With a 49:19 win over the Miami Dolphins on New Year’s Eve in Week 17 of the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens perfected the AFC’s top seed. Meanwhile, quarterback Lamar Jackson reinforced his MVP candidacy with a perfect performance.
Dolphins @ Ravens: At a glance
- With one game to go before the end of the regular season, the Baltimore Ravens have cleared the air in the AFC and secured the top seed in the conference.
- Lamar Jackson underpinned his MVP candidacy with an extremely efficient performance, while his counterpart Tua Tagovailoa had a very weak day.
- With this loss, the Dolphins now have a finale against the Buffalo Bills in Week 17 for the AFC East title.
Dolphins @ Ravens: The game report
The Dolphins got off to a very good start and scored a touchdown on their first drive – Tua Tagovailoa found Cedrick Wilson in the end zone. But after that the home team gradually took over. They responded with an equally impressive opening drive, complete with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Lamar Jackson.
As a result, Miami scored two more field goals before halftime. The Ravens, on the other hand, really stepped on the gas, especially in the second quarter, and scored four touchdowns in a row on their following four drives – excluding the knee-down at halftime. That included a 75-yard pass from Jackson to Zay Flowers and a one-handed 35-yard TD catch from tight end Isaiah Likely, which followed a one-handed interception by linebacker Roquan Smith against Tagovailoa.
Odell Beckham Jr. set up the Edwards touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter with a spectacular sideline catch just before the end zone like in his best times and before Likely’s second TD at the start of the second half, Hill returned the kickoff over 80 yards Red zone.
To make matters worse, Miami edge rusher Bradley Chubb had to be transported shortly before the end of the game with an undisclosed injury. A diagnosis is still pending.
With this success, the Ravens have secured the top seed in the AFC and not only have a bye week in the Wild Card Round, but of course also have home advantage for the entire AFC playoffs. The Dolphins, in turn, have to continue to tremble because of the Bills’ win against the Patriots. They have a real final against Buffalo in Week 18 for the AFC East crown.
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Miami Dolphins (11-5) @ Baltimore Ravens (13-3)
Result: 19:56 (10:7, 3:21, 0:7, 6:21) BOXSCORE
Dolphins @ Ravens: Key stats
- Tyreek Hill broke the 1,700 receiving yard mark in this game. He is the first player in NFL history to achieve this in two consecutive seasons.
- This was the tenth win this season for the Ravens against teams with a positive record. It was also the seventh win in such games with a difference of at least 14 points.
- 56 points were the second most in Ravens franchise history. Only the 59:10 win over the Dolphins in the 2019 season had more.
The star of the game: Lamar Jackson (quarterback, Ravens)
Lamar Jackson was criticized for some reason during the week, apparently took it personally and made an impressive exclamation point. Jackson only had three incompletions (18/21) and five touchdown passes, as well as a perfect passer rating of 158.3. He was extremely efficient with 0.95 EPA/Play, making the difference in a game that was close at the beginning.
The flop of the game: Tua Tagovailoa (quarterback, Dolphins)
Once in the MVP discussion, Tua had nothing to oppose Lamar in this game. On the contrary. He had two interceptions and was generally very imprecise for his standards (22/38, -5.1 CPOE).
The highlight of the game
OBJ like old times! It wasn’t a touchdown, but the catch set up Edwards’ second-quarter touchdown – and cost Mike McDaniel, who couldn’t believe it, a challenge and a timeout.