MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Credit Kyle Crabbs of Locked On Dolphins for bringing attention to a big failure in the Miami Dolphins‘ approach to running the football this year.
Teams are loading up to stop them from running outside. That overcommitment has left big holes and opportunities inside. The Dolphins just haven’t been able or willing to consistently exploit them.
Coaching decisions alone, however, don’t explain the Dolphins’ massive drop-off in rushing efficiency from year to year. Other factors: The offensive line isn’t as talented, and Miami’s tight end and wide receivers haven’t blocked nearly as well as they did last year.
Where Are Miami Dolphins’ Long Runs?
But if you’re looking for one catch-all reason the Dolphins are averaging a staggering 1.4 yards fewer per carry than they did last year, here it is:
There simply haven’t been any explosive plays.
In 2023, the Dolphins averaged one carry of 20+ yards in each game, on the year, had eight rushes of at least 40 yards, and produced just a shade under four carries of 10 or more yards per game.
A year later, they seem to be running in mud — particularly with Raheem Mostert out the last two weeks.
Miami has 77 carries on the year. None has gone for 18 yards. And of their 10 carries of 10-17 yards, running backs have been responsible for just six of them.
Not surprising, then, that they have dropped from fourth in EPA (expected points added) per rush in 2023 (-.009) to 31st in 2024 (-.274).
Their success rate on running plays this year? A meager 39%.
“At the end of the day, it’s playing violent and physical on the edge and you can talk about, ‘Man, we need to run power to really be explosive and run off the ball,'” said Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold.
“It’s that same concept for outside zone; it’s really creating the point of attack wherever we’re at. If you can dent an edge and then there’s a backside pressure or there’s a front-side pressure, being able to manipulate those edges in a number of different ways; those are all pieces of the pie to an outside zone scheme team.
“Being able to run convicted, hit that pad level, stay on blocks, playing with elite technique and straining to finish, that allows for speed to run. And right now, I just don’t know if we’re taking advantage of the space because of a lot of technique stuff that we just need to hone in on and we need to develop as a unit so that we’re trusting one another.”
That’s a nice way of saying the Dolphins on the edges are outnumbered and are getting their butts kicked. And unless they get better play from Durham Smythe and Julian Hill, it’s hard to see how that will change until River Cracraft comes off of injured reserve.
Which means the Dolphins should take what defenses give them and run it up the gut — even if it means a change in Mike McDaniel’s core philosophy.
On runs up the middle this year, the Dolphins are averaging 4.6 yards per carry, per Crabbs. On runs off the edges? Just 2.6.
Dolphins have 24 runs on the season off the left & right ends of the front combined (outside runs). They're averaging 2.63 YPC on those carries this season. All other runs through all other gaps is averaging 4.29 YPC.
Their gap runs and carries between the tackles (especially on… https://t.co/3pYkumIuWw
— Kyle Crabbs (@GrindingTheTape)
You can see in the game tape how hard opposing defenses are committing to setting the edge. Cutback lanes — and those elusive explosive runs — are there. The Dolphins just need to take them.
“I think we’ve gotten those called a little bit more, and we’re still working and developing those types of results, so the four-yard plays and the eight-yard plays, 16-yard plays, etcetera, etcetera,” McDaniel said.
“You’re always kind of adjusting for the defenses, as well as the players that you have. We’ve had some good combination blocks on the inside zone and gap stuff, so we’ll see how that plays out moving forward.”
One final stat that simply defies logic. The Dolphins’ two-back personnel groupings were among their most efficient in 2023. In 2024, they’ve been arguably Miami’s worst.
The Dolphins are averaging just 3.5 yards per carry in two-back sets this year — down a full yard from 2023.
