How the ‘Cheetah Effect’ opens up the Dolphins’ offense. And breaking down Ramsey’s debut

Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill leads the NFL in receiving yards and touchdowns and is well on his way to achieving the league’s first 2,000-yard receiving season.

For as impactful as he is with the ball in his hands, though, Hill can also make a big difference when he doesn’t touch the ball.

After the Dolphins’ 31-17 win against the New England Patriots last Sunday, fellow wideout Jaylen Waddle called his 31-yard touchdown that sealed the victory the “Cheetah Effect” on X (formerly known as Twitter) — and rightfully so.

Before the third-and-1 play, Hill was lined up to the left of the shotgun formation and Waddle was to the right. Hill went into motion before the snap, sprinting to the right side of the formation. As Hill passed Waddle and began to run a wheel route, the Patriots followed him.

The only problem? There was a coverage breakdown as cornerback Jack Jones followed the motioning Hill. Corner Jonathan Jones, lined up over Waddle, also followed Hill, leaving Waddle wide open in the middle of the field with no deep safeties to protect the end zone. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa used his eyes to draw two second-level defenders out of their zones and open a clean window to find Waddle for the easy score.

The Dolphins use more presnap motion than any team in the league and with Hill, it often helps him get open looks as teams game plan to stop him. However, when teams over-commit, it can open other spots on the field. This was just another example of how Hill’s presence can put defenses in a bind, even when he’s not targeted. And while Miami has made use of a shorter presnap motion with Hill this season, coach Mike McDaniel called on a longer jet motion — which was a core staple of the offense last season — as a wrinkle after the Patriots defended the other well in the Week 2 matchup.

“Specifically we knew in the game we were going to have a couple more of those for this game,” McDaniel said. “We typically have them every week, but it’s part of our DNA. We presnap motion to gain advantages for ourselves, but you have to be super detailed to be able to do that at a high rate, with snap counts, motion landmarks, and it takes 100 percent commitment from all those guys to be able to get that done, and it can be more difficult for the defense to stop if you’re executing and taking advantage of things like that and you have players that can do stuff like that.”

Opposing defenses have been intentional about how they seek to limit Hill’s game-breaking speed. No team sees more Cover 2 — a zone coverage with two deep safeties — than the Dolphins mainly because of Hill. And defenses have done creative things to try to keep him covered, including shading and rotating extra defenders to Hill. Miami, though, has still been able to get the ball to Hill, and find other pass-catchers when he’s covered.

“It feels great to be a decoy,” Hill said. “... It goes to show that Coach [Bill] Belichick, he has a lot of respect for you. If a coach has that much respect for me, man, I must be doing something right.”

Rave reviews for Ramsey

It didn’t take long for cornerback Jalen Ramsey to show the difference he can make in his Dolphins debut. He was targeted just three times, giving up one reception. He forced a fumble that was negated by a holding penalty. And his second-quarter interception was the type of playmaking Miami’s defense has been missing through the first half of the season.

The pick came out a Cover 4 coverage, with Ramsey shuffling back to cover a quarter of the deep field along the sideline. The Patriots had a three-receiver concept on Ramsey’s side. DeVante Parker, whom Ramsey was lined up on, ran a go route. Kendrick Bourne ran a wheel route from the slot position and Demario Douglas was running a swing route from orbit motion behind the line of scrimmage.

Douglas’ orbit motion drew Kader Kohou, who was next to Ramsey in his nickel corner position, and the pump fake from quarterback Mac Jones forced Kohou to drive down on the route, leaving a window for Bourne on the wheel route.

Ramsey was about 10 yards from Bourne when the ball was released, but he was able to fluidly flip his hips and break on the ball — his plant leg happened to be his left leg, where his meniscus was repaired — for Miami’s fourth interception of the season.

One of the benefits of playing in Vic Fangio’s defense is constantly having eyes on the quarterback in zone coverage, which theoretically should lead to more opportunities for takeaways. Ramsey showed his savvy and ability to generate turnovers all in one play.

“The hype is real when it comes to someone like Jalen Ramsey,” Tagovailoa said. “The defense rallies around each other. Those guys have been playing really well off each other. But having someone like him back in the lineup is definitely going to help those guys go.”

This and that

Ramsey played every defensive snap but the final four when the game was decided. And when he went to the sideline, it allowed cornerback Nik Needham, who also made his season debut, to get his first snaps on defense.

With Ramsey out, Kohou moved to the outside cornerback position opposite Eli Apple and Needham was the nickel corner. Needham didn’t get on the stat sheet but his role matched what Fangio told reporters two weeks ago. With Parry Nickerson now on the practice squad and Xavien Howard nearing a return from a groin injury, Needham could contribute as an extra corner in the defense’s dime packages with six defensive backs.