The marquee matchup in the AFC this weekend has the Dolphins in Baltimore to face the Ravens and that means one name will be at the top of the list of players for Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to stop if he wants to leave town with a win.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is the favorite to be named the league’s MVP this season and Fangio was asked at a Thursday press conference about how Jackson compares to the fair share of mobile quarterbacks that his team has faced this season. His answer made it clear that Jackson’s mobility is just part of the difficulty involved with facing him.
“Yeah, fair share mobile quarterbacks? Yes. Then there’s Lamar Jackson. He’s unlike anybody else,” Fangio said, via a transcript from the team. “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 was asked about putting a spy on Jackson in order to limit his ability to extend plays outside of the pocket, but Fangio said “there’s no one way to play him” and he’ll have to reach deep into his bag of tricks in order to get the Dolphins a win this Sunday.