What We Learned About the Dolphins in Week 15

The 2020 Miami Dolphins found yet another way to win in their game against the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium

The Miami Dolphins find themselves in the thick of the AFC playoff race this season for many reasons, perhaps none more significant than their ability to adapt and adjust.

That ability most definitely was on display against the New England Patriots in Week 15 when the Dolphins found themselves without pretty much every key ingredient to their passing game and instead turned to their much-maligned ground game.

There's no way to properly describe just how improbable their 250-yard rushing performance against the Patriots truly was, though in a sense it truly wasn't.

Allow us to explain.

All Dolphins coaches have made it clear this is a team that adjusts what it does weekly with the opponent in mind, unlike other teams who simply stick to what they do best.

If that sounds like the Patriots formula of recent years, that's because it's an awful lot like it.

Of course, planning something and executing it are two different things, so for that it's the Dolphins players who deserve kudos for creating openings in the running game and taking advantage of those openings.

The formula for success very likely will be different against the Raiders this week and it could be different again in the finale against the Buffalo Bills in a game that could determine whether the Dolphins will make the playoffs.

This isn't something new this year for the Dolphins because that's what they did at the end of the 2019 season when they found a way to go 5-4 in their final nine games when their talent level suggested there was no way for them to achieve that.

Here's what else we learned from the victory against New England:

-- Everything with the Dolphins continues to start with the defense. While we praise the coaching staff for adjusting the offensive game plan, we need to realize the defense held New England to 12 points, this after holding the Jets to three points and the Bengals to seven points. The Raiders will present a much bigger challenge than any of those three teams Saturday night, regardless of whether Derek Carr or Marcus Mariota ends up starting at quarterback for Las Vegas.

-- We learned that 2019 third-round pick Michael Deiter can produce quality football even if he's been relegated to the role of special teams player in his second season. That was big not only for the game against New England but also moving forward.

-- This is something we didn't necessarily learn but something that was reaffirmed, and that's the fact that Salvon Ahmed is the best running back on the roster right now. Sure, it's easy to say that after a 122-yard rushing performance, but it's more about the way he got those yards. He's clearly got the best combination of power and speed of any back on this roster and should continue to get the bulk of the work even after Myles Gaskin returns from the COVID-19 list, though Gaskin would make a good complementary back.

-- We learned again that Lynn Bowden Jr. is too good in the open field not to get the ball on offense on a consistent basis.

-- Tight end Durham Smythe is not Mike Gesicki because he doesn't possess the same kind of speed or athleticism, but we learned again against the Patriots that Smythe is a very solid two-way tight end and somebody who figures to be around for a lot of years.

-- Because we have to include something on Tua Tagovailoa, what we learned about him against New England was his ability to learn from a mistake. Just guessing here, but maybe he doesn't score his 3-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter had it not been for his first-quarter pick, which taught him not to try to force a pass when there's pressure in the pocket. It's a simple thing, but another encouraging sign in his continuing development as a quarterback.

-- On defense, we learned that Jerome Baker is reaching borderline elite status in the final weeks of the 2020 season. Baker really wasn't that  much of a factor for the first half of the season, but he's in middle of the action more often than not these days.

-- On special teams, we learned that Jason Sanders is not automatic, even though it's appeared that way for most of the season.

RELATED: Why Sanders' Recent Misses Are No Concer and Why He Should Have Been Named to the Pro Bowl

-- Finally, the most important thing we learned about the Dolphins is that they're not going to go away quietly in 2020. But we pretty much already knew that, didn't we?