There’s no time for awe
Some Dolphins defenders have been alive as long as Tom Brady has played
MIAMI GARDENS — There are defenders on the Miami Dolphins who weren’t even alive last time there was an NFL without Tom Brady in it.
“Tom has been in the league 21 years? And I’m 22 years old this year,” said rookie outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips of Brady, who has completed 21 seasons and is in his 22nd this fall. “It’s pretty crazy obviously to have the opportunity to play against somebody I’ve been growing up my whole life watching. I can remember all of the Super Bowl parties at the house when I’m 8 years old or 10 years old, watching him dominate.”
Said rookie safety Jevon Holland: “I’m 21, so he was in the league as long as I’ve been born. Since I’ve been watching football, Tom Brady has been a top quarterback in the league.”
Those rookies get their first crack at Brady on a team that is all too familiar with facing the future Hall of Fame quarterback over 20 years as AFC East division rivals. It’ll be the first time the Dolphins face him in a Buccaneers uniform.
Miami has had success, relatively speaking, against Brady over the years.
The Dolphins’ 12 wins against Brady are the most by any opponent. Of course, it helps to have played him twice a year when he was with the Patriots to get more chances — 35 to be exact — but at least they’ve fared better historically compared to the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. Most of those wins, however, came at home, and on Sunday, the Dolphins play the Buccaneers in Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium.
Those youngsters on the Dolphins defense, they know they can’t approach Brady in awe of him or they’ll get exposed.
“I’m not about to be starstruck,” said Phillips, the former Miami Hurricanes standout who, last Sunday, had his first half-sack in the loss to the Indianapolis Colts. “You can’t really focus on ‘Oh my gosh, this is Tom Brady’ or ‘this is [running back] Leonard Fournette.’ Everybody is nameless and faceless, so you’ve got to prepare for everybody just like they’re anybody else. At the end of the day, our execution is what matters.”
Veteran defenders on the Dolphins recall a time where they might have looked at Brady differently on the other side.
“I’m a competitor,” said linebacker Jerome Baker, who is now in his fourth season. “I think, my earlier years in the league, I was starstruck of, ‘This is Tom Brady. This is the guy I played Madden with my whole life. This is the guy that you looked up to growing up.’ But now I’m in the spot of, ‘I want to beat this guy. I want to go out there and ruin his day for him.’ All credit to him. He’s definitely great, but at the end of the day, he’s the guy I’m competing against.”
And the Dolphins will need players all over the defense to step up now that they have the status of their top two cornerbacks in doubt. First, Byron Jones missed Wednesday’s practice, but as he returned with a compression sleeve on his right leg for quadriceps and Achilles injuries, Xavien Howard was limited Thursday groin issue added to his previous shoulder injury.
Potentially being down two cornerbacks is especially hurtful when Brady has a receiving corps that includes Antonio Brown, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans at his disposal — each of whom requires top-notch coverage to contain.
“He has some weapons,” said safety Eric Rowe, who had a picksix against Brady the final week of the 2019 regular season, the last time the Dolphins faced Brady with New England. “All the receivers and tight ends, backs, they’re all very talented skill players. They all, obviously, have a name for themselves in the league, and they’re all obviously proven.”
Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski is unlikely to play with his rib injury, but Rowe added it doesn’t change much for how Miami prepares with Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard ready to step up at the position for Tampa Bay.
The Dolphins’ defensive ranks are 31st in third-down defense, 27th in rushing defense, 25th in scoring defense, 24th in total defense and 17th against the pass. Miami has too much pride on that side of the ball to allow those numbers to persist as the season schedule shifts into its second quarter.
“It’s definitely a feeling of, ‘We need to go out there and really show that we’re one of the top defenses and one of the top teams out there,’ ” Baker said. “We definitely had talks as position groups, as a team. … We got to look in the mirror, and we got to stop blaming other people, blaming other things. We got to really look in the mirror and turn this thing around for us.”
It’ll have to start against the quarterback many consider the greatest of all time.
“Greatness. He’s the greatest quarterback to ever step on a field,” said Baker.
“There’s a reason why he’s the No. 1 quarterback,” said Holland. “He [checks] all the boxes.”