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The suddenly competitive Miami Dolphins received encouraging injury news for De’Von Achane. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Steelers got the same thing for D.K. Metcalf. And here are our bold predictions for the Dolphins and Steelers’ Monday Night Football battle in Week 15.
The Dolphins have won four in a row and five of six to improve their record to 6-7. On the other side, the Steelers are 7-6 after a tough 27-22 victory over the Ravens.
Both teams still have playoff hopes alive, so this should be quite a battle under the national spotlight.
Pittsburgh gave up 249 rushing yards to the Bills. Then they got lit up for 217 yards against the Ravens. And now they face a team that just hit the Jets with 239 yards while almost having two 100-yard rushers.
This has disaster written all over it for the Dolphins. A clean MRI means Achane will be ready to rock, and the Steelers will have little chance to stop him. Here are Achane’s yards per carry over the last four weeks as the Dolphins have been on a heater: 7.9, 5.7, 6.1, and 13.1. Yes, all of those came against ugly-bad run defenses. But, hey, that’s what the Steelers have become.
Achane has become almost everything for the Dolphins’ offense this season, according to wtop.com.
“You’re not seeing a player just with skill,” McDaniel said Wednesday. “What you learn about him over time is that he’s trying to be great. So I think the work ethic tied to the skill set, it’s exciting because he’s very confident. But some of the stuff he’s capable of doing, he hasn’t got to see himself do it yet, I think, in an NFL game.
“What I noticed from his college days was that he was never taking hits on directly,” McDaniel said, “which, when players do that, it means the game is really slow for them. It means that he can see a lot, so there’s some natural football talent. That’s a skill. Not just being fast or having good hands, but that’s a skill of avoiding direct tackles that is very impactful when your job is to move the ball forward.”
Achane says hard work matters.
“It means a lot,” Achane said. “It just shows the hard work that I put in, that me and my team put in. It’s just a stepping stone of mine, and we’ve got to keep moving forward.”
It may not seem like a bold prediction, but Rodgers has only eclipsed that mark one time all season. It came last week against the Bills, and look for Rodgers to continue the momentum.
The Dolphins are OK against the pass, ranking No. 12 in the NFL with 202.6 yards per game. But they have struggled against the run, standing at No. 25. It may seem counterintuitive to suggest a strong passing game for Rodgers. But look...
