Posted on October 27, 2017, by Travis Pulver
According to the old saying, an offense is supposed to win games and defense championships. But sometimes that is not always the case. The Baltimore Ravens certainly proved that to be true on Thursday Night Football.
With Jay Cutler out, the Miami Dolphins were turning back to Matt Moore. Before the game, there was talk of him possibly taking the job from Cutler. When he played last season following Ryan Tannehill’s injury, he did okay. After coming in for Cutler last week, he did a great job of moving the offense.
Via @Ravens
But Thursday night he looked dazed and confused and couldn’t get the Dolphins offense on track if his life depended on it. The Dolphins ended up having six drives go three and out and gained just 196 total yards on offense.
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The closest they got to putting points on the board was a missed 50-yard field goal attempt late in the second quarter.
“This is tough. These are hard ones,” Dolphins quarterback Matt Moore said after the game (ESPN). “You don’t ever go into a week preparing and expect it to turn out like this. I don’t know what to say right now. It’s just tough, tough. We got to figure some stuff out. I got to figure some stuff out.”
Moore struggled throughout the night to connect with his receivers. Many of his completions were on short, low-risk routes that often ended in just small gains. He finished the night 25 of 44 for 176 yards and two interceptions.
While Baltimore is happy to record a win and improve to 4-4 on the season, the team now has to worry about the health of quarterback Joe Flacco once again. During the second quarter, Flacco was hit by Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso while sliding. The impact of the blow knocked Flacco’s helmet off.
He was officially ruled out at halftime with the first reported concussion of his career and a cut on his left ear.
“Joe had a concussion and a cut ear,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said (ESPN). “They were stitching that [ear] up without any anesthesia, so he’s a tough dude. That’s as much as I know about it.”
Alonso was flagged for the hit but not ejected. He will likely be fined by the league and could even face a possible suspension. He sounded resigned to the fact that he might get suspended for the hit after the game (ESPN):
“That’s out of my hands, man. … It’s a bang-bang play, and I hope he’s all right. I truly do.”
The Ravens didn’t try to have backup Ryan Mallett do much. With a 13-0 lead at the time of the injury, the team leaned on the running game and defense the rest of the way. Mallett ended up throwing just seven passes and completing three for 20 yards and a touchdown. Alex Collins ended up having the first 100+ yard game of his career with 113 yards on 18 carries.
Baltimore ended up gaining just 295 yards on offense for the night.
Via @NYDNSports
Neither team did much on offense in the second half. But late in the third quarter, Matt Moore started finding some success dropping the ball off to guys on short routes. However. C.J. Mosley put any hopes of points to rest when he intercepted Moore and returned the ball 63-yards for a touchdown.
Jimmy Smith would bring the scoring to an end late in the fourth quarter when he intercepted Moore and returned it 50-yards to make the final score 40-0, Baltimore.
Baltimore will try to move above .500 next week when they take on the Tennessee Titans. Miami will try to get back on track in another primetime game in Week Nine. They will face the Oakland Raiders on Sunday Night Football.