Dolphins Looking to Limit Lamar Again

The Miami Dolphins shocked Baltimore with its ultra-aggressive defensive game plan last year, but what do they have in store this time?

Lamar Jackson has proven to be a problem for most NFL defenses since joining the Baltimore Ravens in 2018, but the Miami Dolphins had an eye-opening answer for him in a Thursday night game last year.

The question now: Can the Dolphins defense do it again?

The Dolphins' 22-10 Thursday night victory against Jackson and the Ravens last season was among the most stunning in the entire NFL in 2021, and it wasn't just because Baltimore came into the game at 6-2 while the Dolphins were 2-7.

It was the way the Miami defense stifled, stymied, baffled, bamboozled — whatever term you want to use — Jackson through the evening at Hard Rock Stadium.

There were several statistical notes to indicate just how miserable the Dolphins made life for Jackson, starting with the 10 points representing Jackson's lowest output in an NFL start.

Jackson was sacked four times and held to 39 yards rushing with a per-carry average of 4.33, the last two representing his second-highest totals in a full game in 2021.

The key to the defense's success that night was simple, Dolphins safety Jevon Holland said Wednesday: “Just executing our techniques. That’s really what it is. Our coach put in a good scheme, we went out there and did our job, and that’s what it was.”

THE ULTRA-AGGRESSIVE GAME PLAN AGAINST JACKSON

Within Holland's response might be the real reason. Yes, the defensive players executed their techniques, but the scheme clearly confused and got the better of the Baltimore offense.

And that scheme basically was throwing a whole lot of blitzes at Jackson and letting Xavien Howard and Byron Jones worrying about the Ravens' outside receivers.

“They just caught us off guard, really," Jackson told Baltimore reporters Wednesday. "We hadn’t really gone over defenses doing all-up zero against us — like, just all-up flat-out zero. But I feel like we’ll have an answer for it this year. We watched film — watched a lot of film on those guys — because we don’t want it to happen again.”

Baltimore coach John Harbaugh told Ravens reporters the offense practiced against Cover-0 (man coverage in the secondary) in training camp, in part because of what happened in Miami last year.

“We would have been negligent if we hadn’t worked on it," Harbaugh said. ""It was something we needed to get a lot better at, and we studied it the whole offseason. We’ll have a plan for it and hope it works, because these guys (the Dolphins) are probably the best in the league at doing it right now. They do it more than anybody, they do it better than anybody and it’s just something they’re committed to. I have all the respect in the world for what they’re doing defensively."

THE JACKSON CHALLENGE

The Dolphins used the blitz more judiciously in their season opener against New England on Sunday, but it paid off in a big way in the second quarter when Melvin Ingram scored the first touchdown of the season after safety Brandon Jones drilled Mac Jones from the blind side.

Of course, Mac Jones isn't Lamar Jackson when it comes to mobility, which means the Dolphins have to be even more precise if they're going to send extra pass rushers.

Actually, there is nobody like Lamar Jackson, which head coach Mike McDaniel made clear before practice Wednesday when he was asked who would play the role of Jackson on the scout team this week.

"I do," McDaniel joked before turning serious. "You try to use a couple different people. But the bottom line is, you’re not going to replicate it. That’s part of the shock and awe on game day. He’s the most dynamic athlete for sure, at that position. He’s continued to develop his pass game skill set, which you guys saw a little on display in the second half of the Jets game. So regardless of who it is, I’m not going to put pressure on one person, put them on blast in the media. But we’ll just say it’s a collection of individuals because it takes a collection of individuals to stop him.”

The Dolphins did stop him last year. About as well as anybody has ever stopped him.

If they can do it again, they're looking at the very strong possibility of leaving Baltimore with a 2-0 record.

TO CHANGE OR STAY THE SAME?

The question, of course, is whether the Dolphins will adopt the same strategy and challenge the Ravens to better respond to it or mix in different things, like more zone coverage, to throw off Jackson.

The Dolphins have the same exact personnel on defense as they did on that November 2021 night except for Byron Jones, who is on Reserve/PUP and out for at least the first four games of the season.

But they also now have Ingram, who's just another adept pass-rushing outside linebacker on the defense to go along with Jaelan Phillips and Andrew Van Ginkel.

McDaniel said Wednesday that defensive coordinator Josh Boyer essentially is the head coach of that unit, but then threw his customary jokes that every good defensive play call in the game will be his and every one that doesn't work out will be Boyer's.

McDaniel would have had a lot of good play calls in the Baltimore game last year, and maybe everybody can share the credit if things go as well this year.