The Miami Dolphins are getting set to battle the Baltimore Ravens in a critical matchup this Sunday, as home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs is on the line.
The Dolphins will obviously have quite the task ahead of them, as the Ravens own the NFL’s best record at 12-3 and have Lamar Jackson under center.
Miami defensive coordinator Vic Fangio spoke on Jackson this week, saying that while the Dolphins have faced some mobile quarterbacks this season, Jackson is a challenge like no other.
“Yeah, fair share mobile quarterbacks? Yes. Then there’s Lamar Jackson. He’s unlike anybody else,” Fangio said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “The only other player that’s been like him in the last 50 years is Michael Vick. He’s a tremendous player. Kudos to Ozzie [Newsome] and Eric [DeCosta] for picking him. Thirty-one other teams that passed him by are kicking themselves. He’s really improved over the years. Dynamic with the ball. Good passer. He makes their offense go.”
Fangio added that there is “no one way to play him” when asked if he would be putting a spy on Jackson in order to limit him from making plays outside of the pocket.
Of course, plenty of teams have tried containing Jackson since he took over as Baltimore’s starting signal-caller midway through 2018, but most have failed.
This season, Jackson has thrown for 3,357 yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 66.3 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 97.2. In addition, he has rushed for 786 yards and five scores while averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
Jackson is the leading candidate to win the NFL MVP award, and if he does take home the honor, it would mark the second time he has won the award. He did it for the first time back in 2019 when he led the league with 36 touchdown passes and set the single-season quarterback rushing mark with 1,206 yards on the ground.
The Dolphins rank third in the NFL in yards allowed, so their defense has certainly been up to snuff this season. However, as Fangio said, Lamar Jackson is a different case altogether.
Miami is 11-4, so if it can beat the Ravens this Sunday, it will move ahead of them by way of the tiebreaker in the race for the No. 1 seed in the conference.
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