The Dolphins return to Thursday Night Football for the second time this season. The Ravens will travel to South Florida expecting the return of superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson. The Pompano Beach native shares a backfield with a potential future Hall of Fame running back in Derrick Henry.
The Dolphins will need to slow down Jackson and Henry to secure the win on a short week and continue to build confidence as the calendar flips to November.
Preparation on a short week
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa – "Even more so now this week, we've got to be on the details. There's an emphasis more when it's walkthrough tempo of communication with everyone – knowing the alignments, knowing reasons as to why we want this play the way we want it. For me, snap points, executing that for our operation and then just getting in the flow again and continuing to get guys in and out of the huddle so we can operate."
Outside Linebacker Bradley Chubb – "The Ravens are in that division of what they say is the hardnosed with the Steelers, the Ravens, the Browns. All those teams play a physical brand of football, so it's going to on us to step up to the challenge and match the physicality, if not outdo it."
Defending Jackson, Henry and the Ravens
Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver on Ravens QB Lamar Jackson - "He is such a special talent and I think his skillset now paired with what Todd Monken has brought from just a schematic standpoint is the perfect mesh because it allows him to utilize all of his strengths. He can have a little more control of the huddle. He can kind of check in and out of some concepts, and then obviously he can pull the ball down and run at any particular point whether it's a designed or not. I think the partnership between him and 'Monk' (Todd Monken) has been successful and you're seeing the results of all that."
Head Coach Mike McDaniel on Ravens RB Derick Henry – "Derrick Henry is about as good as it gets. You have a guy that has Hall of Fame numbers that you collectively have to really commit to stop and that's in groups, but that also has to do with how many opportunities are you going to give him, how many times are you going to allow a team to stay on the field, and then conversely what is our offense doing to minimize his touches. How do you do that? You convert third downs, you have time of possession, you're running the ball well, those things contribute as well. It takes a team to minimize that guy. You don't stop him, and that's what we'll take on Thursday."
Defensive Tackle Benito Jones - "They're both great players, and like last week, we've just got to stop the run. That's what all offenses do. They want to start their run game first the venture out to passing. But if we stop Derrick Henry and limit him to X amount of yards, under 100 yards rushing, then I think we can do the same thing."
Winning breads confidence
Center Aaron Brewer – "This past Sunday, we put it all together. As you've seen, when we put it all together and we're not hurting ourselves and doing what we need to do, we get the results we got Sunday."
For more on Dolphins-Ravens, download the Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield, available wherever you get your podcasts.
