The Baltimore Ravens came into Miami and punished the Dolphins, bringing their fairy tale season to an end Sunday afternoon. Behind an inspiring defensive effort the Ravens took care of the Dolphins 27-9. Ed Reed’s phenomenal game and playmaking ability made the headlines once more, as he played the key role in the defenses absolute control of the game.

Baltimore came out on their first drive looking smooth, as they pounded McClain and Neal, and Flacco hit Mason fundamentally to push them into field goal territory within 4 plays. But the fifth play of the drive a simple hand off to McClain altered the momentum, as Paul Soliai forced a fumble and Joey Porter was there to land on and recover it. This seemed to be the type of play Miami needed to win this match up.

            Miami and Chad Pennington then took the field starting at midfield and Chad hit his one of his backs Patrick Cobbs for a big 30-yard gain down to the Baltimore 9 yard line. On the following play Pennington hit Ricky Williams who couldn’t fight his way into the end zone, as he was dragged down at the 1-yard line. This right away seemed to be a vital play, knowing how tough and stingy Baltimore’s defense is on the goal line, and it proved costly. After an incomplete pass and a Ronnie Brown run stuffed, it was 4th and goal from the 1. Miami Coach Tony Sparano was quick to send on the field goal team and Dan Carpenter knocked in a 19-yard chip shot to put the Dolphins up 3-0. I cant blame Coach Sparano for wanting to get the first points on the board, but it was definitely an opportunity wasted for the Dolphins to put some doubt in the Raven defense’s minds. The Baltimore D definitely walked off the field with their heads high and their confidence intact.

            Flacco and the Baltimore offense took the field and resumed right from where they left off before the McClain fumble. On this first scoring drive most of the success was through the air, as Flacco was able to hit Mason, Clayton, and Heap. This got Baltimore deep into the redzone, but they were held to a Matt Stover 23 yard field goal, to tie the game 3-3.

            Almost halfway through the 2nd quarter the score remained 3-3. With nothing happening for the Dolphins offense, Pennington was under pressure and he tried to make a play. The quarterback spun to exit the pocket to avoid the oncoming defenders, while buying time for his receivers to get open. Immediately after getting outside Baltimore linebacker Bart Scott left his spot in the zone to attack Chad and absolutely leveled him, influencing Pennington to throw over wideout Davone Bess’s head and leading to Chad’s first interception, with Jim Leonhard picking it off.

            On the Dolphin’s next possession, Chad was faced with another 3rd down with less than 3 minutes to go in the first half. The pressure was coming again and Chad let a deep ball fly as he was once again leveled, this time it was for Teddy Ginn and into double coverage with safety Ed Reed lurking. Ginn lost his footing looking back for the pass as it tailed away from him toward Ed Reed who made a Willie Mays like grad for an interception around the Baltimore 40 yard line. And that’s just where the fun started for the electrifying Reed. He proceeded to skip over an attempted arm swiping tackle and juke out a trio of Dolphins, then Reed scampered all the way back to the other sideline following a wedge like blocking gang. It had touchdown written all over it then as he only had Pennington to beat. Chad was blocked rather easily and Reed hopped over him, prancing in for 6. Baltimore was able to force another punt and tack on another field goal before halftime, extending their lead to 13-3.

            The third quarter start didn’t give the Dolphins much more hope or confidence on the offensive side of the ball. As Pennington was once again presented with a 3rd and long from deep and his own territory, and it was more of the same story with Chad getting hit, and throwing into double coverage to complete his hat trick of interceptions. This time Fabian Washington got the rewards.

            The next possession Pennington knew he was still in this game trailing only 13-3, as the Miami defense was doing their part in some major damage control. After being sacked again to force another 3rd and long, Chad handed off to Patrick Cobbs, who was caught near the sideline well short of the first down when Marques Douglas was able to punch the ball loose for Terrell Suggs to recover in the Miami redzone. Baltimore took advantage of the turnover this time pounding McClain in for an 8-yard touchdown run. So what seemed to be a nice conservative play that the Dolphins felt couldn’t hurt them, ended up being just yet another crucial turnover.

            Then trailing 20-3, Miami knew it was now or never time for the offense. Pennington completed 8 straight passes to lead the Phins to the Ravens 15-yard line. This also had a little something to do with Baltimore easing up a little on the defensive side of the ball, not to take anything away from Chad. But when it was time for a stop for Baltimore, who else but Ed Reed came up with the spectacular play. With Pennington dropping back to pass Reed sprinted from his safety position in the endzone all the way to the middle of the field around the 6-yard line just in the nick of time for a picture perfect defensive play and the interception. This was just an outstanding play on so many accounts for Reed. It was not only a physically great play, but also the instincts, smarts, and preparation that were involved in this play make it just that much better.

            With a whole quarter to play Pennington hit Ronnie Brown with a nice touch pass, that took a skilled one handed grab to get Miami in the end zone for the first time of the day. But it was just too little too late for the Dolphins who had the extra point blocked. The Ravens iced the game late in the 4th with a nice drive of running it down Miami’s throat. Willis McGahee busted a 48-yard run in the drive and rookie quarterback Joe Flacco cashed in with a 5 yard run up the gut for the TD and the 27-9 victory.

            With the story for the Dolphins being all year about how they protected the ball, the Ravens defense and the turnover bug doomed them in. The Baltimore defense was the difference in this match up. They were just overpowering and made the game changing plays throughout.

This is the big difference between Baltimore’s defense and the other top defenses in the NFL. With a stud like Ed Reed out there, anytime the ball is around him he has the ability to take it the other way for 6. And with the heart and soul leader, Middle Linebacker Ray Lewis, a fellow Miami Hurricane, out there you know that the defense will always be giving it all throughout any game.

At seasons end for Miami, you have to tip your hat to their front office and franchise as a whole. Bill Parcells never fails at impressing me, as it didn’t even take a whole season for him to get this franchise moving in the right direction. He has appointed a solid coach in Tony Sparano to lead the team, and put the right players in place to generate a winning mentality. The only negative thing I can say is that the Dolphins need some sort of playmaker or big time performer if they want to advance in the playoffs. Even though it makes a hell of a story to succeed with a squad like this, it will most likely never get you all the way to the promise land.

Peter Lomuscio