The Miami Dolphins are blessed to have two of the fastest, most dynamic wide receivers in the league in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Miami’s high-speed passing game has run past defenses better than Detroit’s all season long. It was a difficult task for the Lions to try and slow them down in Week 8’s matchup in Ford Field.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn didn’t hide the disruptive intentions during his weekly press briefing on Thursday.
“Get your hands on them. Don’t let them utilize what they have. You always want to put yourself in an advantageous situation, and our guys are bigger, lengthier guys, so that’s something that we’re going to get a chance to do on those guys, be able to get our hands on them, just disrupt them,” Glenn said of the plan to slow down the Dolphins. “The one thing that you can’t do, just allow receivers into the teeth of your defense, and when you do that, usually bad things happen.”
Glenn was right about the bad things happening. Hill caught 12 passes for 188 yards, while Waddle hauled in nine receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Far too many of those catches featured clean releases by the speedy Miami weapons, missed jams or flat-out missed assignments by the defensive backs.
“We didn’t hit them,” Campbell said after the game. “We didn’t hit them at the line. That was part of the game plan. We didn’t disrupt. We did not disrupt, and when you let them do that and get into your defense—we didn’t want to turn it into a track meet and it was a track meet.”
Waddle’s second touchdown reception was a perfect example. The defense was schemed for slot CB AJ Parker to strike Waddle at the line before he could sprint out from the bunched formation. But Parker never touched Waddle and got torched over the top for a too-easy TD that your local high school JV quarterback could complete. There were multiple instances where Parker and outside CB Amani Oruwariye were aligned in press man but never struck their receiver at the line.
In a related development, Campbell was asked why cornerback Jerry Jacobs wasn’t given chances to play. Jacobs is the most athletic CB on the roster, a player who thrives in being physical but also turning and running in man coverage. Jacobs returned last week from the PUP list after undergoing knee surgery last December and played sparingly.
“Oh yeah, we’re going to be looking at Jerry. We’ll be looking at everybody,” Campbell stated. “We’ll be…
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