National Football League

Dolphins' big-play defense indicative of positive trend toward success

Published Oct. 27, 2014 5:30 p.m. ET

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DAVIE, Fla. -- When head coach Joe Philbin addressed his Miami Dolphins team after the 27-14 victory over the Chicago Bears in Week 7, his message was simple: Keep it up.

"In the locker room in Chicago, I said, 'It's time for us to get on a roll. We have to start stringing some things together and start playing the way we are capable of as a team for 60 minutes week-in and week-out,'" Philbin said Monday. "That's really the measure of excellent football teams in this league are the ones that can do it on a consistent basis."

Consistency, for the better part of the last several seasons, has been the key issue for the Dolphins in their quest to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Yet, after a 27-13 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, the team's recent play has been indicative of several positive trends.

Boasting a 4-3 record to start the season for the first time since 2012 and having won back-to-back games for the first time since December 2013, Miami's ability to win the turnover battle has been paramount to its recent success.

Tied for sixth in the NFL in total takeaways (14) and ninth in turnover differential (4), the consistent effort shown by the team's defensive front, coupled with the big-play ability of its defensive backs, was on full display during Sunday's road victory.

Unable to amass more than 56 yards of total offense during the first half against an underrated Jaguars defense, it was the Dolphins secondary that put Miami on the scoreboard early in Jacksonville.

Safety Louis Delmas and cornerback Brent Grimes both reached the end zone after picking off errant passes from rookie quarterback Blake Bortles, who was also sacked four times. It marked the fifth time in team history that the Dolphins returned two interceptions for touchdowns in a game.

While it's unfair to expect the team to see that kind of point production from its defense on a weekly basis, Philbin believes that the recent spike in the defense's production is emblematic of something bigger.

"You always want more, but it's trending in the right direction, that's for sure," Philbin said. "That's one of the things we showed to the team last week was some of the trends from the first three games to the next three games. We certainly were able to get some takeaways yesterday, and obviously those defensive touchdowns are huge any time you can get them."

Even when the Dolphins defense isn't reaching the end zone, it is often putting quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the offense in good field position.

In seven games this season, the Dolphins have returned six interceptions for a total of 259 yards -- the most return yards in the NFL. Their average interception return of 43.2 is also on pace to break the NFL record for highest average interception return set by the 2004 Baltimore Ravens, who averaged 33.3 yards per return.

Defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle, who is in his third season with Miami, believes that the extra time the team has spent in practice on interception returns has paid off this season.

"We've made a conscious effort of doing probably more this year than we have in terms of specifically interception returns," Coyle said Monday. "I'd like to say that it was great blocking that set up these returns, but it really wasn't. These two particular ones were guys catching the ball in space, there were a couple of blocks, but they weren't as difficult as some might be.

"We do practice it and we do interception return drills every week. We've done drills in the past, but we came up with a new one this year that I think is getting everybody on the same page as to where to go, how to set the blocks up and how to return the ball. It's been effective for us and hopefully we'll see it continue as the year goes on."

As for Philbin, he knows that for his team to maintain its current positive attitude and trajectory, it will have to put forth one of its best efforts of the season when quarterback Phillip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers visit Sun Life Stadium this Sunday.

"We have to play better," Philbin said. "After watching it again, that's kind of what I thought when I was there, and I feel the same way today. I think we had some negative plays that impacted and got us in some long-yardage situations.

"There are certainly a lot of things to work on. I'm confident our guys starting tomorrow will get back to work and improve in those areas."

You can follow Jameson Olive on Twitter @JamesonCoop or email him at JamesonOlive@gmail.com.

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