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How Dolphins Offense/Defense compare to rest of AFC East

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The most important matchups for any NFL team every season are those against their divisional foes.
The Miami Dolphins compete in a division home to the defending Super Bowl champions. They will be hoping that after a 9-7 season they are on the rise, while the Patriots underwent a full face-lift this offseason.
How do the Dolphins compare to the Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots and New York Jets? Let's take a look at both sides of the ball.

Offense

The Miami Dolphins have the overall second-best offense in the AFC East.
Miami's quarterback Ryan Tannehill is the second-best AFC East quarterback, and this is one of those opinions that border more on fact.
Such is the case when the quarterback in front of him at No. 1 is Tom Brady. However, Brady possibly won't be around for the first four games of the season due to his involvement in Deflategate. Though his appeal to the suspension was heard by the league on Tuesday, per NFL.com.
Helping this fact are Tannehill's career numbers; he's completed 61.9 percent of his passes for 11,252 yards, 63 touchdowns, 42 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 84.0.
Those numbers are all improving from year-to-year as well.
Also helping Tannehill's case for being second is the third-best quarterback, New York's Geno Smith.
Despite Smith's maddening perfect day in the last game of the season against the Dolphins in 2014, Smith has been far from a perfect quarterback. As for his career he has completed 57.5 percent of his passes for 5,571 yards, 25 touchdowns and 34 interceptions for a quarterback rating of 71.5.


That's a better situation than the one in Buffalo, if only because the job is "Geno's to lose," according to Jets head coach Todd Bowles.
In Buffalo, this is a legitimate question, per Bleacher Report's Cian Fahey: "Can Tyrod Taylor Really beat out Matt Cassel for Bills' starting QB spot?"
E.J. Manuel is also a part of that battle, and there's really nothing more to say about the Bills' quarterback situation.
So, at quarterback, Miami is second in the division, which is also where they stand at running back (behind the Bills' backfield weapons that include LeSean McCoy and Fred Jackson).


At wide receiver, I'd rank the Dolphins as the best unit in the division, despite the Jets having more star-power. Miami's receiver unit might be a tad green, but they have the greatest upside of any in the division.
Finally at offensive line, Miami right now has the worst in the AFC East. There are issues at guard, as evidenced by the fact that Dallas Thomas is still a candidate to start. The success of the line is almost fully dependent on how healthy Branden Albert will be when he comes back.
Overall Miami's offense is a good one but not without its problems. Looking at each unit on offense, I'd rank the Dolphins at second in the division, due mainly to the fact that they have the second-best quarterback in the division and he'll throw it to the division's best receiving unit.


Defense
Ranking Miami's defense in comparison to the rest of the division is a lot tougher.
Do they have the best defensive line in football? They might not even have the best defensive line in the division.
They might not have the second-best defensive line in the division, either.
This is despite a front four that will include Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon on the edges with Ndamukong Suh and Earl Mitchell up the middle.
This is despite the fact that they have C.J. Mosley, rookie Jordan Philips, Derrick Shelby, A.J. Francis and Terrence Fede behind those guys on the depth chart, which might necessitate one of those players being cut.
Why wouldn't it be the best in the division, then?
One reason is that Miami's defensive line is a re-built line, whereas the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills have continuity from defensive lines that were dominant in 2014.


The Jets were the sixth-best team in the NFL against the run, allowing an average of 93.1 yards per game. Buffalo ranked 11th, allowing 106.4 yards per game.
If there's consolation for the Dolphins, it's the fact that two of their new defensive linemen were major parts of the top run defense in the NFL.
As for sacks, the Bills were first in the league with 54, while the Jets were tied for fifth with 45.

Miami might have one of the best defensive lines in the league, but they're in a division with two of the best teams at the position.
Linebacker might be an even bigger struggle for Miami, as it'd rank fourth in the division at that position.
They'd likely rank third in the division at secondary, but that's because at this point New England's secondary is fairly uneven.
If you go by rankings alone, Miami's defense isn't that great, and in fact it really only boasts one great unit that will have to play spectacularly to mask the flaws along the rest of the defense.
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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...s-offense-defense-compare-to-rest-of-afc-east

Agree with alot that was written here, also feel like matt moore and josh freeman might be the 3rd and 4th best qbs in this division
 
Why are there so many Bleacher Report articles here? That site is terrible
 
I agree, for right now we have the 3rd best D-line in the AFC East. The Jets and Bills D-line are no doubt the top lines in the NFL. Hopefully, with all of our firepower we can take a split with both teams, to go 2-2 or 3-1 (doubt it).
 
Not great. Doesn't even address the running game on offense. Completely myopic regarding both the LB's and DB's. If Delmas is healthy, the secondary should be in much better shape than it was prior to the injuries in the secondary - back when Miami was a top-5 pass D. There's young, underrated talent on this D. Miami's D should be right there with the Jets and Bills. They should all be top-10 D's, and top-5 finishes are realistic for each.

Miami separates itself from those teams with superior QB and scheme. I expect the running game to improve. The same way Tannehill is more comfortable in year 2, the O-line and skill players (who were in Miami in 2014) will also be more comfortable, and the new guys will have the benefit of learning along guys who know what they're doing. Anything less than 10-6 will be a major failure in 2015.
 
ITS!MATEO said:
I agree, for right now we have the 3rd best D-line in the AFC East. The Jets and Bills D-line are no doubt the top lines in the NFL. Hopefully, with all of our firepower we can take a split with both teams, to go 2-2 or 3-1 (doubt it).
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Bills Dline maybe but Houstons line is better then the jets and ours has a chance to be as well
 
Obviously, this guy has not seen the reports where everyone on the roster looked like an all-pro in minicamp. But really I am excited about some of the younger guys stepping up - at LB and secondary, even guard, and maybe bumping up these rankings and therefore wins this coming season.
 
cafinfan408 said:
We were 9-7 last year?
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Yes, the commissioner gave us a win against New England due to Deflategate! LOL. That is just a sorry mistake to make in reporting. That said, I also agree with most of what is written. It's definitely fair.
 
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