The Miami Dolphins' run defense has dissipated at quite possibly the worst time.
Over the past three games Miami has allowed 180-plus yards in each contest and an average of 220.3 yards per game in that span.
Defensive end Cameron Wake said the defense didn't just rouse one morning three weeks ago and forget how to defend the run.
"I feel like, as a whole for the time I've been here, we've been stout against the run," Wake said, per The Palm Beach Post. "We had a couple of weeks where we weren't. That doesn't all of a sudden turn us into a bunch of bums."
It hasn't been just the run defense, however. A dominant front with Wake and Olivier Vernon isn't getting as much pressure as it did early in the season -- like when it destroyed Tom Brady in the season opener for four sacks. In the past three weeks Miami has just four combined sacks and just one apiece in losses to the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens.
The pass rush's diminished potency has been a byproduct of the Dolphins struggling to stop the run. Not putting teams in predictable passing downs hasn't allowed rushers to pin their ears back.
"I've never met a running back who just runs through the nose tackle, throws the mike linebacker into the stands, runs over three DBs and breaks out 40-yard runs," Wake said. "I've never seen it.
"Usually when that happens, it's something you did to yourself, and we've had self-inflicted wounds in the past few games where maybe it's a mis-fit, maybe it's a missed tackle, maybe it's a miscommunication. So is it a case of we just getting our butts kicked up and down the field? That's not the case."
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