{"id":417024,"date":"2026-10-02T18:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T18:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417024\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T18:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T18:54:12","slug":"miami-dolphins-still-looking-for-first-sack-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417024\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Dolphins still looking for first sack in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 Through three weeks this NFL season, there is one team that is yet to record a sack.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Miami Dolphins.<\/p>\n

Dolphins pass rushers, obviously, don\u2019t want to be associated with that fact, but they have found recent progress that has them hopeful the sacks will soon come. They also understand the sack stat doesn\u2019t tell the whole story of pass rush effectiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I directly pay attention to it, but of course, I see it,\u201d third-year defensive end Chop Robinson said this week, as the Dolphins travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings on Sunday. \u201cI hate that we\u2019re the only team to not have a sack, but I know it\u2019s going to come this week. Just got to keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposite him on the defensive line, Josh Uche believes the sacks will come as long as Dolphins edge defenders go about their process the right way, which was starting to show last week against the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t chase them. Sometimes, the best things in life come to you,\u201d Uche said. \u201cYou got to do your job, do your one-eleventh. Obviously, we\u2019re getting there, we\u2019re getting hits on the quarterback. We\u2019re getting the stuff done, from beating the man, to making contact on the quarterback. The next step is getting the sack. It\u2019s a progression and can\u2019t keep chasing, just got to keep doing your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the sack total remains at zero, there was at least a spark from the Dolphins pass rush with increased pressure applied to quarterback Patrick Mahomes last Sunday from the first two losses against the Las Vegas Raiders and San Francisco 49ers. Mahomes was hit five times, not counting the questionable roughing-the-passer penalty<\/a> assessed to Robinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that last week we took a step forward as far as getting pressure,\u201d said linebacker Jordyn Brooks. \u201cWhether that was knocking quarterback off his timing, getting him out of the pocket, getting hits on him, just being disruptive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks ran a stunt last week with defensive tackle Zach Sieler that was effective in moving Mahomes off his spot in the pocket, leading to an errant throw on the tipped ball intercepted by rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The momentum from the Chiefs game has translated over to the practice field before facing the Vikings and quarterback Kyler Murray.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, I thought this has been our best week. I mean, the energy, the efficiency, I think it\u2019s hands-down been our best week,\u201d Hafley said. \u201cThe pass rush is another one of those units that, the more they\u2019re out there together, the better they\u2019ll be. They had a really nice week, and they\u2019re excited for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other side this Sunday, the Vikings lead the NFL in sacks, as defensive coordinator Brian Flores\u2019 blitz-happy unit has 14 on the year, six last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, injuring quarterback Baker Mayfield in the process.<\/p>\n

Defensive coordinator Sean Duggan knows many obsess over sacks, but he\u2019s pleased with the improvements in affecting the opposing quarterback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody would love sacks, right?\u201d Duggan began. \u201cI mean, sacks are great. They\u2019re momentum plays. Obviously, whether it\u2019s pushing somebody back on third down or getting off the field on third down, they\u2019re great plays. You can feel the energy in the crowd when we get to the quarterback.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to be honest, we just look at what do we need to do to win that down and to win the game. Sacks are great, but that\u2019s the result of a good process. If you\u2019re affecting the quarterback, that\u2019s really the main goal. I think we\u2019ve talked about before, affecting the quarterback isn\u2019t necessarily sacking him. It\u2019s getting him off the spot, forcing a bad throw, getting those cumulative kind of hits on him. I think it\u2019s more than just the sack number, but we just see that as what do we need to do to win that down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against Murray, the Dolphins will not only try to get after him, but be sound with their lane discipline so they don\u2019t allow the elusive 5-foot-10 passer to escape as a scrambler.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have a good plan,\u201d Duggan said. \u201cGuys have to be in sync with the plan. You have to have coordinated rushes, whether that\u2019s the front four, whether it\u2019s guys blitzing from the back end. You just have to have awareness. He\u2019s been a really elite scrambling quarterback, and it\u2019s not just scrambling to run, it\u2019s scrambling to throw for a long time, so I think guys need to be on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami also knows sack opportunities on third down can be created with holding down an opponent on first and second down.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins have been stout against the run the past two weeks against elite running backs in Christian McCaffrey and Kenneth Walker. Versus Aaron Jones and the Vikings, they look to keep that momentum going on early run downs, possibly leading to difficult third-down passing situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, stop the run, and then get to have fun,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cWe just took a step, compared to Week 1 and Week 2, especially getting to get them in passing situations, second-and-long, third-and-long. They\u2019re going to have to pass the ball eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 Through three weeks this NFL season, there is one team that is yet to record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,1763,125,124,119,110],"class_list":["post-417024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}