Pieces in Place for Happy Homecoming for Phillips
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This has been a fun week so far for Miami Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips, who's back in Southern California with his teammates preparing for the Sunday night game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Beyond the homecoming, Phillips also got the news this week of being the team's nominee for the 2022 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.
The best way to cap off the week, of course, would be to leave his native Southern California — he's from Redlands, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles — with a Dolphins victory. And even better yet would be to make an impact in the game against the Chargers.
And the circumstances certainly look favorable for Phillips to be a factor against the Chargers, a team whose offensive line and pass protection have been shaky at best.
The Chargers are coming off a 27-20 loss against the Las Vegas Raiders during which they allowed five sacks and quarterback Justin Herbert absorbed 14 quarterback hits — nine more than Tua Tagovailoa took in the Dolphins' loss at San Francisco.
Phillips currently is second on the team with five sacks, but leads with 16 QB hits. But he also looks like he's on a bit of a run, which is what he did last year when he went on a tear in the second half of the season.
Phillips has been involved in a sack each of the past three games and he's got at least one QB hit in each of his past seven games, including three against the 49ers.
Against the Chargers, he'll be facing a team that lost its starting left tackle Rashawn Slater early in the season and is coming off a game where it also was missing its opening-day starting right tackle Trey Pipkins, who's dealing with a knee injury.
The challenge after getting past the O-linemen is bringing down Herbert, who's got a similar size/speed skill set as Josh Allen — though not quite as nimble or big.
"Justin is a really athletic guy," Phillips said after practice Wednesday. "Crazy strong arm and he has kind of deceptive speed, too, especially once he gets out into the open field. He’s 6-5, so he’s really got the stride. So it’s going to be important for us to keep our rush lane integrity and rush as a team and really play complementary football.
"I think there’s so many layers to complementary football. It’s not just about the offense and the defense and the special teams being complementary, but it’s also the linebackers and the D-line playing complementary, the D-line and the back end playing complementary and even within the rush, the four of us or five of us if it’s rushing, like we all have to be on the same page. And so I think it’s going to be important to do that. But, yeah, he’s extremely talented so it’s going to be a fun one.”
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PHILLIPS' SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TIES
The Dolphins are practicing this week at the first stop in Phillips' college career, UCLA, where he played for two seasons before quitting football and then reviving his career and transferring to the University of Miami for the 2020 season.
The game against the Chargers will be Phillips' first in Los Angeles since October 2018 when UCLA played host to Fresno State, and Phillips said there would be 91 family members and friends at SoFi Stadium on Sunday night.
“Why did I come here? I was always a Bruin at heart," Phillips said about UCLA. "My dad went here. My aunt went here. My grandpa was the dean of the school of music for a bit. My grandma taught French here. So I have a lot of family connections and ultimately, I just felt really connected to the coaching staff and the guys on the team and I live an hour and some change away, so it was really the best of all worlds.
"Football memory? The first game I ever played. We had the second biggest comeback in NCAA history — 35-point comeback against Texas A&M. I had a sack-and-a-half my first game as a Bruin. It all went downhill from there. (laughter)”
Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that the UCLA quarterback for that great comeback from a 44-10 third-quarter deficit against Texas A&M in 2017 was none other than Josh Rosen, who spent one forgettable year with the Dolphins after being acquired in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals just one year after he was the 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft.
Being back in Southern California this week obviously brought back nice memories for Phillips.
“It was fun. It was real fun," Phillips said. "This whole city is real nostalgic for me. It has a special place in my heart. Obviously it didn’t work out with football, but there’s no bad blood at all, man. I’m just grateful to be back here soaking in every moment. I’m so blessed.”
PHILLIPS' IMPACT ON AND OFF THE FIELD
South Florida is Phillips' home since he was drafted by the Dolphins in 2021, and he's made sure to make an impact in the community with his charitable work.
Because of his tireless work off the field, it really wasn't a surprise that he was the team's Man of the Year nominee.
“I found out in a team meeting," Phillips said. "Coach (Mike) McDaniel let all of us know. And really, it’s incredible, man. The community work I do isn’t about recognition. It’s not about awards. It’s about uplifting the community, giving back to the community that did a lot for me and trying to inspire others to do the same.
"But it feels great obviously. I feel incredibly humbled and honored and just really grateful to be able to receive that nomination and really grateful for everybody on the Dolphins staff that’s helped me throughout this, everybody on my agency staff that’s helped me through all this. I really couldn’t have done it all without them and just people in the community, Dolphins Challenge Cancer. There’s been a lot of people that have been involved in this process. It’s really not about me. It’s a lot bigger than me, but it definitely feels great.”
Likewise, the Dolphins pass rush is bigger than Phillips, and it will take not just him but others like Melvin Ingram and Bradley Chubb to get the job done not only against Herbert this week, but again high-profile QBs Josh Allen and Aaron Rodgers the next two games.
“We always talk about football gets real in December," Phillips said. "I mean, this is playoff football and it’s not necessarily win or go home, but you’ve got to have that sense of urgency in the preparation and in every game moving forward. So yeah, pass rush, complementary defense, complementary football in general is going to play a big part in that, so we definitely have to bring our A-game and just keep preparing like we have been all season.”
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