How Will Adam Gase’s Dolphin Offense Attack New England?

Week 2! It’s the home opener! Jimmy G (il Grappa, JFG, wherever you want to go on this one) didn’t drop the ball! Alright, technically he did fumble once, but it wasn’t his fault. Things went as well as any of us could have hoped for in week 1. So, now…

The Miami Dolphins come to town this week after losing in Seattle last week.

Their offense looked near anemic, and they were a pathetic 3-of-21 on third down (that’s 14%…FOURTEEN PERCENT…not fourteen conversions…fourteen percent). There was one look that seemed be be their bread and butter, though.

Three wide outs, one tight end, one runningback. Clear space for either a swing, circle, or flat route for the running back (usually, Arian Foster). If whoever option 1 was wasn’t open, check down to the running back. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Here’s a visual:

Every other effective type of play came when Tannehill improvised with his feet after a collapsed pocket. This was the sole consistent look, otherwise.

Where do we go from here to figure out what other sorts of wrinkles or schemes the Dolphins may employ this Sunday? How about some other teams where Dolphins Head Coach Adam Gase has been in the past few years…most specifically, last year, when Gase was offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears.

The Bears offense in 2015 is actually a great comparison for the sort of schemes we may see, because the fantasy football relevant positions are quite similar, and ran similar personnel groupings to what the Dolphins primarily showed in week 1:

-Quarterback: Jay Cutler. Athletic, highly drafted, more of a thrower but definitely gets designed runs. Maligned and highly paid. All things accurate for Ryan Tannehill.

-Primary Running back: Matt Forte. Evasive, runs with good vision and power, strong receiver, 30 years old. All things accurate for Arian Foster.

-Tight End: Martellus Bennett. More than capable (and hopefully excellent) receiver. Very good blocker. Jordan Cameron…less so on all of these, but certainly solid.

-Receivers: Alshon Jeffery, Eddie Royal, Marquess Wilson. A big playmaker, a potentially explosive receiver, and a possession guy. Oh look, the Dolphins have Jarvis Landry, Kenny Stills, and Devante Parker.

I took a look at the Bears game versus the Lions for several reasons. It was Alshon Jefferey’s first game back, and the Bears highest offensive output of the season. One thing that the Bears ran with great success in this game were package plays, or plays that are designed to be built two or three plays in one, and the quarterback’s presnap plus first step reads dictate whether it will be a run or pass, but all players on the offense behave the same no matter what.

The Bears first play of the game was a package play that ended up as a bubble screen to Eddie Royal. You had a single corner and a deep safety covering that side of the field, effectively causing a 2 on 1 at the point of attack. Easy read, easy play.

Later on, the Bears lined up in a similar fashion, the Lions responded similarly. After a quick check at the line, a wide receiver screen to Royal. This goes for 30 yards. This ends up looking like more of a  simple play action, aside from the quick presnap check.

Finally, we look at one more package play. Pre snap, Cutler calls out “Bulldog!”, after seeing six Lions defenders left of the center. On the center and right, you have 4 blockers (3 linemen and Marty) and 5 defenders. Run right with Forte against an extremely overmatched side of the defense, easy pickup of 11 yards.

Adam Gase’s Bears went with several more package plays like this throughout the game, to much success. The other success? Cutler creating plays with his feet after a collapsed pocket. Sounds and looks similar to where Tannehill had success against the Seahawks. Along with the aforementioned various clearout/checkdown plays, I expect to see a lot of package plays by the Dolphins on Sunday.