Dolphins reclaim an ugly reputation after embarrassing loss to Ravens
The Miami Dolphins made a statement a week ago. They scrapped, fought, and just managed to grind out a 22-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys. It was the type of game that had evaded them for the season: a win over a team with a winning record. Finally, it seemed, the critics had been silenced. […]
The Miami Dolphins made a statement a week ago. They scrapped, fought, and just managed to grind out a 22-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys. It was the type of game that had evaded them for the season: a win over a team with a winning record. Finally, it seemed, the critics had been silenced.
It took just seven days for Miami to hand a big plate of fodder to their critics to chew on again.
The Dolphins were throttled 56-19 by the Ravens on Sundays in Baltimore. It was a systemic failure on both sides of the ball for Miami. The Ravens rolled up 491 yards of total offense compared to 375 for the Dolphins. Lamar Jackson took a massive step towards winning the NFL MVP award with an 18/21 321 yard and five-touchdown performance.
The splash plays allowed that haunted the Dolphins against Buffalo and Philadelphia reared their ugly heads again today. Zay Flowers, who was questionable for the game, looked perfectly healthy when he beat the Dolphins' secondary for a 75-yard touchdown.
On the Ravens' next drive, Jackson turned in another highlight play, this time finding Isaiah Likely for a 36-yard touchdown. He skirted past Jevon Holland on a crossing route and then beat the Miami defense to the pylon for a touchdown on fourth-and-seven.
The Ravens finished off their first drive of the third quarter with a 7-yard Likely touchdown, and Baltimore enjoyed a 35-13 advantage with almost a full half to play. Whereas the Dolphins erased a 21-point deficit twice in Baltimore last season, this banged up unit wasn't capable of replicating the feat.
It got even worse, as the Ravens ended up rolling to 49 points on a play that summarized the game well. Melvin Gordon III took a handoff with under 5 minutes to play, collided with DeShon Elliott around the 5-yard line, then pushed his way through multiple Miami defenders and over the goal line. A microcosm of the game in a single play.
Then, to add insult to injury on the very next play, Mike White's toss to Chris Brooks was bobbled and recovered by Baltimore. On third and goal from the Dolphins' 19, Tyler Huntley lobbed a ball to a wide open TE Charlie Kolar for the game's final points.
With Buffalo's 27-21 win over New England, the Dolphins must find a way to win – or at least secure a tie – against the Bills next weekend in order to win the AFC East division that they've led all year. If they can't do better than what they showed on Sunday in Baltimore, that could end up being a tall task.
There will be a lot of noise next week among the talking heads and pundits about Miami being imposters, pretenders, soft, etc. It's now up to Mike McDaniel to find a way over the next seven days prove that they've not correct.
Dolphins receive awful news heading into Ravens matchup
Hate to hear it.
