Lamar Jackson, the Ravens quarterback, never found his stride. Baltimore's quarterback battled with timing and accuracy all night, leaving the door wide for a Dolphins club primed to take advantage. Jackson had an open Sammy Watkins deep down the middle of the field early in the game, but he was beaten late on a throw that Watkins appeared to peel off on as he ran into the goalpost's path. It was a fitting end to Jackson's night.
He was sacked four times, threw too many passes off balance, and appeared uneasy completing only three of 12 passes of 10 yards or more. When the tracks are greased for their rushing attack, the Ravens can overcome this, but it wasn't going to be enough on this night.
It was the right decision to switch quarterbacks. When quarterback Jacoby Brissett left the game with knee soreness after a third-quarter sack, Dolphins coach Brian Flores decided he'd had enough of him, and he went with Tua Tagovailoa. Due to a finger injury on Tagovailoa's throwing hand, Brissett was given the start, but with the Miami offensive lethargic, Flores figured nine good fingers would suffice. Tagovailoa didn't appear sharp at first, and his already-injured throwing hand colliding with Ravens LB Patrick Queen's hand on a third-quarter follow-through didn't help matters.
On a night when Brissett never seemed settled or confident, he found enough of a groove to propel Miami's offense into a higher gear.
I've got him... he's yours. Two unexplainable busts in the Raven's secondary accounted for a large portion of the Dolphins' offense and played as big a role in the game's outcome as anything else. On the first play of the game, Dolphins wide receiver Isaiah Ford got loose along the right sideline for a 52-yard reception, setting up a field goal before halftime. Late in the fourth quarter, Tagovailoa found Albert Wilson along the left sideline — even more wide open than Ford – for a 64-yard gain.
Wilson's move set up a short touchdown to put the game out of reach for the Ravens, who had just trimmed the deficit to 15-10 and were poised to perhaps take the game with a defensive stop. Nearly a third of Miami's offense came from those two plays (116 of 374 yards).
Miami's rookies shine at home. Jaelan Phillips and Jevon Holland, two members of the Dolphins' 2021 draft class, were instrumental in shutting down the Ravens on Thursday night. Phillips contributed to Jackson's containment with an assisted sack and a QB hurry, demonstrating not only pass-rushing skill but also a penchant for disengaging swiftly to chase the ball down the sideline. Holland intercepted two passes and forced a punt with a second-half sack on a blitz off the edge. He's a quick and instinctive secondary roamer who can take up a lot of ground while the ball is in the air. They played as two of the club's top three draft picks should have on this night.
Offenses that are blatantly offensive. A low-scoring game can be enjoyed by those who prefer superb defensive football and do not require back-and-forth scoring to keep their attention. That wasn't the case here. Although scoring was limited, the game was dominated by offensive ineptitude rather than a defensive skill for the majority of the time. Punts flew back and forth, passes were dropped, and scoring opportunities were squandered. Even on the Ravens' lone touchdown drive, three Dolphins penalties, including two roughing the passer calls, helped them along.
Aside from the late offensive awakening, the two offenses combined for a dreadful 5 of 27 third-down conversions in the first three quarters. In a nutshell, it was unattractive.
Holland blitzed on 21 snaps, which is the most number for a defensive back in the Next Gen Stats era (2016).
The Dolphins' longest offensive play of the season was Jacoby Brissett's 52-yard pass to Isaiah Ford near the end of the first half. When Tua Tagovailoa connected with Albert Wilson for 64 yards, it became the second-longest.