Dolphins Come Up Woefully Short in Showdown

The Miami Dolphins got off to a great start, but gave up too many big plays against the new top-seeded Baltimore Ravens

The Miami Dolphins' showdown against the Baltimore Ravens got off to an ideal start, but it was followed by an avalanche of mistakes and big plays allowed and the result was a disappointing outcome.

The Dolphins gave up a 75-yard touchdown pass with a busted coverage and allowed a 78-yard kickoff return to open the second half, and that led to a 56-19 loss at M&T Bank Stadium that clinched the AFC's No. 1 seed for the Ravens, which includes a first-round bye and home-field advantage in every playoff game before the Super Bowl.

The Dolphins also missed the opportunity to clinch their AFC East title since 2008 and now will have to defeat the Buffalo Bills in Week 18 at Hard Rock Stadium or they will become a wild-card team.

MISTAKES ON OFFENSE

Tua Tagovailoa threw two touchdown passes and Jason Sanders kicked two field goals to account for the Dolphins scoring, but there were mistakes offensively as well.

Tyreek Hill became the first player in NFL history with more than one 1,700 receiving yards in more than one season, but the catch that got him the milestone came after he dropped an easy touchdown pass in the end zone, forcing the Dolphins to settle for a field goal and a 10-7 lead instead of being up 14-7.

Chase Claypool also failed to come up with a catch in the end zone, but it wasn't nearly as easy as Hill's and the Dolphins did score a touchdown at the end of that drive.

And Tua threw two interceptions, one at the end of the first half that led to a Baltimore touchdown and the other immediately after Zach Sieler forced a fumble on a running play and safety Jevon Holland, back in the lineup after missing four games, recovered for Miami.

Despite the injury issues on the offensive line, the offense did have some success and the work up front was more than respectable.

Rookie De'Von Achane, starting in place of the injured Raheem Mostert, rushing for 107 yards, thanks in large part to a 45-yard run in the first half.

That easily was the longest offensive play of the day for the Dolphins, who didn't have a completion longer than 25 yards.

HORRIBLE DAY FOR DOLPHINS DEFENSE

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, in a pretty strong statement in his MVP campaign, tied a career high with five touchdown passes and recording a perfect 158.3 passer rating (he did both of those against the Dolphins in the 2019 season opener).

Besides the 75-yarder to Flowers, Jackson also had a 35-yard touchdown pass to tight end Isaiah Likely on fourth down near the end of the first half to give Baltimore a 28-13 halftime lead.

Jackson also had a completion of 33 yards to Odell Beckham Jr. to set up a touchdown, and Justice Hill had a 41-yard run to set up yet another score.

The Dolphins played ard to the end, but there were simply too mistakes against perhaps the best team in the NFL.

The defense, which had been so good over the past several games, completely fell apart and it went way beyond losing cornerback Xavien Howard to a foot injury in the first quarter — Eli Apple looked like the culprit on the busted coverage on the Flowers touchdown.

To make an ugly day even worse, both Tua and OLB Bradley Chubb sustained injuries in the final minutes long after the outcome had been decided, and the look was bad when it comes to Chubb's injury after he went down without contact and immediately grabbed his knee.