This was one of those games where you just wish you never witnessed. In a game where the Dolphins had chance after chance to capitalize off of the Ravens mistakes, time and again it was the Dolphins that would drop the ball. We lost this game in so many ways today. This was definitely a team loss, finally. Most of our losses this year have come from one unit failing to be effective. The special teams against the Patriots, the offense against the Jets, the referees against the Steelers. But this game was a complete team loss, no matter how you spin it. Here is a quick run-down of the numerous failures of the game:
- The offensive play-calling continues to be terrible. After feeding Ronnie Brown the ball 6 times on the opening drive, only to give it to him three more times the rest of the day! Brown finished for 59 yards and a touchdown on 9 carries.
- The Dolphins defense failed to force the Ravens to punt the whole game. In fact the one situation where Baltimore was lined up in a punting formation, the Ravens faked the punt and threw to a wide open Cary Williams for the first down. This was the turning point in the game for me. The Dolphins had trouble getting their opponent off the field the whole game.
- Dolphins cornerback Sean Smith dropped a would be pick-6 in the 3rd quarter that would have put the Dolphins right back in the game. Earlier in the first quarter safety Chris Clemons got his hands on a ball in the endzone that could have been picked off as well. Our secondary has no ball skills what so ever, and if they do, it does not show.
- Our front seven got obliterated by the Ravens and their short screens to the running back. Ray Rice and Willis McGahee killed us out of the backfield all day. We simply had no answer.
The opportunities were there for the Dolphins to win this game. The only explanation for this loss is that this team simply is not ready to win games against the leagues elite. This team needs to cut down on the mental mistakes and fine-tune their game before they can say they belong in the same breath as the Steelers and the Ravens. The Fins reportedly had a great week of practice, and then came out and crapped the bed in everyway possible today. That is not how good teams perform, and the Dolphins know it. Now it's back home where the Dolphins will look to notch their first home win against the Tennessee Titans.
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