Thursday night’s game wound up looking like a mismatch on the field, but not in the way that most people expected.
The Dolphins defense dominated the Ravens offense for the majority of Thursday night’s 22-10 victory, which was a surprise for many since the Ravens were 6-2 going into the game and the Dolphins were 2-7. Miami blitzed safeties Jevon Holland and Brandon Jones more often than any other defensive backs blitzed in the last six seasons and Baltimore wilted under the pressure being applied by the Dolphins defense.
After a field goal and a missed field goal to open the game, the Ravens had a string of eight straight punts broken up by the end of the first half and a lost fumble. It was the lowest scoring regular season game of quarterback Lamar Jackson’s career and it led to him barking at teammates on the bench as the Dolphins moved toward a win.
“I was hot. Like, we weren’t scoring any points,” Jackson said, via the team’s website. “We were putting our defense out there. . . . I feel our defense played lights out, man. We just weren’t getting it done on offense. So that’s why I was mad. If you were on offense, you would be mad, too.”
The NFL can be a copycat league, so others are likely to lift things from the Dolphins in the weeks to come. If the Ravens don’t have a better answer, their strong start to the season won’t amount to much.