As reality sets in that the Miami Dolphins won’t have Jaelan Phillips again in the 2023 season, their pass rush must press forward.
Phillips tore his Achilles tendon in his right leg in last Friday’s win over the New York Jets and has since had surgery. He is done for the season.
Luckily for the Dolphins, they have experience doing it without Phillips earlier this season when he missed time with back and oblique injuries. It was Andrew Van Ginkel starting in his left outside linebacker spot and Emmanuel Ogbah saw increased snaps off the bench. With Phillips on season-ending injured reserve, the Dolphins also signed veteran South Florida native Jason Pierre-Paul.
“It’ll look pretty similar to that,” Miami defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Thursday. “Van Ginkel, Ogbah, and we’ll see if JPP can get up to snuff.”
Plus, Bradley Chubb and his six sacks remain a constant on the opposite edge. Chubb said it’s comforting knowing the Dolphins have had the pass rush going even when Phillips was previously out of the lineup.
“(Van Ginkel and Ogbah), whenever their name was called, they stepped up and did what they had to do each and every play,” Chubb said. “They’re playing with the same intensity, the same effort and all that, which is what this team needs. There’s no doubt in my mind those guys are going to do exactly what we need them to do. We just have to do it together at this point.”
Phillips was playing arguably the best football of his three-year professional career at the time of the injury, which occurred late in the win at the Meadowlands. In eight games, he had 6½ sacks, tied with defensive tackle Christian Wilkins for the team lead, 43 tackles, seven for loss, and an interception. At MetLife Stadium on Friday, he had four tackles, three for loss, a sack and a pass deflection at the time he was carted away.
“He’s a part of us playing the run and obviously playing the pass with him rushing the passer,” Fangio said. “We’re going to miss him tremendously.”
As a team, the Dolphins rank third in the NFL in sacks (38) and quarterback hits (85). With 113 pressures, the Miami defense is also tied for third in the league.
Van Ginkel and Ogbah each already have four sacks on the season — Ogbah on a very limited snap count, not seeing double-digit snaps on defense since the Oct. 15 win over the Carolina Panthers before the game against the Jets.
The cameras of HBO series “Hard Knocks,” tracking the team for the remainder of the season, captured Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel complimenting Van Ginkel with a comparison to Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders.
“A lot of the production Van Ginkel has, particularly on the edge at the point of attack in the run or pass,” McDaniel explained, “he’ll have an innate ability to kind of limber his upper body so he can bend and get low under pad level and take away his chest or front blocking surface and run around the corner.
“You have an offensive lineman that’s hesitating for a second and you can all of a sudden go step-right-left and bend around the corner and make a play. That limber nature from that position, which has to be stout as well and firm, it’s a unique trait.”
Van Ginkel added the ability to play off the ball at inside linebacker this offseason, and it has helped him understand the defense from different vantage points, in essence becoming a better pass rusher on the edge when he gets those opportunities.
With Van Ginkel playing more on the outside, linebacker David Long Jr. should see an uptick in snaps. Van Ginkel could still play some at inside linebacker when Ogbah’s on the edge, and Duke Riley could be inserted more often at inside linebacker.
Fangio said the Dolphins will focus on having Pierre-Paul in nickel packages early in his time with the team.
Pierre-Paul, 34, is eighth among active players in career sacks, with 94½. Signed off the New Orleans Saints practice squad, he said it will be an adjustment going from their 4-3 front to the Dolphins’ 3-4.
“But when it’s all said and done, it’s all the same thing,” Pierre-Paul told reporters. “It’s all football. I know how to play football. When it’s all said and done, just be physical. … I’m doing a great job right now. My coach is giving me the calls, and he’s filling me in. The players in my room are filling me in too, so shoutout to those guys.”
Fangio also mentioned second-year player Cameron Goode, who is an outside linebacker that spent his rookie season on the team’s practice squad but has been a valued special teams contributor this year. Fangio noted Goode hasn’t had defensive reps in practice in a while.
