Malik Willis — Week 1: Five Sacks and a Touchdown Scramble
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Willis completed fifteen of twenty-seven throws for two hundred twenty yards with no touchdowns and one interception, was sacked five times for thirty-five yards, and ran six times for thirty-nine yards and Miami's only touchdown, a fourteen-yard scramble in the third quarter. Miami's thirty-two pass plays came out at minus nine point two expected points, in a 27–13 loss to the Raiders.
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Miami's only touchdown Sunday was Malik Willis running. Second and 10 at the Las Vegas 14, 12 52 left in the third quarter, down 17 to six: a scramble around right end, 14 yards, 17 to 13. The run was worth +2.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and +7.4 points of win probability, the chance of winning after the play against before it, the largest gain in win probability on any Dolphins play all afternoon. The drive had started at the Miami 48 after an interception of Kirk Cousins, its first play 25 yards deep right to Chris Bell; Las Vegas answered in five plays.
The passing line: 15 completions on 27 throws, 220 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, five sacks for 35 yards; 32 pass plays in all, worth −9.2 expected points. 11 throws went deep and five were caught. Nine of 13 for a hundred 19 before halftime, six of 14 for a hundred one after. The interception was second and 10 at the Miami 23 with nine 49 left in the third, down 24 to 13, deep middle for Caleb Douglas, picked off at the Las Vegas 34. Three of the five sacks came on third down, one of them third and five at the Las Vegas 13 with 54 seconds left in the third, 10 yards lost and no points on the drive. The fifth put the ball on the Miami one with three oh one left, and two plays later a completion to Malik Washington that reached the Miami 36 was fumbled away. The running was the better half: six carries, five of them scrambles, 39 yards, a touchdown, two first downs, +1.1 expected points.
The ball went eight times to Washington, seven to Douglas, five to De'Von Achane, two each to Bell, Greg Dulcich and Kevin Coleman Jr., and one to Will Kacmarek; every throw has a receiver. Miami ran 13 designed runs against 32 pass plays, nine and 14 before halftime, four and 18 after. On third down Willis had eight pass plays: five throws, four completions, two first downs, three sacks; Miami converted two of 10. Every Dolphins pass play was his; he is the starter, signed in free agency in March, per ESPN.
Back in June the preview called Willis a watchlist — quarterback 21 at pick one 31, a declared starter with 19 games and six starts behind him, and the legs as the whole profile — and said that if the efficiency of four games in Green Bay survived contact with 17, the price was theft. Sunday was the legs — the touchdown, 39 yards, +1.1 — and a passing game at −9.2, five sacks and 13 points. One game is not the 17 the preview was waiting on; it is the first line in that record. Miami is at the 49ers on Sunday the twentieth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Malik Willis's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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