Dolphins film study: The change Miami’s defense made in the red zone against the Bills

The boxscore from the Dolphins’ Week 3 game against the Buffalo Bills doesn’t lend much to believe Miami came away with a momentous 21-19 win.

The team was doubled up in time of possession, yardage and first downs. But one key area — red-zone efficiency — explains how the Dolphins were able to pull off one of the franchise’s biggest wins in recent memory.

The offense converted all three of its red-zone opportunities into touchdowns. On defense, Buffalo was kept out of the end zone on two of its four red-zone — and goal-to-go — attempts. The unit had to overcome first-half lapses that led to easy scores, though.

First half, Bills’ opening possession

Josh Allen and the Bills quickly worked their way down to the red zone on their first drive and faced fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line. Buffalo lined up in a trips formation, with three receivers to the right and another isolated to the left. Running back Devin Singletary was lined up to the left of Allen in the shotgun. The Dolphins lined up in what looked similar to their Cover 0 blitz packages; Brandon Jones was next to Melvin Ingram along the line of scrimmage and setting up for an apparent blitz.

When the ball snapped, the Dolphins sent six rushers against Buffalo’s five offensive linemen, giving Jones a free lane to Allen. Elandon Roberts took a few steps to Allen but hovered around the goal line as if he was a quarterback spy. Despite the extra rusher, Singletary ran a route into the flat, an area vacated by the blitz, and nobody was there to cover him. Allen calmly flipped the ball to him to give the Bills a 7-0 lead.

First half, Bills’ third possession

After the Dolphins tied the game at 7, the Bills were back in the red zone facing a goal-to-goal situation. On third-and-8, the Dolphins lined up in another Cover 0 look; eight defenders were at the line of scrimmage, while Xavien Howard, Nik Needham and Kader Kohou stood at the goal line, matching Buffalo’s three receivers on the right side of the formation.

Those three wideouts were the only Bills to run routes, but Isaiah McKenzie, who Kohou lined up over presnap, ran a slant over the middle of the field, while Stefon Diggs ran vertically, almost walling off Kohou from getting to McKenzie. Kohou hesitated as McKenzie crossed the field uncovered for another easy touchdown catch.

“I think it’s just really a communication thing,” linebacker Jerome Baker said Monday. “The more we communicate, the better we can play. A lot of times we’re in a scramble and just trying to figure it out, but if we communicate better and lock in a little bit better, we’ll figure it out. If we don’t communicate in the red zone — in the field, it might be a 10-yard gain but in the red zone, it’s a touchdown. That’s really the biggest difference. So we got to communicate a little better and it’ll work out for us.”

Second half, Bills’ opening possession

Back in the red zone, the Dolphins’ ditched the uberaggressive philosophy that hurt them in the first half. On first-and-goal from the 11, the Dolphins played a two-high shell — inside linebacker Duke Riley even dropped into the end zone in coverage — and only rushed three players, flooding Allen’s passing lanes with defenders. On second down, the Dolphins were in Cover 1 with one deep safety — Jevon Holland — and only rushed four defenders, keeping Riley and Sam Eguavoen near the line of scrimmage as spies for Allen. And on third down, the Dolphins set up in a two-high shell before the snap. Once the ball was snap, Jones came closer to the middle of the field to spy Allen and watch for crossing routes, while Holland patrolled the secondary and the remaining defensive backs were in man coverage. Each one of Allen’s pass attempts fell incomplete and the Bills had to settle for a field goal to take a 17-14 lead.

Second half, Bills’ second-to-last possession

With the game on the line and the Dolphins up by four, Miami’s defense again muddied up the field and opted against blitzing. On third-and-goal from the 2-yard line, the Dolphins rushed only four players while Howard and Needham followed Diggs and Gabe Davis, respectively, across the field, and other defenders sat in zones. After multiple seconds of scanning the field, Allen targeted Diggs in the back of the end zone and was almost intercepted by Howard.

On fourth down, the Dolphins again lined up in Cover 0. But when the ball snapped, only four players rushed the passer while the rest either covered pass-catchers or hovered in zones at the line of scrimmage. Allen found McKenzie sprinting toward the right pylon with a step on Needham but hesitated before delivering a pass off bad footing. The ball that bounced into the ground a few feet in front of McKenzie and was incomplete.

“I think a lot of people have done a lot of different things, defensive coordinator Josh Boyer said Tuesday of opponents countering their blitzes. “We have different adjustments that we use and I think it’s an evolving chess match as it goes, and you’ve got to prepare for it all.”