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The Miami Dolphins lost to the Arizona Cardinals last weekend, dropping their second straight overtime game of the season. However, players all across the Dolphins' roster played exceptionally well. Two weeks ago, we worked our way through the Dolphins' roster, looking at the individual statuses of players in Pro Football Focus' rankings. After two more games, it's time to go take another look at the rankings.
According to PFF's overall team rankings, the Dolphins are currently the second ranked defense in the league, only behind the Seattle Seahawks. The team is second in run defense, third in pass rush, and fifteenth in pass coverage. As for the offense, the team is ranked twentieth overall, twenty-third in pass offense, and sixteenth in rush offense.
Turning to the individual players, the Dolphins currently have two receivers in the top ten wide outs in the league. Davone Bess is currently at number eight, while Brian Hartline is tied for tenth with the St. Louis Rams' Danny Amendola. Dolphins receiver Anthony Armstrong has not qualified for a ranking yet, but former Dolphins wide out Legedu Naanee was ranked as the 106th receiver, out of 109. Naanee was released by the team yesterday, with free agent wide receiver Jabar Gaffney being signed. Previously, Hartline had been the top Dolphins receiver with an 11th ranking, while Bess was 38th.
Tight end Anthony Fasano has jumped up from 17th two weeks ago to sixth in the league now.
Two weeks ago, running back Reggie Bush was ranked tenth. After missing the second half against the New York Jets in Week 3, and then having a less than stellar performance against a stingy Arizona defense this past week, Bush has fallen to 25th in PFF's rankings. Miami's second string running back, Daniel Thomas, has now qualified for the rankings, coming in as the 48th ranked rusher in the league.
Fullback Jorvorskie Lane remains the 11th ranked fullback.
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill fell from 17th to 23rd over the past two weeks, despite throwing for 431 yards against the Cardinals. He is still the second ranked rookie quarterback behind the fifth ranked Robert Griffin III. First overall pick Andrew Luck is currently 26th, Russell Wilson is 28th, and Brandon Weeden is last at 32. Tannehill is also the second in the AFC East, with Tom Brady ranked second overall, Ryan Fitzpatrick 30th, and Mark Sanchez 31st.
Along the offensive line, left tackle Jake Long moves to 43rd this week, well down from his 18th ranking two weeks ago. Right tackle, rookie Jonathan Martin, also feel, moving from 58th to 63rd, according to PFF. Guards John Jerry (28th to 36th) and Richie Incognito (61st to 63rd) both continue the Miami offensive line trend of falling down the rankings.
However, second year center Mike Pouncey bucks that trend, going from the second ranked center two weeks ago to the top guy at the position.
Turning to the defensive side of the ball, Cameron Wake matches Pouncey's top ranking, with Wake taking over as the top 4-3 defensive end in the league after being sixth two weeks ago. Wake's dominance as a pass rusher is not limited to just 4-3 DEs, however.
Right now Cameron Wake is the league's best pure pass-rusher. And we're not forgetting anybody.
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) October 1, 2012
Behind Wake among defensive ends, the Dolphins have Olivier Vernon, who is ranked 27th in the league after being 39th and Jared Odrick who moved from 39th down two to 41st.
As for the interior linemen, Randy Starks remains in the top ten in the league falling from second to seventh over the last couple of games, while Paul Soliai fell from 11th to 15th.
The Miami outside linebackers both jumped way up the charts, with Kevin Burnett moving from 28th two weeks ago to 9th now and Koa Misi going from 23rd to 13th. Inside linebacker Karlos Dansby had a similar jump, going from 24th to being the second ranked inside linebacker in the league, only trailing San Francisco $9ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman.
Sean Smith led the Miami cornerbacks two weeks ago with a 36th ranking. He is still the best corner on the team, according to PFF's rankings, but he is a more respectable 23rd in the league now. If he can continue to play like he did against the Cardinals, he will continue to climb up the rankings throughout the season. Behind Smith, Miami has the 85th ranked Richard Marshall (down from 50th) and the 88th ranked Nolan Carroll (down from 82nd).
And, just like two weeks ago, we have an update on former Miami corner Vontae Davis. This time, however, it was not hard to find the ranking - PFF tweeted it out:
Throwing at Vontae Davis is giving QBs a 155.4 QB rating through 4 games.Worst mark in the league
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) October 2, 2012
Both Dolphins safeties have moved up the board this week. Reshad Jones, who previously was ranked third in the league, is now second, while Chris Clemons moves from 29th to 14th.
Dan Carpenter, who has missed three long field goals over the past two weeks, any of which could have won either game for Miami, remains the 21st ranked kicker in the league. Punter Brandon Fields, who was sixth two weeks ago, has moved up to third in the league. Meanwhile, return man Marcus Thigpen fell from third in the league to 11th, while Davone Bess entered the rankings at 43rd.
Despite a 1-3 record, the Dolphins are looking good when you see their individual rankings. Now it's just a matter of the team being able to put it all together for 60 full minutes (assuming they can stop taking games into overtime). Hopefully this week against the Cincinnati Bengals will allow the team to do exactly that.