A South Beach Beatdown

Ravens Embarrassed in Miami

The Ravens just can’t enjoy prosperity. With an opportunity to advance to (7-2) against a team that has looked rather lifeless for most of the 2021 season, John Harbaugh & Co. hopped a plane to Miami and absolutely embarrassed themselves against the Dolphins. THEY morphed into the lifeless, listless, rudderless, melting mess of homogenous nothingness team all on a National stage. So, instead they are (6-3) and with a Pittsburgh win over the winless Detroit Lions, the teams will be tied atop the AFC North.

I get that it’s a week-to-week league and we can all be imprisoned by the moment, but what the Ravens did last night ranks among the franchise’s ugliest performances of all time. In my mind, it was the worst considering that the Dolphins came into the league as the 30th-ranked offense “supported” by the 30th-ranked defense.

Let’s just keep this as brief as possible and if you just opt out right now, I totally get it. This is one of those games you just hope the team learns from, forgets about and then moves on to the next one. And just maybe they might avoid being labeled frauds. But to do so they’ll have to have some answers on November 21 in the Windy City.

The Good

Mark Andrews caught 6 of 8 targets for 63 yards and a score…Rashod Bateman made a couple of nice catches and finished with 80 yards on 6 grabs…Patrick Queen made a few physical tackles and nearly had the trifecta with a strip-sack and fumble recovery but he got a little too greedy trying to advance the fumble and never made the recovery…Josh Bynes was physical defending the run, registered a sack and had a clutch PD in the end zone…Justin Houston was stout off the edge in run defense and pressuring the quarterback. He finally eclipsed the century mark in career sacks…Odafe Oweh was relentless in pursuit of Jacoby Brissett and Tua Tagovailoa. He had a sack, two tackles for loss and 3 QB hits…Calais Campbell was stout defending the run. He had 4 tackles.

The Bad

Lamar Jackson looked clueless at times. He showed some indecisiveness, regularly opted not to account for the blitzing safety Jevon Holland who regularly tipped his bad intent, and made poor choices with RPO’s. Far too often he waited for the play clock to wind down close to zero which helped Miami defenders to enjoy quick get-offs. It also prevented the Ravens from checking into more favorable plays pre-snap. Other times Lamar could have cut his losses by just throwing the ball away and live for another down. Instead he took some sacks that could have been avoided in order to set up a more favorable next down…Bradley Bozeman’s snaps were rather erratic…Sam Koch average just 40.1 yards per punt and missed a couple of opportunities to pin the Dolphins back…even Justin Tucker had an off night, missing from 48 yards out…Harbaugh opted to go against the norm tonight at the Miami 30 facing a fourth-and-3. I’ll repeat, the Dolphins were the 30th ranked defense at the time and even with a failed conversion attempt, the Ravens would just be turning it over on downs at the 30 to the 30th-ranked offense. I guess the magic analytics machine was malfunctioning.

The Ugly

The Ravens slow starts on offense have become the norm. On Thursday, Lamar & Co. took it to a new level. Down 15-3 in the fourth quarter with 7:40 left the Ravens took over at their own 1 yard line following a punt. They immediately took a delay of game. What were they doing before starting the possession? …The offensive line was a sieve and the biggest culprits were Alejandro Villanueva, Ben Powers and Tyre Phillips. AV and Powers at times looked like they were playing pin the tail on the Dolphin while Phillips moved like he had a ball and chain strapped to both ankles. Even on a third and 1, AV and Powers couldn’t get their act together as Villanueva ignored Zach Sieler to help out the tight end on the edge and Powers opted to seek out a second level block. Sieler said thankyouverymuch,  penetrated the backfield unabated and dropped Devonta Freeman for a four-yard loss. Calling Sam Koch!

Sammy Watkins should have taken another week off. He caught 1 pass on 2 targets and the one he caught, he coughed up.  The fumble was scoop up by Xavien Howard who rambled in from 49 yards out for the game’s first TD. On the Ravens first possession, Watkins either lost the ball in the lights or thought he was closer to the backline than he actually was. It was a horrible effort on a pass that could have been a touchdown had Watkins tracked the ball properly.

Did Sammy Watkins lose this in the lights or think he was out of bounds? pic.twitter.com/4IAloGck4p

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) November 12, 2021

X!!!!!!!!

pic.twitter.com/skt3GvAiga

— The Phinsider (@thephinsider) November 12, 2021

To say that Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman was poorly prepared would be a gross understatement. He was completely outclassed by the Dolphins defensive brain trust. The Dolphins were smart to do the same thing over and over until the Ravens made them pay the price by adjusting. And what the Dolphins did regularly was run Cover 0 blitzes on third down. Roman had no answers and looked completely clueless by taking the same failed approach each time, challenging the principles of insanity. And that in large part is why the Ravens were just 2 of 14 on third down conversion attempts against a defense the was second worst in the league in such situations…Seeing that his offense had zero tempo (at least I think he noticed) Roman opted NOT to go no-huddle even with under 7 minutes to go and down by 2 scores.

When asked about the Cover 0 success after the game, Harbaugh said,  “The plan that we had wasn’t up to par.” So what you’re saying John is that what you did was actually part of a plan?

Defensively, the open field tackling, particularly by members of the secondary, was awful as were the communication breakdowns. Among the guilty parties in the “We have a failure to communicate” group were Chuck Clark (second straight week) and Geno Stone. These blown assignments helpd spring chunk plays by the Dolphins of 35, 52 and 64 yards.

This was just an excruciating game to watch but I have to admit, I did crack up watching this play.

Robert Hunt:

1) Mossed his own f’kin running back
2) Juked a defender out of his own ankles
3) Flipped 360 degrees over his head and extended the ball to BREAK THE PLANE of the GL while doing so!!!

AND YOU TOOK HIS TD AWAY!?!? pic.twitter.com/uF8SQb68iR

— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) November 12, 2021

[Related Article: Ravens at Dolphins Report Card]

Looking Ahead…

I no longer know what to expect from the Ravens on any given Sunday. They still control their own destiny at (6-3) but if we’re being honest, this team could just as easily be (2-7) with near losses to the Chiefs, Colts, Vikings and Lions. Fortunately they aren’t. The game in Chicago is pivotal and should be telling. The Ravens get back some players who should help.

Harbaugh & Co. have weathered adversity all season. They’ll get to do it again in the days leading up to their trip to Soldier Field.

“It’s never easy. It’s never pretty, but it’s us.”

Those are the words of John Harbaugh. Maybe that’s just the Ravens way. It has been that way since as long as I can remember.

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