The Miami Dolphins suffered a devasting, blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the most anticipated matchup of Week 17, as they were embarrassed in all three phases of the 56-19 blowout.
Baltimore’s offense scored touchdowns at will against a Miami defense that had been playing well since the bye week. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson threw five touchdown passes to four different receivers.
The fashion in which the Ravens were scoring touchdowns was on big plays entailing a receiver beating the entire Dolphins’ defense in the open field. This 75-yard touchdown to wideout Zay Flowers is the most glaring example:
SEVENTY-FIVE YARD TOUCHDOWN FOR ZAY FLOWERS!!!!!
Tune in on CBS! pic.twitter.com/1rxQdgbKGf
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 31, 2023
On a professional stage, blown tackles like this are an inexcusable effort, as they cause momentum-shifting plays. This is uncharacteristic of the Dolphins’ defense, and it’s probably a wake-up call the team needed heading into playoff season.
“To (the Ravens) credit, I think they had a good game plan and got their players that are pretty good in space, in space,” said Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel. “We’re not going to be happy with the way that we tackled in open space so we got to get down to the bottom of that, which I’m very confident that we will. We have a lot of talented, prideful, invested players.”
The Dolphins have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time if they hope to correct the mistakes made in Sunday’s game. Miami is heading into a must-win situation for the AFC East title against Buffalo in Week 18, and considering the injury to linebacker Bradley Chubb, it’s likely some players who haven’t seen much playing time will have to step up in short order.