The Miami Dolphins may have lost a lot of talent this offseason, but they have some players on the defensive side of the ball who could keep the team in a lot of games throughout Jeff Hafley's first year as head coach.
And if the Dolphins want to outperform the expectations that they currently carry on their shoulders from a national perspective, their defense will need to produce.
Interestingly, the Dolphins reportedly have a tactic that they're using to motivate their players. If the defense doesn't record three takeaways in each game, they're going to have to run after practice. And that's something that Hafley confirmed and said he appreciated this week.
"Makes me smile. Yeah, I think that's awesome," Hafley said. "I think if they're taking
ownership in that, which I think is going to be very important with everything that we do, the buy-in makes me smile and appreciate that they're listening and they see the importance of takeaways. I like the number that they picked, three, because if we get three takeaways a game, we're going to play really good defense and really good football. I think that's awesome. Any time guys can take ownership and hold each other accountable and push each other and have a consequence for a standard, then I think the standard is real."
The last time that a team averaged three takeaways per game was in 2007, when the San Diego Chargers recorded 48 takeaways in 16 games. That team went 11-5 and lost in the AFC Championship Game to the (at the time) undefeated New England Patriots.
Right now, Miami is projected to win between three and five games this year, but if their defense is taking the ball away at that rate, they will likely be better than that.
This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Dolphins deploying interesting motivation tactic to get takeaways
