Malik Willis wasn’t buying Jordan Battle’s explanation after the Bengals safety picked him off twice in Week 5.
After Sunday’s game, reporters asked the Dolphins quarterback about Battle’s claim that Willis had a “tell” - a slight tap before each throw that Battle believed helped him jump routes. Willis pushed back hard on that idea, saying the two interceptions had more to do with how the plays unfolded than any giveaway from his mechanics.
“That’s not a tell, he caught tipped balls. Good for him, that’s what defenses are supposed to do at this level,” Willis replied.
“They batted a ball down and the second one was a scramble drill mishap. That has nothing to do with tells.
I don’t think I patted either one of those. I don’t think those are correlated.”
Battle had told Bengals reporters that he saw something in Willis’ delivery and thought it could be used against him.
“He has a slight little tap before every throw, though, so I feel like we could use that as a key to break on the ball,” Battle said.
Whatever the explanation, the results were real. Battle finished with seven total tackles and two interceptions, and those turnovers helped the Bengals come out on top.
The picks were especially costly because Miami stayed in the game throughout. The Dolphins are 0-5 to start the season, and the offense has looked stuck in neutral. Still, if they can put together a cleaner performance like the one they showed Sunday, they may be able to get their first win.
Miami will have a chance to reset in Week 6, since the team is on bye. Their next game comes in Week 7, when they face New York in a divisional matchup.
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With Smith now a free agent again, the bigger picture around the Dolphins defensive front is hard to ignore. Jeff Hafley said the bye week is being used to evaluate the players, the scheme and the coaching after the recent roster movement, which gives this week a bigger feel than just another pause in the schedule. For a thin room, every transaction says something, and this one left Smiths future in the NFL unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
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The history lesson matters here: teams that win it all usually do so by landing premium quarterbacks or impact players at positions with broader value, not by getting locked into one name at the top of the board. For Miami, that leaves a real decision coming into focus, one that could point toward a quarterback, a different cornerstone, or even a move down if the board and the market break the right way. Smith is the headline-grabbing option, but he may not be the most consequential one. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Could Have A Trade Deadline Decision Fans Wont Ignore
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For Miami, the bigger question is whether he fits into the long-term plan at all, especially with free agency looming in the spring. The Patriots have been mentioned as a team with interest in a reunion, and even without any official move on the board yet, that kind of connection is the sort of deadline storyline Dolphins fans will be watching closely. [Read more 🡒]