3 Takeaways from Dolphins' Week 10 Win

The Miami Dolphins authored one of the best defensive performances of the 2021 NFL season on Thursday night. 

Miami smothered Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens offense for four quarters in its 22-10 victory.

Brian Flores and his coaching staff drew up the perfect game plan that allowed Christian Wilkins, Jevon Holland and countless others to thrive. 

The defensive masterpiece took pressure off the offensive unit that failed to move the ball down the field on a consistent basis in the first half. 

Flores used a questionable quarterback change in the third quarter to spark that unit. Tua Tagovailoa took over for the injured Jacoby Brissett even though it appeared Brissett was fine to continue. 

The win put the Dolphins on a two-game winning streak that they could turn to three games against the New York Jets in Week 11. 

Everywhere Jackson turned on Thursday night he was met by a teal shirt. 

The Ravens quarterback was given limited time to drop back in clean space, and when he tried to run, there was not a lot of open field in front of him.

Miami managed four sacks and earned seven quarterback hits while keeping Jackson out of a rhythm on a majority of Baltimore's drives.

Jackson did not look competent in the pocket until Baltimore's penultimate drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Mark Andrews. 

Baltimore pushed the ball down the field on its next drive, but the Dolphins came up with a stop through an interception by Justin Coleman. 

Jackson finished with 26 completions, 238 passing yards and 39 rushing yards. The passing statistics are a bit skewed by the fourth-quarter push, but even then, he did not hurt the Dolphins defense a ton. 

Miami deserves credit for bottling up Jackson and giving him one of the most frustrating nights of his career. 

Jevon Holland made his mark on the game almost immediately.

Miami's rookie safety made the first of his four solo tackles on Baltimore's second offensive play of the game. 

Holland was credited with five total tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, a quarterback hit and two passes defended. 

He was quite literally everywhere for the Miami defense on Thursday night. He made a handful of plays in coverage that will not show up in the stat sheet. 

Holland was involved in the pass rush on numerous occasions. He blitzed 21 times on his 70 defensive snaps, which is the highest total for any defensive back against the Ravens this season, per Next Gen Stats. 

Holland's superb performance came four days after he intercepted a pass and recovered a forced fumble against the Houston Texans. 

If Holland keeps up this type of play for the rest of the season, he could turn into a player Miami can build its defense around for the future. 

The Dolphins went through one of the most bizarre moments of the season in the third quarter. 

Brissett went down with what looked like a brutal knee injury early in the second half. He walked off the field on his own power and appeared ready to re-enter the contest. 

Instead, Flores called on Tua Tagovailoa to take the field. Tagovailoa was the backup to Brissett on Thursday because he was dealing with a fractured finger. 

The decision drew criticism because it was assumed Brissett was the healthier of the two quarterbacks, and he led the Dolphins on a pair of first-half scoring drives. 

Tagovailoa did not play well on his first two series, but he eventually found a rhythm and helped the Dolphins gain separation on the scoreboard. 

Tagovailoa engineered a scoring drive that bridged the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth that resulted in Jason Sanders' third field goal. 

After Jackson answered with his lone touchdown drive. Tagovailoa drove the Dolphins 75 yards and finished off the game with a one-yard touchdown run. 

Flores' decision may not have made sense when it happened, but it paid off for the Dolphins to close out the game. 

Now, Flores and his staff have 10 days to figure out which quarterback is best suited to start versus the Jets in Week 11.