With head coach Joe Philbin missing practice to tend to a personal matter (according to the Associated Press via Yahoo! Sports), defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle and the rest of the coaching staff helped run Philbin’s plan.
“We all ran practice,” said Coyle. “The way Coach (Joe) Philbin has got this machine running, the machine kind of runs itself. All of the sudden, as soon as (equipment manager) Joe Cimino hits the horn, practice is moving. It’s not a hard deal to follow. Coach (Philbin) has done a phenomenal job organizing every practice and every second of every practice, so we just kind of follow his lead and go from there.”
Coyle said that he expects Philbin will be back “shortly”, but is not sure of an exact date. While doing a little extra coaching today, Coyle has done an excellent job with the defensive side recently, as the Dolphins have allowed an average of only 17 points per game in their last four, and have scored three defensive touchdowns, including two interception returns for touchdowns on Sunday.
With Philip Rivers and the Chargers coming to Miami coming off a two-game losing streak, Coyle was asked if he would use the gameplan of running Rivers outside the pocket the way the team did in week 6 against the Packers, in which they forced Aaron Rodgers out of the pocket and limited him to 24 of 42. While Coyle sees how the plan could work, he also believes that Rivers tends to make unconventional plays.
“He can make some throws in positions that you scratch your head and look at the tape and say, ‘How did he get the ball there,” said Coyle. “He’s not quite as mobile as Rodgers, yet he has, as a lot of the great quarterbacks do, a great sense of where he is in the pocket and where the pressure is. Countless times, you’ll watch as someone is getting close to his throwing arm, he’ll end up just shifting the ball or sliding a half a step one-way or the other, (and) then he gets the ball out. We will try to do some things to keep changing it up on him, but he’s one of the more effective guys making some plays that aren’t exactly how you draw them up.”
In his third year as coordinator, it appears Coyle is getting the defense to play as well as it has since he’s been in Miami. The pieces that have helped make the defense whole include the additions of Cortland Finnegan at cornerback and Louis Delmas at safety, with fellow safety Reshad Jones being a player that, like Delmas, Coyle sees as interchangeable.
“It helps a lot because you are not trying to say, ‘OK, we only have one guy that can match up on a tight end, or this one guy is a good blitzer,” Coyle said of the versatility of his safeties. “Louis (Delmas) and Reshad (Jones) are both excellent bltizers. They have good coverage skills. They can run with the tight ends. They can run with wide receivers if they have to. They are very versatile. You can utilize them. You can still role play to a degree, but then the next week you can completely change it, and a team that is trying to get a beat on you doing one thing with one guy, now all the sudden it’s the other guy doing it. So what they’ve been trying to prepare and look at for the last few weeks changes. It’s a good situation for us.”
Delmas, named AFC Defensive Player of the Week after returning an interception 82 yards for a touchdown against the Jaguars on Sunday, has done a “phenomenal job”, according to Coyle, who sees him as a “playmaker”. Coyle said he loved Delmas’ “attitude” and energy”, and joked that his “dancing is excellent as well”, referencing his touchdown celebration.
Another player that has been added to the defensive lineup is defensive end/outside linebacker Dion Jordan, who was suspended for the first six games of this season. Jordan, the No.3 pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, is a player Coyle sees as “versatile”, and being able to cover running backs and tight ends.
“We’ll continue to try to find ways that he can help us and use his versatility as best as we can,” said Coyle. “He’s going to be in a number of packages this week, yes.”
Joining Delmas as a player honored by the league this week, rookie receiver and kick returner Jarvis Landry was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for October. Landry averaged 35.6 yard per kick return in October, ranking second in the NFL, with a long of 54 yards, and currently leads the league with a 31.3 kickoff return average, on pace to be break the single-season franchise record.
Landry also started three games at receiver, compiling 13 catches for 144 yards and a touchdown. As for his accolade, Landry accepted it humbly but gave credit to many others.
“It’s definitely a tremendous honor,” said Landry. When I was awarded Special Teams Player of the Month, it’s for the 10 other guys, the 10 other guys whose names didn’t get recognized.”
“As a special teams unit, we just strive to try and make plays each and every week. Those accolades, they come when they come. It’s just about going out there and making plays and that’s what we’ve been doing.”
When asked how many times he had returned kicks prior to this season, Landry said “maybe a couple, a handful, not too many”. At the NFL combine, Landry only ran a 4.77 40, and his selection in the second round was not without criticism because of that low ranking, but the rookie’s ability to get open on offense and be an unexpected threat on special teams proves that the 40 time was nothing close to the former LSU Tiger’s actual on-field speed.
Though he hasn’t returned kicks often in his career, Landry says he has gotten ready with the help of the coaching staff.
“it’s just been all about the preparation. It’s been all about (Assistant Special Teams) Coach (Marwan Maalouf) Mouf, and (Head) Coach (Joe) Philbin and (Special Teams) Coach (Darren) Rizzi, giving me an opportunity to get back there,” said Landry. “Not only that, like I said, the other 10 guys, the other 10 guys that are blocking for me and making this all possible for me to rack up yards.”
The only things Landry most prove as both a receiver (25 catches for 255 yards and a touchdown on 33 targets) and returner is consistency and what his upside is, which the 21 year old has the rest of the season to show.
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