Dolphins’ 6-game run ends with flawed 38-6 loss to Ravens

Until then, Sunday’s win against the Dolphins was just a good win, but nothing that shows that this team is going to become a serious contender. “We challenge each other, and everybody is able to do it in a way that makes each other better”.

A 38-6 drubbing Sunday at Baltimore snapped Miami’s six-game winning streak, but coach Adam Gase said he’s confident his team can bounce back this week against Arizona. Pitta caught his second consecutive touchdown from nine yards out to put the Ravens up 21-0 with 2:10 remaining in the first half. However, as we here at this column are equally fond of saying, records can often be misleading, particularly for a team playing a fourth place schedule that has also won at least three games this season which it should have lost.

Flacco finished with a franchise-record 36 completions in 47 attempts, by far his most impressive outing in an uneven season. We like the fact that we’re in a fight for the division championship. This was a huge boost for the Ravens, who intercepted Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill three times.

Flacco later connected with receiver Breshad Perriman on a short route, who turned and outraced defenders for a 55-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Two were to tight end Dennis Pitta, he of the legendary hip issues beginning in training camp after their 2012 Super Bowl win … and they were his first touchdowns since nearly exactly three years earlier.

The Ravens’ five first-half drives, against a Dolphins defense that has obvious weaknesses but was still ninth in the National Football League against the pass, went touchdown, touchdown, interception (a totally needless one, but still disappointing), touchdown, field goal.

This was a tough game to swallow especially after the streak the Dolphins were on and it puts Miami out of the Wild Card for right now. The first one stalled in field goal range after a miscue involving Jarvis Landry where he slipped on the turf as the pass fell incomplete being defended by Tavon Young leading to a missed Andrew Franks 46 yard field goal.

The drive was extended by Kenneth Dixon’s 10-yard run on a fourth-and-1. Operating out of a modified no-huddle offense, the Ravens drove 79 yards on eight plays and Flacco finalized the drive by hitting a wide open Terrance West (Towson University, Northwestern High) out of the backfield for a 3-yard touchdown pass. The methodical march took up 8 minutes, 57 seconds. “Who we are going to play and where we’re going to play them is part of it”, Harbaugh said when asked about the hard stretch to close the regular season. We’re really focused on Baltimore. We have to go back to work. We’re going to need to play our best football on Monday night up in New England to win that football game. “Because I would imagine at some point we’ll be in the stadium with those guys”. I thought (Flacco’s) vision was phenomenal.

“You never want to lose, obviously, but this could be a good thing for us in the long run, ” safety Michael Thomas said. Meanwhile, Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi totaled just a dozen carries for 61 yards against the NFL’s top rushing defense.

Ravens: The Ravens split the handoffs.

Their current coordinator, Dean Pees, also gives the Ravens a competitive edge that can’t be dismissed – Pees spent two years coaching New England’s linebackers and four years running its defense.

“We just made too many mistakes, said Tannehill”. After the timeout, Tucker duplicated the feat.

Dolphins left tackle Branden Albert hopes so. “I don’t think after a game like this, I say, ‘Oh, I’m back.’ I feel like I have been back since Week 1”.