Dave Hyde: The speed of De’Von Achane’s emergence is eye-popping to everyone — including him
MIAMI GARDENS — For a true sense of what’s happening to De’Von Achane, don’t just look at his touchdown total or stopwatch time. Check the scoreboard as he sprints downfield. That’s what Achane does.
In real time, his runs like Sunday’s 76-yard touchdown are over in scant seconds, a fireball of fury through the New York Giants defense in a manner that defines the speed all across this Dolphins offense.
But pay attention to Achane’s eyes as he runs. He’s glancing up to the stadium’s video to watch the play on the scoreboard.
“I’m not watching me,” he said after the 31-16 win against the Giants.
There’s time for that later.
“I’m seeing where the defense is, if anyone’s going to get me,” he said.
Here we are, five games into the season, and no one’s got him yet unless you count Tyreek Hill across the locker room. Hill surpassed Achane with the fastest recorded time for a ball-carrier this season by reaching 22 mph on his 69-yard touchdown catch and run Sunday, according to Next Gen Stats.
“I’m the fastest now,” Hill said, meaning it with a sense of pride.
Receiver Jaylen Waddle listened with a smile. Achane has the second- and third-fastest times in the league behind Hill.
All this means the larger game plan of coach Mike McDaniel keeps trending toward something interesting. If you want to create a great team, fill it with guys with a singular talent. Pack it with players who bring a sweaty sense of desperation to make their rare skill stand out, too.
There’s no secret to what the Dolphins offense does on its best days. It out-runs the defense.
“They’re real fast,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said. “Took a lot of short passes for long gains. When you get explosive plays, it usually leads to points.”
Hill had eight catches for 181 yards and a touchdown of 69 yards. That’s why he’s an All-Pro player with a rich contract. Achane, meanwhile, ran for 151 yards on 11 carries. That makes him the first Dolphin with three consecutive 100-yard rushing games since Jay Ajayi in 2016.
Ajayi was a workhorse back. Achane is anything but that. His 5-foot-8, 188-pound frame and sprinter’s game suggests a healthy sense of discretion be involved in how he’s used. It obviously has been thus far. He averages an eye-popping 12.1 yards a carry.
“Basically if he’s getting the ball, you now it’s going to be a big play more often than now,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said.
This is beyond what anyone expected, especially the rookie from Texas A&M. He expected to help, to contribute, maybe to have a big day or two if things broke right for him this first Dolphins season. But he mainly expected to learn the NFL.
“You don’t just expect that for the rookie to come up and perform the way I have been performing,” Achane said. “So I just hope that I can keep it up.”
Achane’s only blemish Sunday was a fumble. Coupled with Tagovailoa’s two interceptions it means the Dolphins (4-1) were minus-three in the turnover margin considering the defense didn’t get a takeaway.
“So you’re going to make mistakes and it’s just how you come back from it,” he said.
He came back like he does everything: Fast. On the third play after that fumble, he burst through a good hole and went the 76 yards for his seventh touchdown and more history in his four games.
He is the second player in NFL history to score seven touchdowns in his first four games. The only other player, the Giant’s Bill Paschal, had eight TDs in his first four games in 1943.
Such numbers are nice when blended into the larger picture. The Dolphins offense passed the 2000 St. Louis Rams to have the most yards through five games.
“Mission accomplished,” McDaniel said when told this. “We had the whole time, the whole offseason, that was our goal was output after five games.”
There’s plenty of work left to do. The Dolphins beat a bad Giants team, and next play 0-5 Carolina. These are the games to turn the win total and maybe define who you are a little more.
Achane did just that on Hill’s 69-yard touchdown. He ran the receiver down, just to celebrate with him. Sure, Hill has the fastest time and all but …
“I caught him,” Achane said.
Speed thrills. Speed kills. Sometimes speed is just another way to push teammates to be their Sunday best, as Achane and Hill were this Sunday.
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