Dolphins' speed on another level as Giants get run out of building
Tyreek Hill of the Dolphins runs the ball against the Giants during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday in Miami Gardens, Fla. Credit: Getty Images/Rich Storry
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.
The Giants’ deficiencies cannot be fully addressed in the mere 800 words allotted for this column.
Everything is wrong with a team that fell to 1-4 on Sunday with a 31-16 loss to the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, from a sieve of an offensive line to subpar output from its highly paid interior defensive linemen to the struggling and now possibly injured $160 million quarterback to the seeming inability of the reigning NFL Coach of the Year to get all of the above and more under some semblance of control.
But given that the latest lopsided loss came against the Dolphins, we might as well focus here on one particular area in which the Giants are not as good as their competition.
Speed kills, and against Miami, it killed the Giants at every turn.
To be clear, there are 31 teams in the NFL that are not as fast as the Dolphins are, so there is no shame in occasionally chasing them around in vain. The Dolphins now have the seven fastest recorded speeds of the season in the NFL, according to Next Gen Stats — three by Tyreek Hill, three by De’Von Achane and one by Raheem Mostert. Hill was clocked at a season-high 22.01 mph on Sunday.
But this was a ridiculous mismatch in which Tua Tagovailoa played his usual role as point guard, feeding handoffs and short passes to the likes of receivers Hill and Jaylen Waddle and the running backs.
Cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, who has been in the NFL for seven seasons, never had seen anything like it — and never expects to again, at least in his playing career.
“The most speed that probably any of us playing will probably ever see,” he said. “Two wideouts, two running backs with speed. I think that’s by far the most speed any team will see until something later down the line, when I’m 60, 70 and there’s somebody else that’s got super-speed like that.”
Linebacker Bobby Okereke said, “It’s real-deal speed. I think that was the deciding factor. Explosive plays won them the game.”
Pretty much.
The Giants somehow managed to force their first three turnovers of the season — including a 102-yard interception return for a touchdown — didn’t give up the ball to Miami and still got run out of the building, literally.
They allowed 524 yards overall, 501 after three quarters, most of them in chunks.
Hill had eight catches for 181 yards, including 64- and 69-yard receptions, the latter a game-changing touchdown less than a minute into the second half after the Giants were within 17-10 at halftime.
Achane, a rookie, rushed 11 times for 151 yards, including a 76-yard score down the left sideline on which he outran the Giants’ defensive secondary, something running backs are not supposed to do.
It was way too easy. The Dolphins had six fewer rushes than the Giants and 137 more yards rushing. They had one fewer reception than the Giants and 103 more yards receiving.
“They’re real fast,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said. “Took a lot of short passes for long gains. You get explosive plays, it usually leads to points.”
Jason Pinnock, who flashed speed of his own on that team-record-tying 102-yard return, was shocked when a reporter relayed the yardage the Giants had given up. “Clearly, there’s going to be a lot of film to watch,” he said. “That’s disheartening.”
Did he have any advice for future Dolphins opponents, including the Jets twice?
“It’s hands-on on the line of scrimmage; it’s affect their timing,” he said. “When you get a lot of speed, it’s still a hard target. It’s moving fast. So affect the timing, affect [the quarterback] in the pocket.”
(Regarding his long return, Pinnock said, “As a DB, that’s what you dream of. You catch that thing and it’s straight green. It’s ‘let me get to that end zone.’ ”)
Tagovailoa was at fault for both Giants interceptions, throwing into traffic on the one Pinnock caught off a deflection by Okereke and throwing off-target on one that Okereke later caught himself. But the Dolphins (4-1) have mastered the art of accentuating Tua’s positives and papering over his weaknesses.
“They run side to side,” Kayvon Thibodeaux said. “They’ve got a great coach who knows how to utilize their speed and get the front out of the game, and they were successful at it.”
Where do the Giants go from here? To Buffalo, where the Bills figure to be in an ornery mood after their London loss. Avoiding another embarrassing prime-time blowout loss might be the Giants’ most realistic goal.
Might they have been in a better position had they not lost their two best offensive players, Saquon Barkley and Andrew Thomas, to multiple-game injuries? Sure. Yes. Naturally.
But the speed deficit they displayed against Miami was so vast — and exacerbated by so many other problems — that at this point, no one or two men will be enough to turn this mess around.
The Giants’ season is draining away. Fast.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
