differences that they’ve done. You look at, schematically, how they’re trying to attack you in that game. Things that were good for them, things that were good for us, and then you look at their personnel.”
But simply because it labored final time, definitely doesn’t imply the identical sport plan will work this time towards the 49ers.
“It’s a new team. It’s two years later,” Baker stated. “A lot of teams copy each other, so after us, I’m sure they got max pressure the whole season. … I’m pretty sure they have a game plan to adjust to that.”
That 43-17 outcome was assisted by an aerial assault of 350 passing yards and three touchdowns from then-quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The Dolphins protection, although, pressured three turnovers and had 5 sacks. Cornerback Xavien Howard and security Bobby McCain recorded interceptions and Christian Wilkins recovered a fumble. Baker, Emmanuel Ogbah, Andrew Van Ginkel, Elandon Roberts and Zach Sieler had the sacks.
All of these names, sans McCain, are nonetheless on Miami’s protection, so the personnel has remained pretty constant and solely been upgraded with standouts like Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips and Jevon Holland added since.
McDaniel was an offensive assistant below Shanahan as run-game coordinator with the Niners for that Oct. 2020 drubbing in Santa Clara. The Dolphins even have broad receivers coach Wes Welker and tight ends coach Jon Embree who have been with San Francisco earlier than following McDaniel this offseason.
“Some of those plays come up in passing conversation from time to time,” Boyer stated. “Guys that have been there — clearly no less than three of the blokes on our workers have been there — you may ask them particularly their sport plan, their thought course of, the performs, why. I feel that’s been good.
“Mike’s been a great resource the whole season — not just this week. From an offensive perspective, how he sees things. The way he perceives that we’ll be attacked or things that we can do that’ll help us.”
“Their offense has a lot of similarities to our offense,” Baker added. “[McDaniel] can give us little tips as far as what they’re probably looking at, if he was the coach how would they attack, things like that. At the end of the day, it’s a new team. They got a whole new situation over there now.”
The Dolphins may even face a way more raucous atmosphere on Sunday because the 2020 sport was performed amid the COVID-19 pandemic in an empty Levi’s Stadium.
“It felt like a scrimmage because nobody was there,” Baker stated. “We really had to rely on each other for our energy.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com