At the same time as Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw for 469 yards and a franchise record-tying six touchdowns, it solely led to a come-from-behind victory over the Baltimore Ravens as a result of the Dolphins protection clamped down for late stops towards quarterback Lamar Jackson, who torched Miami by way of three quarters.
“The final 4 offensive drives we had have been touchdowns, and in that span, there was 3 factors given up,” coach Mike McDaniel mentioned after the Dolphins’ gorgeous 42-38 victory on Sunday at M&T Financial institution Stadium. “That’s complementary soccer when your crew wants it essentially the most. It doesn’t occur with no full effort by everybody to press ahead.”
The Ravens’ 4 possessions after Dolphins fourth-quarter touchdowns: A fourth-and-1 cease for turnover on downs; a punt after a minute was taken off the clock by Baltimore with a 7-point lead; a discipline purpose after the Dolphins tied it; and the ultimate Hail Mary try that fell brief as time expired.
“It's important to play 4 quarters of soccer,” mentioned cornerback Xavien Howard, who practically had a pick-six that he dropped when Miami was down a landing. “We performed 4 quarters of soccer, particularly in that second half. We made changes and made performs.”
Though the Ravens dominated a lot of Sunday afternoon, whereas they have been complacent late, Tagovailoa threw fourth-quarter touchdowns to Jaylen Waddle for the successful rating, two deep balls to Tyreek Hill and an earlier one to River Cracraft to get the comeback going.
“As soon as the offense scored and we made a cease, then that’s form of just like the slight little spark that we acquired,” mentioned security Eric Rowe, who had six tackles on Sunday. “Then a few deep balls to Tyreek and our protection mentioned to ourselves, ‘We’ve acquired to carry it down.’ The momentum began shifting.”
Added defensive sort out Christian Wilkins, who led Miami with eight tackles, two for loss: “It was a gritty win on either side of the ball and on particular groups. We caught collectively once we wanted to and made performs when it mattered. We nonetheless gave up numerous performs and numerous yards, however once we wanted them, we had them.”
Jackson completed with exceptional numbers: 21-of-29 passing for 318 yards, three passing touchdowns, plus a 79-yard speeding landing as a part of 119 yards on the bottom. Miami blitzed Jackson closely early, together with a cornerback blitz with Howard, and Jackson was discovering the open receiver persistently.
“Each side of the ball knew what occurred final recreation,” mentioned McDaniel. “They knew that there can be totally different preparation, and our protection knew that they couldn’t shock the fellows. To [Jackson’s] credit score, he took benefit. He positively rectified, he can put to mattress these points he had final yr.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be the identical formulation. Some conditions did come up the place we audibled to a few of the pressures, and so they took benefit of us. Good for them. That’s to their credit score. They did an amazing job with that, and I’m simply glad that the fellows acquired this studying expertise. Fortuitously, you may find yourself successful the sport, as effectively, however I do know our guys discovered quite a bit from this recreation.”
Armstead, Wilkins play
The Dolphins had Wilkins, left sort out Terron Armstead and slot receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr. all play on Sunday after coming into with damage considerations.
Armstead (toe), Wilkins (again) and Wilson (toe) all entered Sunday questionable. Operating again Salvon Ahmed (heel) was additionally energetic towards the Ravens after getting in questionable.
As an alternative of Ahmed, Myles Gaskin was a wholesome inactive operating again in Baltimore. Different inactives have been rookies in linebacker Channing Tindall, large receiver Erik Ezukanma and quarterback Skylar Thompson and tight ends Cethan Carter and Hunter Lengthy.
Tindall was added to the sport standing report early Sunday morning with an sickness, initially listed as uncertain earlier than being dominated out 90 minutes forward of kickoff. Carter (concussion) and Lengthy (ankle) have been already deemed out coming into Sunday — Carter on Friday after lacking the week of observe in concussion protocol and Lengthy on Saturday, when he was downgraded from questionable.
The Dolphins began Armstead at his regular left sort out publish after he missed Wednesday’s observe and was restricted for Thursday and Friday drills with the toe damage. Miami’s three-time Professional Bowl free-agent acquisition solidified one facet of the offensive line in every week the place the crew positioned proper sort out Austin Jackson on short-term injured reserve with an ankle damage.
Greg Little began in Jackson’s place. Follow squad sort out Larnel Coleman was elevated to the game-day roster on Saturday for reserve duties.
Wilkins’ again situation and Wilson’s toe restricted them for Thursday and Friday practices. Wilson additionally missed Wednesday’s session.
Wilson left Sunday’s recreation with an damage to his ribs within the fourth quarter. Hill left the sport momentarily within the second half with cramps however returned to catch two late touchdowns within the come-from-behind effort.
In the meantime, the Ravens had cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey (groin) and Marcus Peters (knee) begin towards the Dolphins large receiver corps. Fellow cornerback Brandon Stephens (quadriceps), although, was inactive. All entered Sunday questionable.
Humphrey and Peters have 5 Professional Bowls and three All-Professional picks between the 2 of them. Peters performed for the primary time since 2020. The Ravens, who surrendered career-high passing yardage and landing totals to Tagovailoa, have been already with out cornerback Kyle Fuller on injured reserve.
Operating again J.Ok. Dobbins (knee) didn’t make his 2022 debut for Baltimore as he was among the many crew’s six inactives, as have been offensive sort out Ronnie Stanley (ankle), defensive sort out Travis Jones (knee), large receiver James Proche II (groin) and tight finish Nick Boyle.
Stanley was a second left sort out that was out for the Ravens with Ja’Wuan James on injured reserve. Stanley and Proche have been uncertain for Sunday. Fullback Patrick Ricard (calf), who entered Sunday questionable, was out there for the Ravens.
On Saturday, Baltimore signed cornerback Daryl Worley to the energetic roster and elevated large receiver Raleigh Webb. Along with Coleman, Miami elevated large receiver River Cracraft for the second time in two weeks.
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