Ndamukong Suh is widely regarded as one of the best defensive tackles in the game, if not the very best at his position.
So when Suh states that the Miami Dolphins have a lot of talent on defense, ears definitely perk up. While it’s not an exaggeration to say that the Dolphins are talented on defense, it’s a whole different matter to say that they have more talent than the No. 2 defense from last year.
Suh was a member of the Detroit Lions during the 2014 season, and their defensive unit ranked No. 1 in rushing yards allowed per game and No. 2 overall in yards allowed per game. Despite those lofty rankings, the mammoth defensive tackle believes the Dolphins can be better than the Lions were last season, via James Walker of ESPN:
“I don’t have a problem saying this, but I think personally that we have more talent [in Miami] than we had in the No. 1 defense last year in Detroit. So, by that saying, you would say we should have the No. 1 defense this year. But that’s not going to happen [because] we don’t know what’s going to happen until guys come together, understand what they’re going to do and then you create a camaraderie.”
Dolphin Nation will no doubt appreciate Suh’s statements in regards to the defense, but the unit will have to make a monumental leap to even come close to the Lions’ rankings from 2014. Last season, the Miami defensive unit ranked a respectable 12th in total yards allowed, but ranked just 20th in points allowed.
The addition of the five-time All-Pro should vastly improve the defense, but it’s going to take a lot more than just Suh if the defense is to look like an elite unit. More importantly, the defense needs to stay healthy for the entire season—linebacker Koa Misi, safety Louis Delmas and cornerback Jamar Taylor have all suffered serious injuries this preseason, with Delmas being ruled out for the year due to a torn ACL.
The sixth-year veteran did remark about how the game is played on the field and not on paper:
“One of the reasons why I came here is because this team, especially this defense, has great, great talent. Now that we put this together, we don’t play on paper. We don’t get to go against Atlanta or the Washington Redskins in our first [regular-season] game and say, ‘Here, this is our paper. This is our talent [and] this is your talent. We win because on paper we look a little bit better than you.'”
The Dolphins have high expectations for the 2015 season but they will need to prove on the field that they are indeed an elite product.
