Ravens Crash and Burn in Miami

The Ravens fell to the Miami Dolphins 22-10 in Week 10. RSR staff react to the loss here…

Derek Arnold

While I was the only RSR guy to not predict a Ravens blowout in our bold predictions, I still felt very confident about a win. I didn’t expect the good guys to be so thoroughly out-coached. The Dolphins are a Wink Martindale clone defense, as our own James Ogden pointed out in his Battle Plans this week. Yet, the Ravens seemed shell-shocked that they faced a defense that played Zero all day. A guy that lives in England knew what was coming, but despite seeing this kind of defense in practice since July, Greg Roman’s answer for it was…WR screens? That’s it? Seriously? Where were the moving pockets? The RB screens? The in-breaking routes behind the crowded line of scrimmage? The hurry-up to slow down the rush?

The offense now has 10 days to figure out how to beat a defensive game plan that they’re sure to see every week going forward.

While talking about the offense, I’d be remiss to not mention Sammy Watkins, who spotted the Dolphins 14 points by himself. First, he pulled up on what should have been an opening-drive TD.

not the best look for Sammy Watkins pic.twitter.com/85mp6GjwMI

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) November 12, 2021

Then, he fumbled a slant for a much needed first down in the second half, which the Dolphins returned for a touchdown.

Welcome back, Sammy Glass!

As for the defense, you have a hard time blaming them too much when the offense sputtered all night as they did. I’d love to see what they can do with a double-digit lead for once. But they again allowed a few HUGE plays on busted coverages, one when the game was still in the balance in the waning minutes. How that keeps happening is anybody’s guess, but it’s becoming ridiculous. They couldn’t cause a single turnover against bum/hobbled quarterbacks. As Joe Buck reminded us, they’ve now allowed SIX plays of 50+ yards over their last three games. They couldn’t make a splash play when the offense needed bailing out.

We know this is a week-to-week league. How the hell did the Bills lose to the Jags?! we asked last week. Well, now we see how this kinda thing happens.

The Ravens’ continued insistence on starting slow finally caught up to them, and this wasn’t their week. I’m going to try not to take much more from it than that.

I’ve never seen an OC so clueless against ONE look. It’s hard to even do this. This is like something you would do in Madden. Just keep playing the same defense over and over. #RavensFlock

— Dev Panchwagh (@devpanchwagh) November 12, 2021

Chad Racine

Ouch. What an ugly game. I thought the Sammy Watkins fumble was the nail in the coffin at first, but it was the 64-yard pass to Albert Wilson. Even when the Ravens were down 6-3 it felt like two touchdowns with how the offense was struggling.

They have 10 days to get it together and make some adjustments.

Darin McCann

You win as a team, you stink on ice in front of a national television audience and get pantsed by a previously 2-7 team as a team. Am I right?

The offense seemed to struggle with weird play-clock strategy and an unsightly obsession with screens in the first half, while the defense continued to play like world-beaters for 90 percent of their snaps, and as a charity service for the other 10 percent. This was gross, and they still could have won this game 10 different ways in the second half. That’s how bad their competition was tonight.

Ugly, ugly night.

Taylor Lyons

The big plays allowed on defense, slow starts on offense and struggles from the offensive line were destined to catch up to the Ravens at some point and, looking back, it was a perfect storm that came together tonight. Going on the road on a short week coming off a big overtime win where the offense played nearly 100 snaps, coupled with the huge mistakes and glaring weaknesses that they somehow found ways to continuously overcome is a recipe for disaster. I’m surprised they got this far without an embarrassing loss.

Individually, I liked what I saw from Rashod Bateman who continues to impress. It wasn’t Lamar’s best night but the offensive line did him absolutely no favors. The miscommunication on defense is becoming way too common. Not saying it’s Chuck Clark’s fault but it seems like every one of them involves him.

Bad loss. Onto the Bears with a long week. Still in 1st place. Let’s not panic yet.

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