With lopsided loss, Dolphins lose control of playoff fate

The victory over Miami wasn’t a statement or a barometer, it just showed that an experienced playoff team could take its game to a higher level while the Dolphins, who haven’t been to the postseason since 2008, couldn’t.

Unlike last week, when Baltimore managed just one TD in a win over Cincinnati, the Ravens immediately built on their early advantage. He hasn’t seen the Patriots since they used a Julian Edelman touchdown pass to Danny Amendola, and all that hocus pocus with ineligible and eligible receivers, to overcome two 14-point deficits in the playoffs two years ago. The Ravens stepped up. We just studied the quarterback, their tendencies on what they like to run and, yes, they came out with a new game plan today.

“Somebody said it earlier this week”.

It’s tough all over in the National Football League, and if the Dolphins are going to make a dent this December they’re just going to have to be tougher. Tannehill found the end zone during the fourth quarter, but was also picked off three times during the game.

Coach Adam Gase said his team would bounce back.

It gave them four wins in five games since their bye and since their four-game first-half losing streak. With the Denver Broncos’ overtime loss on Sunday Night Football, the Dolphins now hold the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoffs. As far as Miami’s playoff hopes, here’s the simple explanation – the Dolphins need to go 4-0 and need the Broncos to go 2-1-1 or worse.

“We have four games left”, Tannehill said.

The Ravens know about that mentality.

And they’re coming off their most one-sided defeat in four years.

The optimism in Miami undoubtedly took a severe hit this past Sunday. “We’ll get past this, and we’ll start a new streak”.

Ravens: “I thought Joe just played phenomenally well”, Harbaugh said. They also have more talent than Miami. Their pass defense was atrocious, especially in the middle of the field.

After the Patriots game, they host the Eagles, who got kicked around by the Bengals yesterday in Cincinnati.

They were soft in press coverage.

The lack of an effective ground game wiped out much of the threat of the play action.

The offensive line is in a groove, having played well for three straight weeks.

Most important for the Ravens, though: They finally moved the ball the way they expected when they added the pieces they did last offseason, and they didn’t keep dumping the load on its perpetually-burdened defense and on Tucker’s field-goal streak.

And with time, Flacco picked apart the Dolphins. The Dolphins weren’t good enough to challenge the Ravens in any area.

If Gase isn’t fretting about the playoff race, he should be anxious about weaknesses exposed by the Ravens, who shredded Miami’s pass defense and intercepted Ryan Tannehill three times after the lopsided score forced the Dolphins to abandon the ground game that’s their strength. Cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Tavon Young were aggressive, and Weddle and Webb tackled well.