Pressure Point: Dolphins’ defense worse despite additions

For Noah Igbinoghene, the effect is the opposite of counting sheep to get to sleep. The Miami Dolphins rookie cornerback may find it difficult to nod off because of that endless loop running through his head of Stefon Diggs burning him on pass after pass Sunday.

Igbinoghene, in his second NFL game, found himself on the spot when highly paid veteran Byron Jones went out with an injury on the first series of Sundays’ 31-28 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

He drew the short straw on the assignment of shadowing Diggs, one of the top receivers in the league. Igbinoghene had trouble keeping up with the shadow, let alone Diggs, who proved unstoppable in piling up 153 yards on eight catches (19.1-yard average) including a touchdown.

“It’s definitely a teaching moment,” Igbinoghene said. “I learned a lot today, not only about him but about myself as well. I’ve just got to respond and come back the next time.”

It wasn’t just Igbinoghene who was exposed as Bills quarterback Josh Allen undressed the Dolphins’ defense for 417 yards and four touchdowns.

Plenty of Culprits

Veteran corner Xavien Howard said John Brown was his man on the 46-yard touchdown strike that clinched the win for Buffalo. Safety Bobby McCain arrived late trying to help Howard.

Remarkably, the Dolphins had the lead in the fourth quarter before The Bills put together scoring drives of 71 and 75 yards in the final five minutes.

Somehow the game never felt that close, nor the outcome in doubt, because the Bills were able to do seemingly whatever they wanted against the Miami defense most of the day.

The Dolphins offense caught some lightning in a bottle following a 45-minute delay due to lightning near Hard Rock Stadium in the third quarter to grab a 21-17 lead. But earlier Preston Williams dropped a catchable would-be touchdown on fourth-and-1 — and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey’s play selection on the sequence that preceded it was head-scratching in its own right.

Certainly the offense has its share of inadequacies. But two games into the second season of the Brian Flores era, the most troubling observation is that a defense which was abysmal last season has somehow, inexplicably, gotten worse.

Newcomers not helping

That despite spending heavily on defense in free agency and adding players such as Igbinoghene, a first-round pick, in the 2020 draft.

In Week 1, the Dolphins gave up 357 yards against the Patriots. Sunday, they gave up 342 yards in the first half to Allen and the Bills, who averaged 9.2 yards.

The final tally was 524 yards for Buffalo with an average of 8.9 yards per play.

no words pic.twitter.com/VzSSL2yj5i

— josh houtz (@houtz) September 20, 2020

Dolphins defenders can’t stay with the receivers they’re trying to cover, can’t get pressure on the quarterback and can’t stop the run.

Tackling is atrocious, and toughness often seems lacking. That was evident on a first-half scramble by Allen, who took four Dolphins to get to the ground. The multi-talented Bills QB ran over Kyle Van Noy — a veteran linebacker the Dolphins spent $51 million to sign in the offseason — on initial contact.

Run D, Pass D, it’s all bad

At New England, the Patriots ran Miami ragged with 217 yards on the ground. Sunday, Allen and his receiving corps simply shredded Flores’ secondary, which got no help from the pass rush.

The defensive front has yet to get meaningful contributions from newcomers such as Shaq Lawson and Raekwon Davis.

Allen was only sacked once and generally had all the time he could have wished for to find any of his talented receivers running away from Miami defenders. The Bills kept running crossing routes because the Dolphins showed they couldn’t keep up with the receivers.

Rebuilding is not a linear process. I’m not sure that the Dolphins made all or most of the right moves last offseason, but I’m not judging it after 2 games under these circumstances. Just look for individual improvement from long term core pieces.

— Five Reasons Sports Network (@5ReasonsSports) September 20, 2020

“We struggled to cover them. They’ve got good receivers,” Flores said. Then, after a pause: “We struggled to cover them. They got open. [Allen] had time to throw it, we didn’t get enough pressure on the quarterback. I don’t want to put it all on the coverage guys. It’s a team game. But it starts with me and we’ve got to do a better job of putting them in positions to cover them better.”

Flores seemed at a loss as to how to address those issues. There isn’t much time to do so before the Dolphins travel to Jacksonville for a Thursday night game.

Quick turnaround

There was no update on Jones’ injury or status following the game, but they may well have to face the Jaguars without the league’s second-highest paid cornerback. Which means, the pressure will remain on Igbinoghene and others, such as Nik Needham, who also struggled.

Asked whether he received words of encouragement from any veterans, the Igbinoghene said, “Just that it’s the league, it going to happen. It happens to everybody.

“I hold myself to a high standards, so of course I didn’t want that to happen. But it did happen. There’s nothing I can do about it. I’ve just got to move on.”

Craig Davis has covered South Florida sports and teams, including the Dolphins, for four decades. Follow him on Twitter @CraigDavisRuns

Buffalo Bills 31 | Miami Dolphins 28 Postgame Show https://t.co/B1GGb9hkvP via @YouTube

— Five Reasons Sports Network (@5ReasonsSports) September 20, 2020