Sunday was a great day to be a Dolphin fan we are officially back on the radar! That said, on Sunday we will be hosting an AFC wild card game against the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens pretty much stuffed us up this season at home. So how do we defeat them when it counts? What scares me is the defense, and their run game. They run on EVERYONE and the defense is stiff! I think this is the worst match up for us, but Im glad we are here and it would really suck having Cam Cameron come in and derail us! Anyone shed some light on how we can beat them!?
Sustaining offensive drives will be key. The Ravens have a good running game and they can't afford to let them stay out on the field all day. They have to find a way to move the chains and to take a lead. Flacco has played well but he's still the one you want to force to make a play on you. The secondary is much improved from the first meeting, that should help. Finding a pass rush this week will be very important.
Hey guys. Ravens fan here. First, congrats on your victory yesterday! It's great to see two teams playing each other in the playoffs that had such awful records last year. And as the team that allowed you to not beat the Lions to the first ever 0-16 record, let me say...You're welcome! ;-) I was actually listening to that game on the radio while vacationing in Sanibel; it takes a lot to make a bad day in Florida. But the coconut shrimp definitely took the sting out. When I look at the games we lost, the biggest weakness seems to be the short to medium pass. It feels like the Colts and Giants (the only games where we truly got our butts kicked) just kept picking up 6 or 7 yards at a time and moving the chains. One of the strengths of the Ravens game is time of possession -- they have the best t.o.p. in the league. If you can keep the defense on the field, that improves your team's chances. So stay away from the long ball -- it doesn't chew up the clock as well, and if you make the slightest mistake, Ed Reed is there. I'm not sure if opposing teams should look at our losses to Pittsburgh and TN as an example -- those teams won b/c they have great run-stuffing defenses, and even then they each needed to pull out a last-minute drive to win the game. It burns me up to think about how we pressured Roethlisberger all day and shut him down, then went to a prevent D for their last drive...and, of course, "prevented" ourselves from winning. Anyway, congrats again. Can't wait til Sunday!
Ravens fan here. Short passing game worked against us just like a running game. That and no huddle offense. Colts and Giants just kept moving the chains. Should be a good one Sunday. You all have really turned it around. Good job.
Our front 4 are just not getting enough pressure. When we just rush 4 the QB has all day long to pick us apart. Need to improve that right away for the playoffs and address it in the off season.
We have to score first and keep driving, ding and dunk here and there if we have to. Raven cant play from behind, take them out of ther game plan with all ther running game since they run the most in the league and this will take away from time of possesion too...
Stopping the run is priority. Make The rookie QB beat you. Yes hes played out of his mind for a rookie, but he's still young and inexperienced. Take away thier strength. If Flacco beats us, then you tip your hat off to him and congratulate him for it. But in no way can you allow the Ravens to run it down your throats....
Some classy Ravens fans we have here. We have to play lights out on D and not turn the ball over on offense. Dink and dunk them to death and stop the run and we have a chance.
:yeahthat: We need to be able to stop the run, and make Joe Flacco beat us if they want to succeed. We obviously need to control the line of scrimmage, limiting the pressure on Chad. Chad will need the time to make good decisions. And hopefully the wildcat will be more effective than it was earlier in the year against them.
Another #@&*! Ravens fan chiming in! First off, a hearty "well done" to the Dolphins organization and Sparano in particular. Going from 1-15 to a 11-5 division title is quite the accomplishment. To be honest, I've always had a love-hate relationship concerning the Phins. Hate due to how many times they beat the Baltimore Colts back in the 70's and early 80's, but I always liked the unis and a lot of their players. I still remember watching the SB as a boy and seeing Jake Scott playing lights out. And of course, there was that Shula connection. Not to mention Marino. This Sunday's playoff game should be a good one. Both Flacco and Pennington have played better as the season progressed. I think the big difference will come down to defense and special teams. No matter what happens (and of course, we'll all be pissed if our respective team loses Sunday), the Dolphins and the Ravens took big steps this year. And if we all had laid down a couple of C-notes in Vegas about whether either team would be in the playoffs this year, we would have all been sitting pretty right now. All-in-all, it's been a great 2008, and neither team looks like it will do a Cleveland Steamer next year.
Keep in mind Flacco is no longer a rookie. He has a 16 game season under his belt. He is now a second year QB , if you will. He has played very tough defenses including Dallas, on national T.V., in their house, in front of their all time greats, on the last game there. He is Battle tested. Good luck. H.H.
Agree. Most important thing. Also no mistakes, like we did versus the Jets. Keeping them in the game. No false starts. I say key on the TE and HBs in the passing game. But we have to stop their running game. Make Flacco win it.
Not only Reed but the entire defense. All of them are capable of causing take-aways. They are all huge ball hawks. The biggest key is to avoid turnovers because this defense more than others tend to turn take-aways into 6 points. If we don't turn the ball over and Pennington plays HIS game, we have a good chance. Our defense can do a fairly good job neutralizing their offense IMO. Flacco is playing better. We need to put pressure on him; now is a great time for Joey Porter to wake up and get some pressure on the QB. At the very least someone has to step up and do it.
What a large portion of this game comes down to is whether or not our 4 Db's can defend their 4 receivers if we blitz Flacco. Goodman, Allen, Bell, Jones, if those 4 guys can cover, we can afford to blitz more often, if Mason and Heap are running wild in our secondary, we will have problems.
One thing I would like to add is that I will take Chad Pennington's experience over Joe Flacco's inexperience in the playoffs any day.
Especially since the two guys who should be our starters at guard, are out. Donald Thomas has been out all season, but anyone else at RG is a huge downgrade even though he was a rookie. Then at LG Smiley is out and his backup is absolutely terrible.
Nobody is giving the Phins a chance to win this game, even though it is in Miami, and even though we beat these turkeys last year (our only win). I know they have a great defense, but I think Ray Lewis and Ed Reed' aggressive can be used against them....multiple flea flickers, reverses, fakes....your basic Wild cat.....we only used the Wild Cat five times in the first game and they were primarily RB runs up the middle and they were all waiting for this. I think we will mix it up a lot more. We also gave up a TD on Pennington's INT to Suggs. Porter and the D should get to Flacco a little. We play smart and don't turn it over and I think we will shock all the experts who all have the Ravens winning it.
Welcome, Ravens fans. Ronnie Brown was hot when Baltimore came to town in October and they completely shut him down. You just can't run on the Ravens. We need Pennington to be on his game if we want to win. And on defense, force Flacco to beat you. We need to shut down McGahee and McClain and put all the pressure on the rookie QB.
I do have to be honest and say Baltimore scares me more than any other team besides the Colts. I only say the Colts because I believe they can use the spread to pick us apart with Manning. That has been a huge problem for us.
As a Ravens fan I don't see it as a lock that the Ravens win. I hope they do and like their chances IF they play smart and limit big plays, get to Pennington, and finish their chances in the red zone.
Not so sure I would want to leave Mason or Clayton in single coverage though. LB on Heap is also not a good match. As a Raven fan I hope it is not an issue. I hope the Miami "D" is trying to drag McLain, Neal, and McGahee down. I would like to see the Ravens grind it out on the ground and mix in some play action.
Well it is south Florida and according to weather reports right now it looks like some RAIN. So maybe the weather will play some part in it.. Respect to the Ravens Fans, but all you lurking Jets, Bills, and New England fan's suck it... http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USFL0316?from=36hr_topnav_undeclared
we all know what the ravens d and the dolphins offense has done all year. i believe the question lies in what the dolphins defense does to get pressure on flacco. if the ravens get an early lead ( again ) the game is over. tons of pressure is going to be on porter and ur front seven to get pressure
I agree with what you're saying. Definitely try to use their speed against them. Like you said and how I was saying a lot after the first game, we weren't that creative with the 'wildcat' that day. It was always a run up the middle. So our play calling will have to be very smart and creative in order for us to win. I also feel that a lot of this game is going to have to go on Chad's shoulders. He's going to have to be able to go through his reads, play smart and find whatever open man he can, which he's obviously very good at doing, just in case we can't run the ball well. Runs to the edge will probably have more success, seeing how they were very stout in the middle last time we played them. I hope Martin can play. He's really been great in the second half of this season and he's one of Chads favorite targets. He's really been a big part of our offense this year. Our pass rush is going to have to be a lot better than it was last weak IMO. We our going to have to try to rattle him into making some rookie mistakes.
Flacco is no longer a rookie. He admitedly is less experienced than Chad but to think you can shake him up like an untested rookie is a mistake. H.H.
If it rains enough to have a negative influence on the passing game, the running game is going to be the backbreaker. I hope it doesn't rain, but if it does and the passing game suffers, the Ravens will have a distinct advantage.