Baltimore vs. Miami
Flacco Dominates as Ravens Put Brakes on Miami’s Six-Game Winning Streak
Solid, but not spectacular. That’s a more than fair assessment of the Ravens’ offense for the majority of the 2016 season. On Sunday, it looked way more the latter than the former.
An aggressive passing attack and a record-setting performance by Joe Flacco paved the way for a 38-6 throttling of the Dolphins, ending Miami’s six-game winning streak in the process.
“That’s what we haven’t done,” head coach John Harbaugh told reporters. “We’ve been stuck at 10 (points) really, in probably four or five games. To keep the pedal to the metal, as you say, to continue to make plays. I thought Joe (Flacco) played phenomenally well.”
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Flacco completed a franchise-record 36 completions and finished with 381 yards passing and four touchdowns. The fruitful results of a pass-happy gameplan by offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg to open the contest. Flacco completed 12 of 15 attempts on Baltimore’s first two possessions, both of which resulted in touchdowns.
“We did have a good conversation about it, and I felt that he would kind of do what he did today, and we responded well to it,” quarterback Joe Flacco spoke of Mornhinweg’s gameplan. “It played out that way because we were able to take the ball down the field on the first couple of drives and do what we did, and it allowed us to continue to do those things.”
“They had a good plan,” said Dolphins head coach Adam Gase. “We felt like the big thing they were going to do was throw the ball quick. We had to tackle the catch, and we didn’t do that. They were able to run away from us.”
Two of Flacco’s touchdowns were hauled in by Dennis Pitta, the first time he’s crossed the goal line in three years. The tight end has been hampered by hip injuries, which have required two surgeries.
“I think that somebody mentioned my last touchdown was 2013, and that was a long time ago,” recalls tight end Dennis Pitta. “It feels good to get back in the endzone and obviously, to have the kind of win, and team win, and offensive production that we had today was huge.”
Defensively, the Ravens halted a pair of Miami drives at the goal line with interceptions by Lardarius Webb and Eric Weddle. Jerraud Powers picked off a third pass by Ryan Tannehill, who finished with 226 passing yards and a touchdown to DeVante Parker in the fourth quarter.
Kicker Justin Tucker remained perfect on the season in terms of field goals. The right-footer split the uprights on a 55-yard try as the first half came to a close, upping the Ravens lead to 24-0 at the time. Tucker is now 28-of-28 on the season.
GAME RECAP
The Ravens wasted no time on the game’s opening possession employing an aggressive attack. Joe Flacco completed 6-of-7 passes as Baltimore marched 79 yards in just over four minutes capped by a touchdown pass to a wide-open Terrance West for a 7-0 lead.
After Miami came up empty on its first possession behind an Andrew Franks missed field goal, Baltimore stayed pass-happy. Flacco completed another six passes on the drive, three to Dennis Pitta, including a 13-yard touchdown to his tight end for a 14-0 advantage with 3:17 remaining in the first quarter.
Another lengthy Dolphins drive failed to produce points when Lardarius Webb stepped in between a Ryan Tannehill toss to DeVante Parker and was able to get two feet down in the endzone for an interception resulting in a touchback.
Flacco’s assertiveness got the better of him on the next play though, as he rolled to his right and overthrew intended target Mike Wallace instead finding Miami’s Byron Maxwell for an interception. The Fins failed to capitalize on the good field position by quickly going three-and-out.
Baltimore chewed up nearly nine minutes on the ensuing drive, going 88 yards in 18 plays, highlighted by four 3rd down conversion and a 4th down conversion from Flacco to Steve Smith Sr. Pitta finished the drive with his second touchdown reception of the afternoon, making it 21-0 with 2:10 before halftime.
The Ravens would tack on three more points before intermission, travelling 48 yards in less than a minute, as Justin Tucker connected on a 55-yard field goal try to make the score 24-0.
Miami again squandered an opportunity to open the third quarter as a Tannehill throw to Jarvis Landry was deflected by Jerraud Powers and into the waiting hands of Eric Weddle at the 2-yard line and returned it 53 yards.
Following punts by both sides to close the third quarter, the Ravens committed their second turnover of the day. Neville Hewitt returned the Pitta fumble 27 yards to the Baltimore 8, and Tannehill immediately found Parker to get Miami on the board. The two-point conversion try failed and the score remained 24-6.
The Ravens matched that endzone trip two minutes later when rookie wide receiver Breshad Perriman hauled in his third touchdown reception in the last four weeks, turning a quick crossing route over the middle into a 53-yard score.
After exchanging punts, the Ravens recorded their third interception of the afternoon when Powers picked off an underthrown Tannehill offering toward Jarvis Landry. The running back tandem of Kenneth Dixon and West transformed the turnover into a touchdown with West making it a 38-6 score following a 9-yard rush. One three-and-out and a chain-moving dash by Dixon later, backup quarterback Ryan Mallett lined up in victory formation to secure the win.
UP NEXT
Baltimore (7-5) heads to Foxborough for Monday Night Football against the Patriots. New England (10-2) faced little resistance from Los Angeles as Tom Brady threw for 269 yards and one touchdown en route to becoming the all-time winningest quarterback in regular season history with a 26-10 victory over the Rams.
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