The interesting thing about Miami's offense is this isn't a team that throws it deep a whole lot despite having two dynamic receivers in Hill and Waddle. With Tagovailoa behind center in 2024, the Dolphins' offense had the lowest rate of passes traveling 20+ yards beyond the line of scrimmage in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus – but that's a feature, not a bug, of how McDaniel schemes things up.
"Obviously with their speed, but it's kind of different than what people would expect," Bynum explained. You would think, because they're fast, they're throwing deep balls every single play. But it's moreso trying to find them in space and the run after the catch is the hardest part about going against those guys."
The Dolphins have been able to create that space for Hill and Waddle for a few reasons. First, defenses have to respect their ability to win on vertical routes downfield – "they're faster than 90 percent of guys in the league," Bynum said of Hill and Waddle – so some teams opt to play softer off coverages. Second, even if you want your cornerbacks to press, the Dolphins use pre-snap motion with remarkable effectiveness, which creates space for Hill and Waddle once the ball is in Tagovailoa's grasp.
"It's effective because it keeps guys off, guys can't press," Howard, who played for the Dolphin from 2016-2023, said. "When you go in motion, as a cornerback, you gotta line up and get your keys down — it doesn't give you time to do that. You gotta go play right now. He's already in and out of his break, ready to go."
Squeezing the space available for Hill and Waddle will be key – as well as for Achane, an explosive player in space as well – when they get the ball in their hands. Also important, though, is rallying defenders to make tackles when those guys do get into space. When Tagovailoa was behind center last year, the Dolphins averaged 18 yards per reception when a pass-catcher forced at least one missed tackle, per Pro Football Focus, good for the eighth-highest rate in the NFL.
"It's swarm tackling those guys," Bynum said. "You can't put yourself in a one-on-one position against anybody on their offense because we know that's their strength."
The X-Factor for the Dolphins, above all this, is the availability of Tagovailoa – who, again, will start Sunday. Since McDaniel was hired in 2022, the Dolphins are 25-16 with Tagovailoa starting; in that span, he's completed 69 percent of his passes, averaged 269 yards per game and has a passer rating of 102.5.
"That's the system for that guy," Howard, who would know better than most, said. "The stats show what he can do in the offense when he's healthy. He plays good ball — great ball."
So that's the backdrop against which Anarumo's Colts defense will make its 2025 debut. The Dolphins will provide a strong challenge; the Colts are expecting to be up for it come Sunday at 1 p.m. in downtown Indianapolis.