MIAMI GARDENS – The Miami Dolphins offense may not look familiar this season; Many of the same pieces are in place compared to last season’s NFL leader in total yards, but the process looks markedly different.

This is intentional.

A team that once relied on explosive plays to excess is now more focused on sustaining shots and wearing down opposing defenses. Despite fielding two of the league’s most explosive receivers in Hill Tyreek And Jaylen WaddleThe Dolphins have seemingly found a counter to opposing game plans that often sell out to limit big plays to the NFL’s highest-paid receiver tandem.

Hill even foreshadowed this offensive evolution in August, when asked how the league’s best offense could improve.

“For us, looking at it all from a veteran’s perspective, I feel like we have to be able to stay on the field,” he said. “For us, it’s either boom or bust. We’re one of those teams that, if we don’t have the long ball, we’re like, ‘Gee, this is (going to be) a long game. ‘ So for us, having a target like (Odell Beckham, Jr.), having a guy like Jonnu Smith of our team who can help extend these campaigns, is going to be huge.

“I think just being able to extend practices, having those 12-play practices, having those 10-play practices rather than having a five-and-under game practice where it’s like, ‘Oh , he hits Waddle on a 75-yard post.’ And it’s like, ‘Oh, form the band.’ And it’s like, ‘Bruh, unfortunately we can’t do that every game.'”

The Dolphins rank fifth in the league in plays per drive this season with 6.1, compared to 5.56 points per drive the previous two seasons. This number is even better since the quarterback Tua Tagovailoa returned from injured reserve in Week 8, at 6.89 plays per practice.

During the same period, they have also recorded the fewest three-and-outs in the league, doing so on just 2.9% of their drives, and are tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for average three-and-out time. possession per longest drive (3:34).

Perhaps the highlight of the Dolphins’ offensive transformation came in a win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11.

Miami scored on eight of its nine drives against the Raiders, including scoring drives of 14, 16, 14 and 10 plays.

“I think last year we could have had three practices totaling more than 14 plays all year long,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “So that’s been one of our priorities in anticipating how guys were going to defend us, and then as the season went on, adapting to how defenses adapted to us, and I think that’s a lot of difference. “training hours. meeting room, that’s what comes to mind.”

Smith, who signed with Miami this offseason as their new starting tight end, had a particularly big impact against the Raiders. He had his best performance of the season with six catches for a career-high 101 yards and two touchdowns, including a 57-yard score to ice the game.

Through just 10 games, Smith ranks second on the team with 448 receiving yards — more than any Dolphins player other than Hill or Waddle has recorded in a single season since McDaniel took over in 2022.

“We planned to implement it in the past on offense, so be it, the defense isn’t allowing him to get as many catches as we would like,” Tagovailoa said. “But it’s been really cool to see his progression from the prime-time game we had against the Rams until now. Just being in the right spots.

“It’s just a lot of the reps that we’ve been getting throughout training camp and so far. So all of this that everyone is seeing is nothing new for our team, but now that it is implemented more and recovering the ball, going through progressions, that’s exactly what it is.

Tagovailoa led the NFL in passing yards last season; He’s unlikely to do so again in 2024 after missing four games, but he’s played some of the most efficient football in the league since his return.

Since Week 8, Tagovailoa ranks fifth in Total QBR (73.5). His 5.28 yards per attempt ranks just 33rd, but that has led to a league-best 77.7% completion rate during that span.

Big plays are down, as Miami has just 58 explosive plays this season after finishing last season with 124, but that’s a byproduct of the team’s new philosophy.

“I think what’s been different with the quarterback’s play is he’s not trying to force things down the field anymore if he’s not,” Tagovailoa said after the game Raiders. “Taking checks, allowing our runners in space to go for first downs. Hopefully they can break a tackle and you can also use it basically as a running play if you watch it in this sense. And we love our matchups with our guys in space, so that’s what I would attest to our offensive performance today.”

Miami has converted just 36.2% of its third-down attempts in 2022, which improved to 42.1% last season, good for seventh in the NFL. The Dolphins are ninth in that category this season, but convert at a higher rate, 42.6 percent.

What’s becoming a theme for this team, that number has also skyrocketed since Tagovailoa’s return from injured reserve. The Dolphins are converting on a league-leading 60.4% of their third-down attempts since Week 8, including 50% of their attempts on third-and-7 or higher.

Against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 10, Tagovailoa was spectacular on third down. He was responsible for Miami’s six conversions on 11 attempts — including completions on third-and-13 and third-and-19 for 36 and 25 yards.

Although Miami has found its offensive identity, its efforts could be in vain. Tagovailoa’s injury in Week 2 destroyed the Dolphins’ offensive production and even his return didn’t prevent a 2-6 start to the season.

Even after their current two-game winning streak, the Dolphins remain 4.5 games behind the AFC East-leading Buffalo Bills, although they are only 1.5 games behind the Denver Broncos for the final seed in the AFC playoffs.

With a winnable game this week against the New England Patriots and Tagovailoa healthy, Dolphins players are confident there is still time to right the ship.

“The best in the world. You have the best quarterback in the world,” Smith said. “It makes it a lot easier for everyone. And the guys that came in during that time when it was down, they did a great job and helped us as much as they could and were very helpful. of courage and selflessness We We’re happy to have those guys, but (Tagovailoa) is who he is for a reason We’re excited to have him back and excited to be back where we need to be. be.