Last time the Miami Dolphins confronted the Baltimore Ravens, they exorcised some demons towards a franchise that has tormented them.
That, nonetheless, was within the pleasant confines of Hard Rock Stadium — and finished by shocking quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Ravens with a blitz storm not like something they’d beforehand seen.
In a Sunday 1 p.m. kickoff at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, because the Dolphins hit the highway for the primary time within the 2022 common season for the Ravens’ house opener, Miami can have a chance to show it could replicate final season’s gorgeous upset. But the Dolphins must do it on the highway and with the factor of shock now gone from final 12 months’s profitable recreation plan.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel wasn’t with Miami for that win, which sprung the 2 groups in reverse instructions for the ultimate stretch of 2021. Nor was he with the Dolphins for the 59-10 loss to kick off the 2019 season. Or 40-0 blowout on a Thursday night time in Baltimore in 2017. Or 38-6 loss in the identical stadium the 12 months earlier than.
But as Sunday’s recreation begins a three-game gauntlet, with Buffalo at house and a visit to Cincinnati on a brief week to observe, McDaniel totally understands the difficulties the Ravens current. It’s why he wasn’t in an excessively celebratory temper over merely profitable his first recreation as a head coach final Sunday, even when it got here towards Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
“It’s as good of a challenge as you get in the National Football League,” stated McDaniel, who famous he has picked up run-game ideas he makes use of from the Ravens. “You can’t take anything for granted, really, when you play a dynamic playmaker at the quarterback position like they have Lamar Jackson. So, it’s going to be a fun game, a challenging game, one that we’re going to have to leave no stone unturned in the entire process for us to come out the way we want to come out.”
In the 22-10 win over the Ravens final 12 months, the Dolphins had been unprecedentedly aggressive with the blitz. They despatched a defensive again at Jackson on 24 of his 48 dropbacks, probably the most since NextGen Stats started monitoring these figures in 2016.
It shook up Jackson then, however now it’s on Baltimore to make changes.
“I really think they’re preparing for what we did to them last year, so we’re going to have to switch it up,” stated cornerback Xavien Howard.
Defensive coordinator Josh Boyer will weigh how a lot to maintain pounding the Ravens with what they weren’t in a position to beat final time versus staying forward of their anticipated counters.
“There’s a balance there, for sure,” Boyer stated. “I don’t think you want to be predictable in anything you do. … But I think there’s a balance of giving them a little bit of an element of surprise and then really just trying to put your players in position to succeed.”
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will look to get the ball to his playmakers towards a constantly stout Baltimore protection that goes into Sunday with a banged-up secondary. The Ravens have already got Kyle Fuller on injured reserve and fellow cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters and Brandon Stephens enter Sunday questionable.
But Tagovailoa, who’s coming off a 23-of-33 efficiency for 270 yards and a landing go to Jaylen Waddle, could must get the ball out rapidly. The Ravens go rush shall be attacking a hobbled Miami offensive line, particularly at deal with. Right deal with Austin Jackson landed on injured reserve on Friday with an ankle ailment. That units him again not less than 4 weeks as Greg Little probably steps in, all of the whereas left deal with Terron Armstead is questionable with a toe damage.
The Dolphins look to construct on the 20-7 win within the opener towards the Patriots, however McDaniel received’t choose that primarily based merely on the sport end result.
“If we’re on the journey that we want to be, that should be the worst game that we play all year,” McDaniel stated of the Week 1 win, expressing a process-oriented view over one that’s results-based.
“If your goals are more than to just win a few games here or there, you take that feeling that you have on Sunday and you put it to bed because the best teams are the ones that continually progress throughout the whole season.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com