Dolphins’ Pass Rush Rejoice: Chargers Down To 4th and 5th String O-Line

The Miami Dolphins need all the help they can get after starting the season 1-4 and allowing a bad Carolina Panthers football team to mount a fourth quarter comeback last week. Seems like the help will arrive in the form of a weakened offensive line for their Week 6 opponent, the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Chargers injury report released today confirms that the team will be without former top-ten draft pick, Joe Alt, at offensive tackle. Additionally, third string tackle Trey Pipkins has also had his injury designation downgraded to out. This means the Chargers will be rolling with their fourth and fifth string offensive tackles as they make the long road trip to Miami.

“Per The Athletic’s Daniel Popper, Austin Deculus will once again start at left tackle while Bobby Hart will start on the right side,” writes team blogger Michael Peterson.

In a similar situation last week, Justin Herbert was sacked four times and Trey Lance went down for a fifth as the Chargers were uncompetitive in a second straight loss after starting the season 3-0.

The Dolphins start with an advantage as they look to pull off the upset at 3.5 point home underdogs.

Mike Macdonald Points Finger at Seahawks' Struggling Run Game

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald has two new players to work with as training camp gets underway.

The Seattle Seahawks kicked off the season in disappointing fashion. It was a sloppy game for the Seahawks that saw them fall to the San Francisco 49ers 17-13. In the game that was winnable for the Seahawks, their own mistakes cost them.

A late fumble by quarterback Sam Darnold in the red zone sealed the game for the Seahawks. However, part of what put the Seahawks in a hole, forcing them to come back, was their lack of a run game.

As a team, the Seahawks averaged only 3.2 yards per carry. Zach Charbonnet was the Seahawks’ leading rusher with 12 carries totaling 47 yards. Darnold had the Seahawks’ longest run of the day at nine yards. Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald knows the run game needs to improve going forward.

Didn’t Run the Ball Effectively

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald didn’t mince words when talking about the team’s poor run game in his Monday press conference. John Boyle and Ari Horton of

Seahawks.com had Macdonald’s thoughts in their September 8 article.

“I think it’s fair to say when we’re not running the ball effectively, we’re either not hitting our targets or wrongly leveraged or maybe not taking the right path,”

Macdonald said. “It can just be one of whatever things, it’s not like guys don’t know what to do, it’s just how to do them to a certain extent.

We’ll get those things cleaned up as we go.”

Macdonald then harped on the importance of physicality when things aren’t going the team’s way in a game.

“Y

ou’re never going to play a perfect football game, that’s why the effort and the physicality are so important, because a lot of times, that makes up for a little lack of detail here or there,”

Macdonald said. “They’ve got good players too. They’re allowed to go make plays, and they’re allowed to gameplan and do some things that you may or may not expect

.”

“That’s why the game of football is so great, it’s just back and forth, this battle of wills,” Macdonald continued. “When we’re on our stuff and when

we’re rolling, I think we can be pretty dang good.”

Even with the mishaps, Macdonald still has faith in his running backs.

Both RBs Will Get Opportunities

Over the summer, much

was made of whether Kenneth Walker III would remain the lead running back or if Zach Charbonnet would ultimately take the role. On Sunday, Charbonnet only had two more carries than Walker III, so

the workload was split relatively evenly.

On his radio show with KIRO-AM, Macdonald advocated for both Charbonnet and Walker to continue receiving opportunities. Gregg Bell of The Tacoma News Tribune

wrote about Macdonald’s thoughts on the running back room and how they performed against the 49ers.

“Both played well, I thought. I got to go back and get some more details on who got what read and what was there (in the hole) for what guy,”

Macdonald said. “We’ll kind of get all that stuff ironed out.”

Macdonald then emphasized that both running backs will be featured in the offense.

“There are going to be more opportunities for both of them moving forward,”

Macdonald said. “And that’s how we’re going to treat it.”

The Seahawks’ rushing game will have a chance to get back on track against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. The same Steelers team that gave up 182 rushing yards and three touchdowns on an average of 4.7 yards per carry against the New York Jets in Week One.

Dolphins’ Pass Rush Rejoice: Chargers Down To 4th and 5th String O-Line

Miami’s Pass Rush Should Step Up

Dolphins Likely To Pull Off The Upset

Mike Macdonald Points Finger at Seahawks' Struggling Run Game

Didn’t Run the Ball Effectively

Both RBs Will Get Opportunities