The aim of the defense on most Hail Mary plays is to knock the ball down before it can reach the hands of a receiver, but Dolphins safety Jevon Holland came up with something different on Friday. Jets quarterback Tim Boyle’s pass was dying short of the end zone and Holland calculated that he could reach the ball for an interception. With the Jets’ receivers all the way downfield, there were only a few players between the two end zones so Holland decided to go for the big play. “We going into the half, right, so I’m like we can double dip,” Holland said, via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.com. “I know we get the ball after halftime, so I was like, let me go ahead and score or try to score so we can double dip and just score again, so that we’re two scores back and back. So, no thought of knocking anything [down].” Holland got some blocks to help deal with the remaining Jets and then found himself one-on-one with Boyle. Holland said he “had to take those ankles” and bypassed the quarterback on his way to a 99-yard touchdown. The score put the Dolphins up 17-6 at halftime and sent them on their way to a 34-13 win with a play for the highlight reel.
That was pretty awesome, all the speedsters were behind him and nobody took chase (because why would you, there's 0 on the clock and he's 99 yards away). It was the most Jets thing to do and it really made that win a lot more fun.
And even better. On the Jets forums they’re all bemoaning that highlight will be shown every Thanksgiving. It just makes it more special.
Add the Hell Mary to the Dolphins pantheon of unforgettable plays, right beside the Hook & Ladder and Miami Miracle.
Holland is special. Miami Dolphins players speak on text messages that have seemingly inspired defensive turnaround Last updated: 2023/11/27 at 6:42 PM Jason Simpson The Miami Dolphins have made major progress on the defensive side of the ball lately, and a handful of text messages may be partly to thank. Over a month ago, Dolphins safety Jevon Holland texted teammate Jerome Baker at a time when Miami’s defense was trying to find its footing. “Jevon came to me a few weeks ago,” Baker began, “and was like, ‘This is what we got to do. This is how I feel. How do you feel? How can we come together and make this defense better?'” When speaking on what Holland was specifically referencing, Baker made sure not to reveal too much. “It was our defense as a whole, things he was seeing, how he felt about a lot of different things,” Baker said. “He just wanted me to know what he goes through and vice versa. I wanted him to know, ‘All right, help me on this.’ Some things I can’t help him on [because] he’s on the back end. Some things I can help him on. It was one of those things like, ‘How can I help you? How can you help me?’ It really worked out for us.” Holland also spoke on the text exchange and revealed that Baker wasn’t the only teammate he reached out to. “I was going through a difficult time, feeling like I had a lot on my plate when I really didn’t,” he said. “I thought I was holding a lot on my shoulders when I really wasn’t. I just wanted to know if anybody else was feeling that way and that I’m not crazy for feeling this way. I reached out to [Baker] asking if he’s OK. “I reached out to David [Long Jr.] and a couple other guys, trying to see if they’re on the same page. It eventually kind of worked itself out. We’re able to communicate a lot easier on the field.” Holland continued. “It was working on getting comfortable in the defense, trusting my teammates to be where they’re supposed to be and trusting in me to be where I’m supposed to be,” he said. Long called the text exchange between him, Holland and Baker a “little check up” and “little reminder that we have the potential to be as good as we want to be.” The Dolphins have allowed 21 points or fewer in four consecutive games. During that same span, they’ve held opponents to under 300 yards in each game. Miami’s defensive unit is starting to become a strength, and that could spell trouble for other contenders around the NFL given the fact that the Dolphins already have perhaps the most lethal offensive attack in the league. At 8-3, Miami sits atop the AFC East and has a comfortable lead over the second-place Buffalo Bills, who are 6-6. The Dolphins are hoping to clinch their first division title in years and are currently in fantastic shape to do so. The squad will have multiple opportunities near the end of the regular season to prove that it’s capable of getting the job done against strong competition, with games against the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens and Bills still to come. If the 2023 season ends up being a special one for the Dolphins organization, the text messages in question could go down as an iconic part of the story. https://dolphinnation.com/2023/11/2...have-seemingly-inspired-defensive-turnaround/
The play of the year, so far, happened in Week 12, during the league’s first-ever Black Friday game. With the Jets attempting a Hail Mary just before halftime, Dolphins safety Jevon Holland intercepted a pass and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown that completely changed the complexion of the game. In a Tuesday interview with #PFTPM, Holland was asked whether he has the green light to: (1) intercept a Hail Mary; and (2) try to return it for a score. “I have the red light to return any Hail Mary,” Holland said. “They want me to knock it down, 100 percent. But in that moment, it was going into halftime, score was close. I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve always wanted to do that,’ and I was like, ‘You know what? Might as well try it.’ It turned out to fall on my side.” He said a lot of the play was simply instinct, with Holland reacting and running to open space. “When I cut back and it was just me and the quarterback one-on-one, I was like, ‘OK! This could be my first touchdown of my career,’” Holland said. “That right there, I was excited at that point. When it was Tim Boyle and me, I was like, ‘There’s no tackling me right here.’” After that moment, there was no beating the Dolphins. Not that day. Not with the Jets’ offense.
There have been a few poor offences but also KC. A big test this week as the Commanders aren't terrible on offence and it's on the road. Need the defence to be as good on the road as they are at home.
