Week 9 of the NFL kicks off with Thursday Night Football on Prime! Lamar Jackson returns for a Ravens team desperately needing wins. Tua Tagovailoa and company are coming off a much-needed win and hoping that was the key to righting the ship moving forward. Let’s jump in and preview this Thursday Night Football game and give our best bets for Ravens-Dolphins.
It’s been a brutal start to the season for the Baltimore Ravens. They blew a big lead against the Buffalo Bills in their opening game of the season, ultimately losing 41-40 after Buffalo outscored them by 16 in the fourth quarter. They’d lose two of the next three games, and Lamar Jackson against the Chiefs. With Cooper Rush starting, the Ravens lost two more games, and then it looked like he’d finally return last week against the Chicago Bears. But it wasn’t to be, as Snoop Huntley got the call instead and was able to get a big win for Baltimore, bringing their record to 2-5. This week, Lamar says he’s back and “100%.”
The Miami Dolphins have looked like one of the worst teams in the NFL in 2025, until last week, that is. They came out against a 3-3 Atlanta Falcons team that beat the Buffalo Bills and had some impressive games, and laid a whooping on them. 34-10 was the final score in that one. It’s been a tale of ups and downs for this team, getting blown out by the Colts and Browns, but keeping it close against the Patriots, Chargers, and even the Bills for a little while. Which team do we get on Thursday night? That’s the question.
Thursday Night Football Picks, Preview, and Best Bets: Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins
Derrick Henry Over 90.5 Rushing Yards (-115)
Thursday night is the night my friends. The Derrick Henry we all know and love will return to form and run all over this Miami Dolphins defense. Henry has overall had a bit of a disappointing season this year. However, he has already had two games with 120+ yards in 2025. He’s coming off a 71-yard game last week against a good Bears defense, and now he’ll take on a bad Miami defense. Miami held Bijan Robinson in check last week, but that was more the Falcons’ play callers’ fault and the game script that forced that. Miami has been one of the worst defenses against the rush, allowing 145.0 rush yards per game this year.
Quinshon Judkins had 84 rushing yards against the Dolphins, almost all coming in the first half of the game. Practice squad call-up Kimani Vidal torched the Dolphins in Week 6 for 124 yards. Rico Dowdell had a career day against Miami in Week 5. On 23 attempts, he ran for 206 yards. Even that horrid New York Jets team ran all over them. Justin Fields and Breece Hall combined for 162 yards. James Cook on Thursday Night Football crossed the century mark in Week 3. The first two weeks of the season, the Dolphins’ defense was able to slow the run down at least, but it’s been an absolute meltdown since. Give me all the Derrick Henry I can get on Thursday night.
Lamar Jackson Over 35.5 Rushing Yards (-120)
I mentioned above about Justin Fields and Breece Hall combining for 162 yards on the ground a few weeks ago against this defense. I think we see that same script on Thursday. Lamar seemingly doesn’t play unless he’s healthy, and that finally appears to be the case. Jackson has cleared this number in three of the four games he’s played in this season. 16 times last year, Jackson had at least 33 rushing yards. It’s what he does best. He’s had his time to heal and rest up. If he’s playing, he’s there to play and win. Jackson will use his legs to do so. He said it best when he said every game from here out is “Do-or-Die.”
Flashback to Lamar Jackson’s longest career run pic.twitter.com/difHlE2Izu
— JacksonMuse (@Jackson_muse) October 29, 2025
Baltimore Ravens -7.5 (-110)
This is one of the easiest picks of the week for me. Baltimore is a good team that’s had a bad start to the year, but not all is lost. They literally stopped playing games by removing the games from their locker room. To focus on business. They started that with Snoop leading them to a win last week. Now I’m expecting massive games from both Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. It’s time for the Ravens to put up or shut up. If they can’t come out and win a game like this by more than eight points, it might be time for them to think about blowing it up. Baltimore is the better team, and I don’t think there is any question about it. They roll on Thursday night.
