Cam Wake's 2015 season was forgettable, then incredibleand now it's over.As NFL Insider Jason Cole reported, once an MRI confirms what the team has all but determined, the storied Miami Dolphins pass-rusher will be done for the year. Not long after taking down Tom Bradyand taking the lead in the NFL's sack raceWake is down and out for the count.Interim head coach Dan Campbell had been living a charmed life up until Week 8's edition ofThursday Night Football. In his first two games since taking over for deposed head coach Joe Philbin, Wake racked up an incredible six sacks, and Campbell's fired-up Fins whooped the Texans and Titans by a combined score of 82-36.Coming into the game, it seemed as though every indicator was pointing the Dolphins' way: Wake was on fire, high-priced free-agent defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh got on the board with his first sack, tailback Lamar Miller was all but untouchable and quarterback Ryan Tannehill was playing error-free football.The Patriots had needed an already rolling Tom Brady to hit superhuman levels of performance to sneak past the stout and snarling Jets; with a short week to prepare for the nothing-to-lose Dolphins, maybe Campbell's amazing luck wouldn't run out. Instead, it looks like Wake's season is over."I would feel horrible, and I know his teammates would, too, if that's the case," Campbell told ESPN.com's James Walker. "If you lost a guy like Cam, it would hurt. Not only is he a leader, but he's a very productive player."Is Wake's story a microcosm of the Dolphins' fate, or can they overcome this painful loss'In the heat of the summer of 2014, I power ranked the Dolphins dead last in the NFL. How could I possibly, enraged Fins fans wanted to know, put a team that won eight games in 2013 on the bottom of my 2014 offseason power rankings'There were many reasons, starting with the disastrous Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin locker room implosion of 2013. That it happened at all spoke poorly of head coach Joe Philbin's grasp on the team; that it was handled so poorly (and the Dolphins' efforts to rebuild the line so lackluster) was even more damning. The Dolphins were a team that was mentally weak, playing without fire and lacked any identity on either side of the ball, exceptwell, except Cam Wake.This is what I wrote about him then:Cameron Wake, the Dolphins' dominant pass-rusher, is now 32 years old and plays a position where losing a step can mean losing your effectiveness. His heir apparent, Dion Jordan, just a year removed from being selected No. 3 overall, picked up afour-game suspensionfor using performance-enhancing drugs. Considering his poor performance in 2013, that doesn't bode well for his long-term prospects.Of course, Wake didn't lose a step. He led the team with 11.5 sacks and went to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in his five seasons as an NFL starter.Over a year later, the prophesy of doom has come true: Philbin is out, Wake is done for the year (and maybe longer) and the Dolphins are 3-4. Should the Jets beat the Raiders on Sunday, the Dolphins will be two games behind New York and likely two games out of the wild-card slot.But though Campbell's been reminded of his football humanityno, he's not a magical goateed football wizardhe still has a job to do, and two games out on Halloween weekend is not a death sentence in the NFL.The most likely replacement for Wake is Derrick Shelby, a player already in heavy rotational use. Though he has no official sacks so far this year, Pro Football Focus charted Shelby with three quarterback hits and 12 quarterback hurries.Only 149 of Shelby's 347 snaps played have had pass-rush opportunities, and of those, 69.9 percent of them have been on the left, where Wake usually plays. Wake's Pass Rush Productivity of 11.7 ties him for eighth-best out of 48 4-3 defense ends; Dolphins right end Olivier Vernon is 18th with 9.1. Shelby's 7.6 slots him 24thperfectly respectable, but a far cry from Wake.Nevertheless, when called upon, Shelby got right up in Brady's face:Other players will vie for time in Wake's absence, like Terrence Fede and Chris McCain. But the reality is none of these players can replace Wake's pass-rush ability, by themselves or in a group. Instead, the Dolphins will have to rely more on blitzes, both in frequency and creativity.Per Pro Football Focus, out of 1,268 team pass-rush snaps, only 100 have come from non-linemen. That's a very low rate of 7.9 percent.Yes, that's why the Dolphins have invested heavily in the defensive line, to get pressure without blitzingbut with Wake injured and the disappointing Jordan suspended all season for a repeat violation of the NFL's substance-abuse policy, dominating up front with pure talent isn't happening.In short, they're going to need great work from interim defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, promoted up from defensive backs coach after Kevin Coyle's firing. In fact, maybe that's where the pressure needs to come from: sending defensive backs like Reshad Jones and Brent Grimes to make up for the lack of Wake. Yes, defensive back blitzes are risky, but what's to lose at this point' They're also going to have to get more out of Koa Misi, a gifted pass-rushing outside linebacker who has two hits and eight hurries but zero sacks, per Pro Football Focus.Perhaps most of all, they need Suh. A natural 3-technique defensive tackle miscast as a space-eating nose under Coyle, Suh has already produced two sacks for Anarumobut this is a guy who's posted eight sacks or more in three of the last five seasons. He's on pace for 4.5 this year, and that just won't cut it.Here's the grim reality for Campbell and the Dolphins: It's now or never. They've got to get the most out of what they have left, and that's got to be enough to claw back into the AFC playoff picture. If not, it's going to be a long slog to the end of a miserable seasonand when they get there, Campbell and Anarumo will be gone and a host of overpaid, underperforming players will likely be cut loose with them.Sadly, one of those casualties of age, salary and production might be Wake.
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