Miami Dolphins (0-3) @ Minnesota Vikings (3-0)
Sunday, October 4, 4:05 PM ET
Once again, we have to make sure we bring it up with what appears to be such a lopsided matchup on paper…
Any given Sunday.
That’s not just a cute phrase or movie title, but a reality of the National Football League. Everyone is paid to play, but this one might genuinely be the one game on the slate this week that is over before it gets started.
The Dolphins are going into hostile territory to face off against the Vikings, who have one of the most fearsome defenses in the NFL. And although Malik Willis has shown some promise as a starter, the Brian Flores defense is making any quarterback in his path run for their lives.
That could, oddly enough, play into Willis’s favor a little bit this week. Until the Dolphins’ loss in Week 3 to the Kansas City Chiefs, we hadn’t really seen Willis utilize that portion of his game – his ability to make plays as a runner – all that much, certainly not by design. He had 8 carries in the first two games of the season combined, and then all of a sudden had 9 rushing attempts against the Chiefs.
Brian Flores is going to send so many blitzes at Willis this week, and it’s going to be fascinating to see how he responds. Especially with De’Von Achane out due to a torn ACL (absolutely awful news this week), the Dolphins are going to have to fight to not be one-dimensional on the road.
We should see a lot of RPOs, quick passing game, and a lot of designed runs for Willis.
The question might be – can the young Dolphins defense force Kyler Murray and the Vikings’ offense to make a bunch of mistakes in this game? It’s not all that far-fetched, but it just feels like this one is going to end up getting out of reach for Miami quickly.
The Vikings are favored at home by 10.5 points, and a two-score loss seems reasonable to expect.
Prediction: Vikings win 24-13
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