The Miami Dolphins pulled off a big surprise on Thursday Night Football, defeating the Baltimore Ravens at the Hard Rock Stadium, 22-10.
The Fins put on a defensive clinic, reminding everyone that they have one of the most talented crews in the NFL on this side of the football. Lamar Jackson was stopped, the Ravens rushing game limited, while on the other hand, the Fins managed to provide consistency in the offense.
Even though Miami had to switch quarterbacks in the third period due to Jacoby Brissett’s knee injury, the attack kept coming after the wounded Ravens. Tua Tagovailoa came off the bench, posting a good performance despite the injured finger.
The second-year QB was the one who sealed the game with a sneak-in from one yard with 2:19 to go. Following the match, the youngster was greeted loudly, which should boost his shaken morale a little bit.
“Any win is good,” Tua said. “No rumors, no external factors of noise had anything to do with what we did tonight.”
This was the second win for the Fins in the past five days, with the first one coming against the Houston Texans on the previous Sunday.
Tua ended the game with 158 passing yards and eight completions in 13 attempts, one for 64 yards. Brissett had 156 yards, 11-for-23, and one 52 yards long.
Albert Wilson caught 87 yards, Isaiah Ford, 84, while Jaylen Waddle racked up 61. Miami’s running game was pretty bad, as the hosts collected 60 rushing yards, Myles Gaskin delivering 31.
Xavien Howard had a 49-yard fumble return, which pulled away the Dolphins to 15-3 in the final period. Previously, Howard forced a fumble, becoming one of the heroes of today’s win.
“X, he’s done a great job for us, and he showed up again, made a big play in a big moment. We needed it. Got it out, scooped and scored,” said Miami’s head coach Brian Flores.
On the other side, the Ravens were having problems in establishing their ground game. Lamar had 39 yards on nine carries, and Devonta Freeman recorded 35 on 10 snaps, which was pretty much it for the Ravens, who ended the night with 94 rushing yards.
Jackson threw for 238 yards, 26-for-43 for one TD and pick, but was also sacked four times for 28 negative yards. The guests’ third-down efficiency was terrible, moving the chains only twice on 12 occasions.
Also, this is one of the rare games this year in which the defense couldn’t force at least one turnover.
“We just didn’t play a good football game,” Ravens defensive end Calais Campbell said. “At the end of the day, they played better football than us today.”
The Ravens are now 6-3, and have a nasty schedule coming up. They first visit Soldier Field to meet the Chicago Bears before taking on three divisional matchups, with the Browns at home and the Steelers and once again the Browns on the road. Following that one, they are hosting the Green Bay Packers.
As for the 3-7 Dolphins, their next game is in New York against the division foes, the New York Jets. After that, the Fins come back home to host the Carolina Panthers, the New York Giants, and the Jets once more. This is a nice chance for Miami to create a winning streak that could even get them close to .500-mark or even reach it.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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