Wallace Worried About His Place In Fins Offense
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Mike Wallace expected to be a big play, deep threat wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins when he signed a $60 million contract in the offseason. But a quarter of the way through the season, Wallace hasn't produced many big plays and it has him worried.
"I'm not paranoid or anything, but in Week Four it's not the way I imagined my first four weeks going," Wallace told CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald. "I'm pretty sure it's not the way anybody imagined it going."
Wallace's longest play of the year is a 34 yard catch and he's only averaging 11.7 yards per catch. It's the lowest yards per catch of his career and almost 10 yards less than his career high of 21 yards per catch he put up in 2010.
In fact, Wallace has caught more than three passes in only one of the first four games of the season.
"I've been used to making big plays. And I definitely, definitely can make big plays," Wallace said. "That's what I do. That's why I came here. That's why they signed me. It just hasn't happened so far for one reason or another."
Wallace's talent and speed is unquestioned, but outside of a stellar performance against the Indianapolis Colts, he's been largely invisible on offense. Part of that is opposing defense trying to take Wallace out of the offense. Still, he knows he needs to get the ball and blow up defenses on this team.
"We don't have too much longer to figure it out," Wallace said. "We got to make it happen. I don't know what we have to do. Hard work, I guess, by everybody."
With the Ravens coming to town this week, Wallace may struggle to get going again. In his last four regular season games against Baltimore, he's averaged 5.3 catches and 60.8 yards per game and averages approximately 11.3 yards per catch. He also has just one touchdown against Baltimore in his last four games.
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