Miami Dolphins Playoff Hopes Die In Miami

The Miami Dolphins won’t be making it to the post season for the sixth straight season in a row as they fall to the Baltimore Ravens in Miami in front of a stunned sell out crowd. O.k. so while I’m writing this there is still three minutes left but there is no way the Dolphins can gain 16 points in that time frame.

The game started with the Dolphins looking to run away with it after they held the Ravens to four consecutive three and outs jumping to a 10-0 lead but as the clock ticked to start the 2nd quarter the Dolphins implosion began. Flacco managed to move the team well enough and the Raven defense held Miami down until Flacco engineered a two minute drive from his own two yard line to put seven on the board before half-time.

Tannehill was harassed most of the day and suffered from plenty of dropped passes as well as three illegal men downfield penalties which were highly questionable drive killers. Make no mistake though the Dolphins didn’t need help from the referees to lose this game they did very well on their own.  Miami could not compete at this “playoff” level.

The Dolphins received the ball to start the second half but abandoned the running game in favor of a short passing game that really didn’t work. The Baltimore Ravens have one of the worst secondary’s in the NFL and Miami did not throw longer than 15 yards the entire game giving the porous secondary an opportunity to look like a number one ranked unit.

With the game now in the books and the Dolphins sliding down the playoff hopeful ladder attention will now shift to what should happen this off-season with head coach Joe Philbin who was extremely out coached today. Should he receive another season to make this work or should Stephen Ross make his decision based on what happens down the final three week stretch? Philbin won’t be fired after this game and there is still a lot of questions as to whether he will at the end of the season but it’s obvious that this team was not prepared for this game. That is on the HC.

For now there is nothing to get excited about and next weeks New England game only stands to serve as the nail in the Miami Dolphins coffin. Miami will have no shot at New England if the Patriots win tonight in San Diego giving them a three game lead with three weeks remaining. In the end the Dolphins had the home field advantage, they had the support from their fans, and they had the South Florida heat to boot, but they didn’t have the coaching or the drive to win…and that likely ended their season. The Ravens wanted it more so they went and played like it.