by Ben Volin
The Dolphins just began their bye week, so now is as good a time as ever to take stock on how they’re doing compared to the rest of the league. Here is a look at their offensive, defensive and special teams stats, where they rank within the league and how they are doing compared to league averages (where available):

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TAKEAWAY POINTS

* On offense, the Dolphins are doing relatively well in the Red Zone (especially since most of their misses came in Week 1), they are protecting the quarterback and doing pretty well on third downs, but they need to protect the football better, obviously, and improve the 3.7 yards per carry.

* On defense, the Dolphins are giving up a lot of yards, but they’re not allowing a high percentage of passes to be completed, which is important. They’re also the best team in the league on third down, which is impressive. The pass rush has the fourth-most sacks in the league and the Dolphins are starting to create a lot of turnovers (nine in their past four games), but they need to find a way to recover more fumbles.

* On special teams, the Dolphins are covering well on punts and kickoffs and doing a pretty good job of picking up good chunks in the return game. Brandon Fields is having another stellar season, and Dan Carpenter obviously has to make more field goals.