The Miami Dolphins' injury situation on the defensive side of the ball is quite dire. 

Four defensive starters (Xavien Howard, Jerome Baker, Jaelan Phillips, and Bradley Chubb) who played in the team's Week 9 contest against the Kansas City Chiefs will be unavailable for the wild-card round game this weekend. Other key contributors like LB Andrew Van Ginkel and LB Cameron Goode will be out for the game as well. 

The situation is so dire that Miami will likely have several players who've not been on this team before this week playing significant snaps on Saturday night.

A reporter asked Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel the following: "Just doing the math, it seems like there’s a pretty good likelihood that somebody who wasn’t in the building yesterday is going to play on Saturday. Is that a fair assessment?"

“That’s pretty good math," McDaniel said. "I think that’s where we’re at from a depth perspective. We’re working on that as we speak.”

With just four days to prepare ahead of game day, Miami is going to need some quick turnaround time just to get several of these new defenders up to speed for the game. That alone is a huge advantage, one that the Chiefs must work to take advantage of.

Make the running game the focal point of the offense

The Chiefs need to make Isiah Pacheco and the running game the focal point of the offense regardless of the matchup, but this week's matchup certainly helps stress that point. The Dolphins have allowed just 3.8 yards per carry to running backs this season, but that was before they needed a M.A.S.H. unit for their defense. During their past two games, both losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills, they've allowed 6.2 and 5.4 yards per carry on average (respectively). 

Pacheco has averaged over 5.6 yards per carry in his last three games played. That includes two separate 100-yard rushing performances. He's not just a key weapon for Kansas City, but his running style seems to get the offense going from an emotional standpoint, too. When he rips off a physical run, it sets the entire offense up for greater success because the defense has that much more to account for beyond Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice, and the passing game. 

Stress linebackers in the passing game and test depth with deep shots

The Dolphins only have four healthy linebackers on their 53-man roster for the time being: David Long Jr., Duke Riley, Calvin Minson, and Channing Tindall. 

The Chiefs need to get creative in stressing that position group out, as they're already going to have their hands full with the running game. This group allowed 8.75 yards per reception this season to running backs when they were healthy. That could mean utilizing RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the passing game or lining up a receiver in the backfield to create favorable passing matchups. 

Patrick Mahomes told reporters on Tuesday that the team would need to hit their deep shots if they were to win this game. With injuries to the defensive front seven, the Dolphins are down to Manny Ogbah, Melvin Ingram, and recently signed OLB Justin Houston for their pass-rush depth.

Those are all former Chiefs players with whom the team is very familiar. They'll likely take some shot plays on offense to see if they can connect and see how that edge rusher and secondary depth hold up for Miami. However, they should be quick to abandon this plan and lean on the running game with any signs of it not working. The last thing you want to do is turn the ball over forcing deep shots when the team has struggled with them all season.

Chiefs have NFC team trying to make up for past mistake

This Kansas City Chiefs front office executive could interview with a team that passed over him for their general manager job following an interview in 2021.