Dolphins defense bounces back with a strong performance in New England

The tight end, a former Dolphin at that, throws a backward lateral that’s caught by the offensive lineman. File that under football occurrences that you don’t see every day, let alone on fourth down with the outcome hanging in the balance.

For Bradley Chubb, it was one of those hold-your-breath moments that would either spell the end of a bounce-back performance for Miami’s defensive unit, or the need to keep digging against AFC East rival New England. Like he did several times Sunday night, Chubb cut his way through the Patriots’ offensive line and got in the face of quarterback Mac Jones. The linebacker applied enough pressure before turning around and seeing his former Miami teammate (Mike Gesicki) heave the ball and watch it be caught by Cole Strange.

“I was looking to figure out what was going on,” Chubb said. “I heard the crowd cheering and trying to gather everything that was going on before looking up at the scoreboard.”

Originally decreed a first down, replay came back and said Strange was short of the first down maker. It was an unconventional last stand, but it nonetheless got the job done as the Dolphins celebrated a second consecutive road win, this time over a division opponent.

Can you go from maligned one week to essentially pitching a shutout? In many ways, that’s what Miami’s defense did in a 24-17 victory that saw the unit collect four sacks and hold the Patriots to 3.5 yards per carry.

“We took it personally because we know that wasn’t us,” Chubb said. “We know that’s not the product we want to put on the field.”

Miami’s defense had nowhere to go up after getting ripped apart by the high-powered Los Angeles Chargers in last week’s season opener. The Dolphins escaped Southern California with a 36-34 victory, yet the run-stopping unit was M.I.A. in allowing 234 rushing yards.

“We didn’t have a choice. We had to get better from Week 1,” defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said. “We made some adjustments and hopefully can build off of that.”

The road to redemption appeared to take a hit when outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips was ruled out with a back injury. In the eyes of Wilkins, the absence of a vital cog strengthened the resolve concerning the “next man up” code that’s part and parcel of the football culture.

“Obviously Jalen is a huge piece, but Andrew Van Ginkel, that’s my guy,” Wilkins said.

Opportunity was knocking on the Miami sideline, both in terms of personnel and actual performance. For Van Ginkel, his ability to seamlessly shift from inside linebacker — where he played against Los Angeles — to outside linebacker helped the Dolphins mask not having Phillips.

Van Ginkel was credited with one sack and appeared on his way to collecting another one when he hit Jones in the second quarter. Miami challenged the play to see if it should be a forced fumble, but the original call of an incomplete pass stood.

“Van Ginkel probably knows the defense better than anyone because of his multiplicity,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said.

Chubb helped set the tone for Miami’s redemption on defense on the final play of the first quarter when he hustled from behind to knock the ball free from Patriots rookie wide receiver Demario Douglas. DeShon Elliot recovered for the Dolphins, who then marched 73 yards in 11 plays to extend their lead to 10-0.

“That was huge for us. We had just scored and you want to get the ball back to your offense as soon as possible,” Chubb said. “Just hustling and we were able to get the fumble recovery.”

To wide receiver Tyreek Hill, the Dolphins epitomized what it means to play complementary football with the outcome hanging in the balance for the second time in two weeks.

“There’s always room for improvement, but we had to finish strong,” Hill said. “It was a team effort.”