The Dolphins’ blitz shut down Ravens QB Lamar Jackson last season. Can it work again?
It was one of the biggest upsets of the 2021 NFL season.
The Dolphins, 2-7 at the time, were hosting the 6-2 Baltimore Ravens on “Thursday Night Football” as 8.5-point underdogs but came away with a resounding 22-10 win.
A hobbled quarterback Tua Tagovailoa contributed with late heroics but it was an unprecedented — and seemingly foolproof — game plan from an aggressive Dolphins defense blitzing quarterback Lamar Jackson that ultimately paved the way for an improbable victory.
Ten months later, as the Dolphins prepare for their Week 2 road game against the Ravens and a rematch of that prime-time matchup, they ponder whether to replicate — and to what extent — last season’s approach.
Over the past few years, the Dolphins have been known for a hyper-aggressive mindset, ranking near the top of the league’s rankings in blitz rate.
They took it to another level against the Ravens last season. Utilizing their vaunted Cover-0 looks — in which defenders line up along the line of scrimmage without a deep safety — to the extreme, they confused Jackson into one of his worst games of the season.
According to an unofficial review of the game, the Dolphins lined up in a Cover-0 look before 31 of Jackson’s 50 dropbacks. With so many players hovering around the line of scrimmage, the Ravens were unable to identify pass rushers and often left a defender with a free lane to Jackson. Against presnap Cover-0 alignments, Jackson completed 15 of 27 passes for 139 yards, one touchdown and one interception (66.7 passer rating). He scrambled once for 3 yards and was sacked three times.
Dolphins safeties Jevon Holland and Brandon Jones played instrumental roles in flummoxing Jackson; Holland blitzed 21 times and Jones blitzed 17 times, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, more than any defensive back in a game since 2016.
“These guys are probably the best in the league at doing [Cover-0 blitzing] right now,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “They do it more than anybody, they do it better than anybody and it’s just something they’re committed to.”
Jackson said the Ravens were “caught off guard” by the Dolphins’ blitzing last year but would be better prepared on Sunday.
“We hadn’t really gone over defenses doing all-up zero against us — like, just all-up flat-out zero,” he said. “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.”
With continuity along their defense, the Dolphins don’t appear to have much reason to divert from a game plan that was so successful, not only against the Ravens but during their 8-1 finish last season.
Players and coaches, however, downplayed the result of last season’s game as they prepare for another meeting with the Ravens. Inside linebacker Elandon Roberts noted the difficulty of defending the Ravens’ run game and pass game with Jackson serving as the “the engine that gets everything going.”
“Each game is different,” defensive coordinator Josh Boyer said. “Sometimes the games have a different ebb and flow to them. I think there is always an element of adjusting going into the game. I think every team in the league would do their due diligence and always study past games against same opponents, same coordinator. I think those things happen on a week-to-week basis. ...
“I don’t think you want to be predictable in anything you do. ... There is a balance of giving them an element of surprise and then really just trying to put your players in position to succeed.”
Though a one-game sample size, the Dolphins blitzed on just 27.3 percent of opposing dropbacks in their season-opening win over the New England Patriots, a decline from last season when they ranked second with a blitz rate of 39.6 percent. However, they continued to use the Cover-0 looks that could resurface in Baltimore on Sunday.
Without Byron Jones, who remains on the reserve/PUP list, such an approach could put more pressure on the cornerbacks opposite Xavien Howard, such as Nik Needham, Keion Crossen and rookie Kader Kohou. And the Ravens, for several years built around the legs of Jackson, reminded teams in Week 1 they can at times be just as productive throwing the ball downfield.
In the Ravens’ 24-9 win over the New York Jets, Jackson threw three touchdown passes, all of which traveled at least 20 yards downfield.
“He’s a very dynamic player — one of a kind,” Holland said. “You try to replicate it as much as possible, but game speed and practice speed are completely different. … He’s got elite speed and quickness. His ability to get out of tight situations — he’s very slippery. He’s got a cannon with great touch. It’s difficult to try to keep him in the box, but also he can throw it deep.”
This story was originally published September 15, 2022 at 3:10 PM.
