For the third consecutive head to head matchup, the Baltimore Ravens ran away with a convincing victory in the second half after allowing Miami to stick around in the first. In those three games, the Ravens have forced approximately 12 turnovers, most of them in the 2nd half.
The Dolphins had a chance though, as Baltimore conducted two of the worst red zone drives I've ever had the pleasure to witness in NFL history. The game could've been far out of reach much earlier on, but these two drives accompanied by a couple of other stalled drives that resulted in FGs kept the game close.
The end result, however, was not so close - a 26 to 10 drubbing and an end to Miami's unbeaten road record in 2010.
The loss couldn't have come at a worst time with the AFC East crumbling. The Bills lost again but the loss by the Patriots and the should've been loss by the Jets (honestly, all Detroit had to do was run down the clock....idiots) would've put Miami back in position to fight for the division. As it stands they are very much on the outside looking in, even for a Wildcard spot.
As the game went on, and it became obvious once again that coaching/play-calling is the main reason this team is failing, another obvious observation is that Miami is missing serious depth, and due to injuries, has had to hang on to players that really don't belong on the field. They've also been forced into leaving tired starters out there for 90% of the game because they don't trust the backups. Case in point - Channing Crowder had a decent game, but he came up hobbled during the 3rd quarter, was replaced by Tim Dobbins, who had a sack, then Crowder was put back in and played the entire rest of the game without a break, despite noticeably limping around. The Dolphins secondary struggled throughout the game, yet Jason Allen did not even get a chance to play, relegated to special teams, while Benny Sapp continues to be unimpressive.
The Dolphins had 6 active running backs, yet ran the ball just 11 times (not counting Chad Henne's scrambles) in the entire game. Ronnie Brown embarrassed the legendary Ray Lewis a handful of times in the game, yet was just not used enough.
Why this coaching staff does not understand the concept of playing to your strengths while exploiting your opponents weaknesses, well, I cannot say. Neither can any of you. Although I'm sure we all have similar opinions on it....
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