The Dolphins must be prepared for Carl Lawson

One team in this Bengals-Dolphins matchup has the right to go to 4-1 while the other moves to 3-2. So naturally both teams will be 3-1-1.

The leaders in the AFC North, the 2018 Bengals are a team full of intriguing talent. Andy Dalton is, well, competent with a good supporting cast, the backfield has suffered injuries but features the combination of Joe Mixon and Giovanni Bernard (missing two weeks), A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd are lighting games up, and the defense features studs like Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, and William Jackson III.

Among the more enticing players on this Bengals roster is second-year defensive end Carl Lawson. A fourth round pick in 2017, Lawson has become quite the steal for the Bengals, racking up pressures while forming a nice defensive end duo with Carlos Dunlap. Lawson’s season started off a little slow, but he’s coming off his first sack of the season and has racked up five quarterback hits.

The stats aren’t completely flashy right now, but Lawson is not someone the Dolphins want to underestimate.

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Lawson’s talents as a pass rusher are obvious, and seeing them this constantly makes me wonder how he was able to fall to the fourth round. I guess teams were concerned by his short arms or something.

Anyway, Lawson’s sack against the Falcons came off a fantastic inside move on the left tackle. He pushes off his right foot, accelerates and has a huge gap in his favor as takes down Matt Ryan for the sack.

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No you’re not on bath salts. Yes, this is Carl Lawson lifting a left tackle. On one hand, this is probably bad play on the tackle’s part, but Lawson’s power on this play is crazy. That he’s able to briefly lift the left tackle is incredible and gets him outside leverage as he disrupts this Cam Newton pass for an incompletion.

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Lastly, on this play, Lawson baits the left tackle into bending forward by leading with a “stab move” then countering the tackle’s movement with an insanely quick counter chop. This gives him outside leverage and ultimately allows him to put pressure on Andrew Luck, who he eventually hits just after getting the pass off.

Geno Atkins isn’t the only pass rusher the Dolphins need to fear. Carl Lawson is a talented defensive end who wins one-on-one with all sorts of different angles. There’s very little doubt that he’s one of the best young defensive ends in football, at the NFL, and left tackle Laremy Tunsil is in for a test on Sunday.

Be ready, Miami.