The Dolphins are set to take on the Lions for their second home matchup at Hard Rock Stadium in as many weeks. After a tightly contested matchup against New England, Miami will look to return to the win column and earn Head Coach Jeff Hafley's first win in South Florida.
Sunday's game marks just the 14th all-time meeting between the Dolphins and Lions, with Miami claiming an 8-5 advantage in those games. Highlights of the matchup's history include Paul Warfield's four-touchdown day in 1973 and Ricky Williams' Dolphins debut in the 2002 season opener.
Miami will look to add to those memorable moments this weekend, but faces a stiff challenge highlighted by Detroit's explosive offense. With the league's leading rusher, an experienced quarterback who has thrown just one interception, an All-Pro wide receiver and more, Hafley noted, "they're the number one offense in the NFL for a reason."
Detroit comes into town boasting a roster full of explosive playmakers, but the Dolphins should be confident in their own ability to shut down the big play. Miami has allowed the fourth-fewest plays of 10-plus yards, 78. The Dolphins have also made strides in taking the ball away, having forced a turnover in each of the past three contests.
While the Lions enter the game with the league's leading offense, they also bring the NFL's 32nd-ranked pass defense, but as Offensive Coordinator Bobby Slowik mentioned, stats don't always tell the whole story.
"Detroit's done a really good job the last three weeks kind of tightening up what they do, really honing in on what they do," Slowik said. "They've gone out and they've played the last three weeks at a really high level."
Miami's offense will look to maintain its momentum behind quarterback Malik Willis, who's coming off back-to-back games with multiple passing touchdowns for the first time in his career. Last week, five pass catchers totaled more than 30 receiving yards, led by rookie wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr.'s 46 receiving yards and the second touchdown of his career.
"Super proud of those guys. They continue to get better," said Willis of the Dolphins' young receiving corps. "They put in the time and effort, and they want to get better."
While the Dolphins continue to develop their passing attack, the offense will look to get the running game back on track. After five consecutive games with 100-plus rushing yards, Miami fell short of the benchmark against the Patriots for the first time since Week 1.
The success of Miami's rushing attack will be determined by a key part of Sunday's game: physicality in the trenches. Hafley and Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell have each built their teams on the identity and foundation of physicality.
"It'll be mano a mano, physical on physical," running back Ollie Gordon II said earlier this week.
Miami's physicality up front will receive a boost with the return of left guard Kadyn Proctor, who missed last week's game. According to Stats Perform Research, Proctor is one of only three starting rookie offensive linemen to not allow a sack this season.
"You can feel Proctor's presence out there on most every play," Slowik said. "He's just a massive guy who can move, he displaces people. He's putting defensive tackles five, six yards down the field."
Hafley made his expectations clear for this Sunday's game: "My expectations are that we go out there and we play a clean football game as hard as we can. Try to be as efficient as we can and take another step forward. Those are the most important things to me. And like I said, it will be a challenge against a really good opponent. So we're really looking forward to that."
Make sure to check out the Injury Report and the team's official social media accounts 90 minutes before kickoff to see who is active for the game.
Watch the game live on Sunday, November 8 at 1 p.m. ET on CBS, listen on the Dolphins Radio Network and view the Game Center for the latest coverage.
