GRADING THE DOLPHINS
Grading the Dolphins for Thursday night’s 40-0 loss at Baltimore:
QUARTERBACK
Matt Moore was under siege from start to finish and it got to him, as it would any QB. Other D than finding Kenny Stills downfield a couple of times, he basically looked like Jay Cutler, including a few unforced misfires. And then came two pick-sixes, equaling a putrid 47.2 passer rating. No QB controversy here, folks.
RUNNING BACKS
First, the obvious. Aside from that 21-yard run to start the game, Jay Ajayi had space to run that’s equivalent to the D- space between the
“e” and the period to end this sentence.
The number of Ajayi’s carries that fail to gain yardage
(and many lose yardage) is a troubling trend, so bad that Ajayi averaged 3.27 inches on his next 11 carries. But the grade for this group is poor also because Damien Williams failed to make a couple of blocks that could have spared Moore a couple of sacks.
RECEIVERS
Kenny Stills made two nice plays, a contested 20-yard catch and a 28-yarder after D+ the defensive back interfered with him. Those plays are worth mentioning because plays that went right were so rare. Jarvis Landry was conspicuously silent.
OFFENSIVE LINE
It’s worth remembering that the Ravens had the 32ndranked run defense in the league. The Dolphins made F them look like, well, the Ray Lewis Ravens. Matt Moore had no time, which happens when linemen and backs consider blitz pickups optional. Communication was abysmal, manifesting itself when two linemen focused on the same pass rusher while the man next to them ran free.
DEFENSIVE LINE
A defense that had been sturdy against the run was gashed by RB Alex Collins (18 carries, 113 yards). Linemen D- and linebackers were susceptible to Collins’ cutbacks, which created wide running lanes. At least rookie Charles Harris had a few moments of putting heat on the quarterback. He also induced a false start on thirdand-6. Ndamukong Suh had a particularly scrappy night.
LINEBACKERS
Kiko Alonso likely will be fined for an unnecessary hit as Joe Flacco was giving himself up. It was bad enough that Alonso F rocked the quarterback, but that forearm to the head was over the top. The Ravens had to love it when, three plays later, Alonso was victimized by tight end Benjamin Watson for a 2-yard touchdown. Since tackling was often nonexistent, we won’t say anything about it. Or maybe we just did.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
The Ravens’ receiving corps was banged up, minus Mike Wallace, but you wouldn’t know it. Jeremy Maclin set the D- tone with a 34-yard touchdown over last week’s hero, Bobby McCain, while safety Nate Allen was late in helping deep. Worse, the play worked even though the Dolphins had 12 men on the field. Think about it: Situations don’t get much more embarrassing for a defense than a 12-menon-the-field penalty that’s declined.
SPECIAL TEAMS
A 31-yard punt from Matt Haack when kicker Justin Tucker is on the opposite sideline is begging for trouble in field D position. Haack wasn’t effective, averaging just 39.7 yards on his first seven punts. Cody Parkey had been 6 for 6 from 50-plus yards on field goals in his career but missed in the second quarter from 50. On the plus side, Vincent Taylor blocked Tucker’s 46-yard field-goal try. Hey, that’s something.