Reunions can be tricky, they can be awkward and difficult to navigate but, 10 months on from his hiring as Miami Dolphins head coach, Mike McDaniel is likely to get a warm reception when the San Francisco 49ers host their former offensive coordinator’s team in a mouthwatering Week 13 clash at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday.
McDaniel, the jovial and quirky personality who has spent much of his coaching career at San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan’s hip, has led the Dolphins to an outstanding 2022 season to this point.
The Dolphins are 8-3 with McDaniel overseeing one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses. Miami’s often derided third-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is sixth in the NFL in completions of 20 yards or more with 38 to his name across nine games this season, having thrown only 30 in 13 appearances in 2021. His primary receivers, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, have formed a devastating duo, their frightening speed consistently tormenting defenses and encouraging Tagovailoa to attack downfield with confidence.
Hill is on pace for just under 2,000 receiving yards while Waddle is on track to finish with a little below 1,500, with the matchup between the Miami attack and San Francisco’s increasingly dominant defense a true strength-on-strength encounter.
The 49ers made it four successive wins in Week 12, delighting fans from the Bay Area to Leeds and cementing their grip on top spot in the NFC West with a shutout 13-0 victory over the New Orleans Saints. Shanahan’s team enter the game with the Dolphins at 7-4 and with breathing room over the 6-5 Seahawks, whom they lead by a game after Seattle lost at home to the Las Vegas Raiders, with that advantage furthered by San Francisco’s head-to-head edge over Seattle from their Week 2 meeting.
San Francisco’s defense now has four consecutive second-half shutouts to its name, the Niners having also stopped the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers and Arizona Cardinals from scoring in the final two quarters of those contests prior to home win over New Orleans.
The Dolphins represent an altogether more imposing challenge, but San Francisco’s hopes of slowing them down may be about to receive a significant boost. Defensive tackle Arik Armstead, who has not played since the Week 4 win over the Rams because of a foot injury, returned to practice last week and took part on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
His prospective return would give a fearsome defensive line the interior pass rush it has often lacked in his absence, and Armstead’s influence could be even more keenly felt against the Dolphins’ offensive line, which may be down both its starting tackles on Sunday.
Right tackle Austin Jackson is expected to miss out because of an ankle issue and, while McDaniel has not ruled out Terron Armstead after he suffered a pectoral injury in the Dolphins’ win over the Houston Texans last Sunday, the three-time Pro Bowl left tackle is a significant doubt to suit up.
The respective absences of Jackson and Armstead would heighten the 49ers’ chances of disrupting Tagovailoa – who according to the NFL’s NextGen Stats has the sixth-quickest time from snap to throw at 2.6 seconds – and denying him the opportunity to consistently connect with Hill and Waddle.
San Francisco’s defenders are unlikely to be short of motivation to stop the Dolphins and specifically their running game, which features two former 49ers who have been in the spotlight in the build-up to the game because of controversial comments made in an interview with Tyler Dunne’s ‘Go Long’ publication.
Mostert, who signed with the Dolphins in free agency this past offseason, said of Miami: “We have way better talent here.”
He added of Tagovailoa: “We have a quarterback who can actually sling it.”
The latter comment was viewed as a shot at San Francisco starter Jimmy Garoppolo, who has often received criticism for his apparent unwillingness to attack downfield with regularity. Mostert denied that was the case in a social media post, but his prediction that he and Wilson, traded from the 49ers to the Dolphins at the trade deadline in return for a fifth-round pick, would “go crazy” is likely to be something the Niner defense will be eager to disprove.
The statistical evidence suggests they will keep their former team-mates who now reside in the Miami backfield under wraps. San Francisco’s run defense is allowing the fewest yards per rush (3.32) in the NFL and last week held Saints running back Alvin Kamara to just 13 yards on the ground.
San Francisco’s running game, meanwhile, will have to rely on some inexperienced members of the roster against Miami. Elijah Mitchell, who only returned from an MCL sprain that had kept him out since Week 1 in last month’s game against the Chargers, will be out for the remainder of the regular season after sustaining the same injury in his other knee in the defeat of New Orleans.
With Mitchell’s fellow running back Christian McCaffrey dealing with what Shanahan described as “knee irritation”, the 49ers may be forced to turn to two rookies, Jordan Mason and Tyrion Davis-Price, to shoulder the running game burden. Mason, who averaged five yards per carry in helping the Niners close out the Saints, will almost certainly get a share of the workload even if McCaffrey is healthy to play.
The potential lack of proven options in the backfield could see the 49ers lean on Garoppolo and the passing game to move the ball against a Miami defense that is league average by most measures this season but has shown improvement in recent weeks.
Only the Dolphins (7.66) and the Kansas City Chiefs (7.50) average more yards per pass play than the Niners (7.08) and, though McCaffrey – a critical component of the passing game – being less than 100 percent may complicate things for San Francisco through the air, Garoppolo still boasts more than enough weapons between Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk to thrive throwing the ball against Miami.
The Dolphins will hope their headline trade deadline acquisition, edge rusher Bradley Chubb, can create the pressure to keep Garoppolo and Co. out of rhythm, with the often inconsistent right tackle Mike McGlinchey surely somebody he and the Miami defensive line will target in that respect.
Yet if the 49ers can keep Garoppolo clean and move the ball through the air and the defense takes advantage of an injury-depleted Miami offensive line, that could well be enough to secure a win that forces two former Niners to eat humble pie and further solidifies San Francisco’s status as Super Bowl contenders.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa, encapsulating the motivation they have to silence their chatty former team-mates.
"I've got some friends coming out," Bosa said before Wednesday's practice. "They'll be wearing Dolphins jerseys. It would be good to shut them up."
MVP OF THE WEEK: Talanoa Hufanga
No player exemplified the 49er defense’s refusal to allow the Saints anything in Week 13 more than hard-hitting safety Hufanga.
Hufanga was typically ferocious in flying around the field, registering a team-high nine combined tackles and jarring the ball free from Kamara on the one-yard line in the defining play of the 49ers’ outstanding defensive showing and the first of two fourth-quarter red-zone stands that kept New Orleans scoreless for the first time since the 2001 season.
STAT OF THE WEEK: 94
After keeping the Saints out of the endzone, the 49ers have now not conceded a point in 94 minutes of game action stretching back to the second quarter of the win over the Cardinals in Mexico City.
Tales from the Bay Exit Survey: Drake Jackson
Each week Leeds Live poses five questions to a 49er. This week, we put our exit interview to edge rusher Drake Jackson. Want your question added to the exit survey? Let us know in the comments section below.
Favourite musical artist? I don’t have one… I’m not a music guy.
Favourite movie? Damn, probably... Remember The Titans
Favourite non-football athlete? Kobe Bryant
Funniest guy in the locker room? Jason Poh. He got hella jokes; he’ll have you laughing the whole time.
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