Examining Miami's Complicated History Against Henry and Lamar

The Miami Dolphins defense has another superstar to try to control Thursday night.

Actually, make that two.

When they face the Baltimore Ravens at Hard Rock Stadium, the Dolphins will be dealing with a two-time MVP at quarterback (Lamar Jackson) along with maybe the best running back of the past 10 years (Derrick Henry).

How well the Dolphins can defend those two players should go a long way — perhaps the entire way — toward determining their chances of making it two victories in a row after their 34-10 rout of Bijan Robinson and the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday.

This certainly won't be the first time they've gone against those two players, but the first time since Henry joined the Ravens as a free agent during the 2024 offseason.

Based on precedent, Jackson clearly appears to be the bigger challenge for Miami.

THE DOLPHINS AGAINST LAMAR

This will be the fifth time the Dolphins have faced Jackson since he joined Baltimore as the 32nd overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft, and let's just say there's been a lot more pain than pleasure for the Miami defense.

In fact, two of Jackson's four career perfect games in terms of passer rating have come against the Dolphins — in the 2019 season opener when Baltimore blasted the rebuilding/tanking Dolphins to the tune of 59-10 and again in the next-to-last week of the 2023 regular season in a battle for the top seed in the AFC playoffs when the Ravens rolled to a 56-19 victory.

Jackson had five touchdown passes in each of those two games.

The Dolphins were able to beat Baltimore in Week 2 of the 2022 season thanks to their incredible comeback and Tua Tagovailoa's Miami-record-tying six touchdown passes, but Jackson had a 142.6 passer rating that day to go along with a 119-yard rushing performance that included a 79-yard touchdown.

The one time the Dolphins did control Jackson, ironically enough, came when the teams met on Thursday Night Football in 2021 and Brian Flores just went wild with blitzes. The strategy worked to perfection, with Jackson limited to 238 passing yards and a 73.6 rating along with 39 yards rushing as Miami won 22-10.

"Yeah, I mean that 2021 game, I think we kind of caught them off guard with all the zero pressures we were doing and stuff like that," said edge defender Jaelan Phillips, who played in those 2021 and 2022 games but was on IR for the 2023 matchup. "And then the next year, I think we allowed him to get a little bit more in his element.

"So I think this game is just going to be a matter of doing our jobs, getting after him, not making any dumb mistakes when it comes to pass rush lanes, when it comes to getting him down on the ground. We've just got to be consistent. Got to play hard. I think you've just got to stay true to your angles and trust your help that's coming. So if you're pursuing it from the inside, have good right shoulder leverage and then vice versa, using the sideline against him, like different things like that. Obviously he's a dynamic runner, so just got to make sure you're disciplined."

THE HISTORY WITH HENRY

Like Jackson, the Dolphins have faced Henry four times before, but in his case ironically every game has taken place in Miami — Henry was out with an injury when Tennessee routed the Dolphins, 34-3, toward the end of the 2021 season.

And when it comes to Henry, the Dolphins have done very, very well against him in terms of limiting his yardage, though he did score two rushing touchdowns when the Tennessee Titans pulled off that disheartening Monday night comeback in 2023 that eventually cost Miami the AFC East title.

Henry has never rushed for more than 54 yards in any game against Miami, that high total coming in 2016 when he was a rookie second-round pick for Tennessee. Since then his rushing yardage totals against Miami have been 9, 26 and 34 yards.

Among the 22 teams he has faced more than twice in his career, Henry has his lowest yards per game (30.8) and yards per carry (3.24) averages against the Dolphins.

This was Phillips talking about Henry: "Yeah, I mean, it's really the same mission, same goal. You know, with Derrick, obviously you've got to stop him early and often."

Whether for Jackson or Henry, the Dolphins gladly would take a repeat performance of their work against Bijan Robinson last Sunday when they held him to 25 rushing yards on nine carries and 23 more on three receptions.

Defensive tackle Benito Jones had a pretty direct answer when asked earlier this week to compare the challenge of trying to contain and stop Henry as opposed Robinson: “I don’t really see it as a challenge. We’ve just got to stop the run. He’s a bigger guy for sure, but he can’t run without his legs.”