Dolphins Hope to Avoid Blowout in Tampa Bay

The Miami Dolphins head to Tampa Bay tied as the biggest underdog, by the spread, entering week five.

After a second straight embarrassing home loss to open the season, falling to the winless Indianapolis Colts in week four, the Dolphins (1-3) now have the tables flipped and face one of the best teams in the league in the Buccaneers (3-1).

Dolphins, Tied with Lions, are Underdogs by 10

Tampa Bay is favored by 10, the largest spread this week, along with the Minnesota Vikings, who are favored over the Detroit Lions by the same amount of points.

Being compared to the Lions is not a good thing, unless the name Calvin Johnson is in the sentence.

Miami Can’t Find the End Zone

Miami only has three passing touchdowns on the season, trailing just the Cleveland Browns (two) and Chicago Bears (one). But, both the Browns and Bears have made up for their woes with rushing scores, whereas the Dolphins have not. Cleveland has nine rushing scores in four games and Chicago has four, while Miami has just three.

After a promising 2020 season that saw 10 wins and the slimmest of margins keeping the team out of the postseason, Miami is reeling.

“If we continue to play with more consistency and not beat ourselves, then we’ll play better. That’s really the message,” head coach Brian Flores said.

Flores Sticking with Offensive Game Plan

Flores is still keeping co-offensive coordinators despite it creating minimal rushing production and numerous flaws in the receiving game. And, backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who came into 2021 as one of the best relief signal callers in the league, doesn’t look comfortable and doesn’t look like he has improved in any of his nearly three complete games played this season.

Brissett took over for starter Tua Tagovailoa in the first week of week two, Miami’s home-opening shutout loss to the Buffalo Bills, after the offensive line surrendered multiple massive blows to the second-year QB. Enough was enough after one big hit led to fractured ribs that landed Tagovailoa on injured reserve for at least three weeks. He is expected to return next week in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

But, that doesn’t help this week in QB Tom Brady’s return faceoff with Miami after signing with Tampa Bay in 2020.

Although Brady has an improved team around him then when he played in New England, he’s playing against a Dolphin defense who knows him well.

Especially cornerback Xavien Howard, who even has a game where he intercepted Brady twice (2017).

“I think everyone in the whole league knows that if there is a guy that’s open, Tom is going to find them. And if there is a matchup he likes, he’s going to attack that matchup,” Flores said. “He’s done a great job for a long time. It’s definitely going to be a challenge for us. We’ve got to play well, we’ve got to communicate, we’ve got to tackle, we’ve got to set the edge. On those 50/50 balls, we’ve got to do a good job on those.”

NT Raekwon Davis Could Be Back for Fins

The Dolphins also have a healthy defense, with no player on IR. Nose tackle Raekwon Davis was activated off IR Saturday, but it is unclear if he will start or even play Sunday. According to the official depth chart, Davis has been moved to the active slot, but NT John Jenkins remains in the starting role.

“I mean if all things go well today, I expect him to be up on Sunday,” Flores said Friday about Davis’ likelihood to play Sunday. However, no media availability occurred following Friday, making his status unknown.

Ogbah, Van Ginkel Could Be Difference Makers

It’ll be defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah and linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel mostly deployed to wreak havoc on Brady.

Ogbah already has seven QB hits through four games this season and has accounted for 1.5 sacks. Van Ginkel is also averaging one QB hit per game and has at least three tackles in every game so far.

CBs Howard, Jones Good to Go

Additionally, both Howard and CB Byron Jones will start. Howard was limited in the early week practice sessions, but practiced fully Friday. Jones did not practice Wednesday, but upgraded to full by Friday as well.

DeVante Parker Trending Toward Out

The only Dolphin in danger of missing time is wide receiver DeVante Parker who practiced in limited fashion all week with a sore hamstring — a nagging injury that has plagued him in recent seasons.

“We’ll see what kind of soreness there is there and we’ll make a decision that may go up right up to game time,” Flores said about playing Parker.

Miami Using Depth at WR, Again

This week, Miami also lost WR Will Fuller (broken finger) to IR and Jakeem Grant to the Chicago Bears in a trade. If Parker can’t go, it’ll be rookie Jaylen Waddle, Mack Hollins and Albert Wilson getting the start. However, the Dolphins also called up WR Isaiah Ford from the practice squad and have Preston Williams as their No. 4.

Bucs Defense Missing Key Starters, But it Shouldn’t Matter

For Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers will be without Antoine Winfield Jr., Sean Murphy-Bunting and Carlton Davis, helping the Dolphins tremendously. However, the next man up mentality in Tampa Bay is strong and hasn’t limited its defense this season in many facets. Additionally, Jason Pierre-Paul and Jamel Dean, who were trending unlikely to play as late as Friday morning, are actually going to be active.

The Dolphins are going to have to play chess with Todd Bowles’ defense.

Tampa Bay Offense Should Put on Show

Finally, Brady being able to use WRs Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown along with running back Leonard Fournette will likely sink the Dolphins.

Miami is giving up more than 100 yards on the ground per game and has given up 547 through four games. Fournette is no longer one of the top backs in the league, and the Dolphins have already struggled with backs like Peyton Barber this season.

This game will likely get ugly fast for Miami.

The Florida kickoff is set for 1 p.m. eastern.

Alessandro Senatoe contributed to this article.

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– Kayla Morton is the Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage Miami Dolphins. She is also competing in the national #SFB11 — if you’d like to make a donation with her please reach out to her via Twitter. Like and follow on Follow @northdakayla74 Follow @FPC_Dolphins and Facebook.