It was Week 3 of the 2016 season, and Bill Belichick had a problem. Tom Brady, his starting quarterback, was serving the third of his four-game suspension for his involvement in the DeflateGate scandal. Jimmy Garoppolo, his backup quarterback, was out with a shoulder injury he’d suffered in Week 2 against the Dolphins. Jacoby Brissett, Belichick’s third quarterback, was a third-round rookie out of North Carolina State, who had completed six of nine passes for 92 yards in relief of Garoppolo. It was now on Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to get Brissett ready to start against the Houston Texans — on a short week, as the Patriots-Texans game was on the following Thursday night.
The plan Belichick and McDaniels put together was a bit of genius. Instead of having Brissett rely on his arm from the pocket (something he wasn’t ready to do at that point), the Patriots had Brissett run zone-read stuff that the Texans were not at all ready to defend. In a 27-0 beatdown of the Texans, Brissett ran the ball eight times for 48 yards and a touchdown, which negated to a point his passing performance (11 of 19 for 103 yards). The Patriots also had running back LeGarrette Blount, who bullied Houston’s defense on 24 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries, and it was the conflict between Brissett and Blount that drove the Texans’ defense into a ditch.
Fast-forward to now, where Brissett is Tua Tagovailoa’s backup with the Dolphins. Brissett will start at least the next three games, as the team placed Tagovailoa on injured reserve with fractured ribs suffered early in Miami’s Week 2 loss to the Bills. Brissett completed 24 of 40 passes for 169 yards and an interception in a 35-0 loss. Now, Brissett has to face a Raiders defense that has shown improvement in 2021, and the Dolphins have to deal with the Raiders’ explosive passing game, which could have the Dolphins playing catch-up. If head coach Brian Flores and offensive coordinators Eric Studesville and George Godsey want to avoid a 1-2 start to the season, they might have to think outside the box as the Patriots did back then.
If I were in charge of Miami’s offense, I would point an option run game directly at Maxx Crosby, the Raiders’ outstanding edge defender. Through the first two games of the 2021 season, no defensive player in the league had more total pressures than Crosby’s 19, but Crosby’s Tasmanian Devil play style does leave him open to misdirection in the run game. We saw this when the Raiders had to deal with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in Week 1. On this play, Crosby was so bent on getting to the pocket, he got lost when Jackson decided to run.
If I'm in charge of Miami's offense, I'm using Jacoby Brissett in an option package, and I'm pointing it right at Maxx Crosby (98). Crosby is hell-bent on every play, which is great, but he is susceptible to misdirection. pic.twitter.com/akKpKs4Jec
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 26, 2021
Back in 2016, Brissett found it easy to game the Texans’ aggressive edge-rushers with even the most rudimentary quarterback run concepts.
Based on Flores’ comments on Friday, the head coach — who, by the way, was the Patriots’ linebackers coach in 2016 — may be ready to unleash some different stuff.
“Yeah, we want to move the ball effectively. We want to have balance – run, pass, screens, RPOs – however best way to move it. We’ve got to obviously be more efficient offensively. You always want balance. I think it helps in both the run and the pass game when you have that kind of balance and the defense doesn’t know what it’s going to be, but I think you need to have variety in your schemes, your concepts, run, pass, play-action, drop back, whatever the case may be. But at the end of the day, it’s about the execution and getting 11 guys on the same page and that’s what we’re working towards in practice and our preparation this week. It’s a very good opponent we’re facing. They play fast, they play physical, they’ve got a good rush, they’re well-coached, they tackle well. So we have our hands full for sure.”
Focus on the idea that the Dolphins want to set things up where they don’t want the defense knowing what’s coming, and a possible Brissett option package plays in pretty well.
“They’re good players,” Flores said, when talking about Crosby and fellow edge-rusher Yannick Ngakoue. “Good in the run game, good in the pass game. There’s a myriad of ways you try to limit their productivity, but they do a nice job. I think both guys have played in this league. They’ve seen a lot of different ways that they’ve been attacked, but it’s about execution at the end of the day. It’s about execution. It’s about getting in and out of the huddle, getting 11 guys on the same page and executing a specific play – run, pass, screen, draw – and at the end of the day, it’s about execution.”
One thing’s for sure — if the Dolphins want Brissett to win from the pocket, there are going to be problems. Miami’s offensive line has not played well this season, and against the Bills last week, Brissett — whose processing speed could charitably be described as “deliberate” — was pressured on 28 of his 47 dropbacks, completing 13 of 22 passes for 106 yards and an interception. So, why not deploy a multiple run game with option aspects to try and throw the Raiders off base.
It may be the Dolphins’ only chance of winning.