Miami Dolphins offensive recap Vs Ravens week 13

The Miami Dolphins overall play on offense was very flat aside from a small pocket of players like Jay Ajayi who had good production and with the way most of the receivers slipped early on due to poor field conditions it seemed he would have been used more however that was not the case.

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By the time players that were having trouble with getting good traction had been fitted out with better cleats to handle the condition on the field the hole was too big to fill to keep going to Jay Ajayi because the score had been lopsided at that point already. The Ravens and the Dolphins defense did not appear to be sliding out as the receivers had been.

The offense did move the ball early but the first few drives ended in disaster. The first one stalled in field goal range after a miscue involving Jarvis Landry where he slipped on the turf as the pass fell incomplete being defended by Tavon Young leading to a missed Andrew Franks 46 yard field goal. The second drive ended in the end zone as Lardarius Webb made a great play on the ball making up a lot of ground and somehow coming down inbounds (knee) with possession of the ball after taking it away from DeVante Parker.

They would get the ball back again going three and out being down 14 at this point with momentum bleeding away. The Ravens then took almost nine minutes off the board on their next scoring drive. Now down by 21 the running game with Jay Ajayi would be overlooked even more like a cat chasing its tail trying to catch up. Of course Justin Tucker would hit a 55 yard field goal making it 24 to nothing as the first half closed out.

To reiterate the offense did move the ball early and throughout the game but the drives would end in disaster. On a pass thrown behind Jarvis Landry he tipped the ball and it went right into the hands of Eric Weddle at his own two yard line who would then return it 53 yards. It is understandable for Jarvis Landry to tip the ball in his situation as he had two defenders draped on him. But the ball traveled an inordinate distance to where it would be intercepted.

Sometimes the ball never bounces in your favor or you never get a break even when the opponent is getting them all and running away with the game. Blame could be placed on some players, factors and even coaching but sometimes it just isn’t your day.

Ryan Tannehill had one of his worse games but there were factors like a tipped ball or an incredible play by Lardarius Webb on an injured DeVante Parker. One of his sacks was certainly on him when he rolled out and didn’t throw the ball away. But the other he almost ran it to the line of scrimmage. The fumble he had came from a snap that might be miscommunication with the backup center Anthony Steen.

Continuing the blame game; Tannehill had just one rushing attempt for zero yards. Jay Ajayi had over five yards on average per rushing attempts, almost four yards per taking away his longest run of 19 yards. So why wasn’t coach Gase calling up designed running plays? There ended up being 40 passes attempted to only 16 rushing attempts. And if the game starts out with receivers losing their footing on key plays why not lean on the running game that was working until the equipment change happens for the receivers? One could argue that the right equipment should have been implemented pregame after testing the conditions of the middle of the field.

The Miami Dolphins first score came at 14:42 of the 4th quarter with a TD from DeVante Parker who dragged his feet on the right side of the end zone. And looking at this play you can still see Jarvis Landry having his feet fly out after making his cut and landing on his backside. Why even call sharp cutting plays for receivers when they are sliding out throughout the game? You won’t see Ravens receivers sliding and falling partly from not having such sharp cutting routes.

Team Stats Dolphins

First Downs 16
Rush-Yds-TDs 16-62-0
Cmp-Att-Yd-TD-INT 29-40-226-1-3
Sacked-Yards 2-11
Net Pass Yards 215
Total Yards 277
Fumbles-Lost 2-0
Turnovers 3
Penalties-Yards 7-57
Third Down Conv. 4-13
Fourth Down Conv. 0-0
Time of Possession 30:46

An incredible play by Lardarius Webb on an injured DeVante Parker.

Did not see the DeVante Parker TD on the NFL twitter timeline. I guess when a team plays badly there are no positive highlights posted, but heaven forbid we post Gifs on a local level, thanks NFL.

Game notes

•The Dolphins have 66 plays of more than 25 yards. Forty-four are running the ball and 22 are passes.

•Jay Ajayi has broken one tackle for every 4.3 touches and averaging 5.2 yards per carry and 3.4 after first contact.

•Jay Ajayi had the most receiving targets this game with seven and coming down with six of them.

•It was nice to have Laremy Tunsil back on the offensive line but he needs to work on staying clean of penalties now.

•This game was Tannehill’s first 3 interception performance since a 41-14 loss to Buffalo in 2015.

Last words

Winter conditions need to be factored in for the play calling going forward. Seeing a receiver end up on his backside from too sharp of a cut on a wet field late in a game is unexpectable.