Through the majority of the first half of the Miami Dolphins’ season, there was controversy over it being unclear who was calling offensive plays between co-offensive coordinators George Godsey and Eric Studesville and quarterbacks coach Charlie Frye.
The latest line of questioning surrounding play-calling has shifted to the defense.
With coach Brian Flores seen holding play sheets and communicating into his headset while the defense is on the field, observers have wondered during the Dolphins’ back-to-back wins over the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens if Flores is indeed calling plays over defensive coordinator Josh Boyer.
Boyer countered on Tuesday.
“Ultimately, it’s just my job to make sure that we get the right calls in there on game day,” he said. “There’s sometimes during timeouts or in between series that we may discuss that as we go, but it’s really a non-story. I don’t know what people are looking at.”
Various onlookers have pointed to the play sheets Flores holds on the sideline, but Boyer insists Flores has those for each of the three phases of the game.
“He has all three call sheets on game day. I would say Flo is very involved if it’s in the kicking game, offensively and defensively,” Boyer said. “There are definitely times where he interjects in the game. There’s other games where he’s just like, ‘What do we got here?’ He does so many things during the game. It’s hard to pinpoint one thing or the other. I’m not sure what people are seeing, one way or the other.”
From Flores’ side, he volunteered, without being asked, that Boyer called the defense on Thursday night against the Ravens.
“I think Josh did a great job calling the game, called it aggressively,” Flores said in response to a question about some of the strategy used in limiting quarterback Lamar Jackson and the high-powered Baltimore offense.
He also answered a direct question following the victory over Houston, stating that Boyer called the defense on Nov. 7. Flores also doesn’t like to be labeled a coach with a defensive background based on coaching that side of the ball with the New England Patriots before landing the head job with Miami.
As far as the play sheets are concerned, they didn’t just pop up in past week’s two games. Flores can be seen holding them in images of him on the sideline in games prior to the recent wins over the Texans and Ravens.
Baker on the edge
Part of that aggressive game plan against Jackson on Thursday, in addition to the heavy blitzing of safeties Jevon Holland and Brandon Jones, involved playing Jerome Baker on the edge at outside linebacker for a significant number of snaps.
Baker didn’t put up his usual team-leading tackle numbers like he has when he’s at inside linebacker, recording four plus a quarterback hit, but having his speed on the edge was a key in countering Jackson’s ability to run.
“Lamar Jackson’s a pretty fast guy, right?” said Dolphins outside linebackers coach Rob Leonard. “So I think just, in general, you want speed on the field when you have a lot of speed you have to account for.”
Baker played every defensive snap on Thursday, and his versatility allowed various other defenders to get in at different spots. Outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel was in on 67 of 73 snaps. Jaelan Phillips played about half of the plays. Elandon Roberts’ snaps were down to 38 percent, while fellow inside linebacker Duke Riley also was in on roughly a third of defensive plays with Baker seen more on the edge.
It was something the defensive coaching staff knew it could be comfortable with on a short week of preparation for a difficult offense to contain.
“Jerome’s played on the outside; he’s played on the inside,” Boyer said. “He’s played in the interior in certain situations for us. I think he’s a very multiple player. … We ask him to do a lot of things, and that can change from week to week.”
Added Leonard: “Bake can do a lot of things. He’s a pretty skilled guy, and he helped us out for sure playing on the edge.”
And the various position coaches can adjust to whatever’s asked of a particular player based on matchups.
“Everybody kind of contributes to each guy,” said linebackers coach Anthony Campanile. “When you watch us, there’s DBs playing at the second level sometimes; there’s D-linemen doing some different things, dropping into coverage. There’s linebackers pass rushing, linebackers on the ball, linebackers in man-to-man coverage.”
Roster moves
The Dolphins announced on Tuesday they placed tackle Greg Little on injured reserve and waived safety Sheldrick Redwine. They also announced the signing of defensive tackle Andrew Billings to the practice squad, which was reported on Monday, and released defensive end Jabaal Sheard from the practice squad.
Little was acquired in a preseason trade with the Carolina Panthers but hasn’t been active for a single game among the Dolphins’ first 10 of 2021.
Redwine and Sheard were both South Florida products, with Redwine going from Miami Killian High to the University of Miami and finally the Dolphins after stints with the Cleveland Browns, New York Jets and Carolina Panthers. Sheard, a Hollywood Hills High alum, was elevated to the active roster for Miami’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 10 and made a tackle. At 32-years-old, he has 53 sacks and a Super Bowl ring to his name.
