Miami Dolphins (4-2) vs Baltimore Ravens (3-4)
Thursday October 26th, 2017 8:25pm
Weather; Partly cloudy, 56 degrees at kickoff
M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, MD
NFL Network, CBS
This Thursday, the Miami Dolphins face one of their toughest adversaries, the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens, since moving to Baltimore from Cleveland lead the series 8-6 including two post season match-ups. The Dolphins last defeated the Ravens in December 2015 in Miami and the last time the Dolphins defeated the Ravens in Baltimore wad in October 1997. The Ravens are one of those teams that have the Dolphins number, but if there's one team that's struggling offensively relatively as badly as the Dolphins, it's the Ravens.
Statistics
Offense
Baltimore
Passing Yards per game: 157.4 (32nd)
Rushing yards per game: 120.1 (12th)
Total yards per game: 277.6 (31st)
Points per game: 18.6 (23rd)
Miami
Passing Yards per game: 180.2 (30th)
Rushing yards per game: 81.7 (29th)
Total yards per game: 261 (32nd)
Points per game: 15.3 (31st)
Defensively, Miami and Baltimore match-up pretty evenly with the exception of rushing defense. Baltimore's once stingy rushing defense is dead last in the NFL and teams have been able to run right through them. The Ravens won't see such generosity from the Dolphins defense having effectively shut down every running back they've faced this season and they haven't truly been that generous to opposing quarterbacks either
Defense
Baltimore
Passing Yards per game: 189.3 (7th)
Rushing yards per game: 145.3 (32nd)
Total yards per game: 334.6 (18th)
Points per game: 21.1 (13th)
Miami
Passing Yards per game: 225.8 (17th)
Rushing yards per game: 82.3 (5th)
Total yards per game: 308.2 (10th)
Points per game: 18.7 (7th)
My overall take on this game is to see the J-Train rack up the yardage, seeing at least 25 carries. For the Dolphins offensively, this is going to be old fashioned smash mouthed football, but don't think for a second that back-up quarterback Matt Moore will just be handing the ball off all night. The Ravens are hurting badly in their rush defense and they are going to have to stack the line to stop Ajayi. Moore is a smart enough quarterback to recognize this and he's going to exploit it.
For the Ravens' offense, they're going to face the stiffest run defense they've seen all season. The front 4 are going to have to shut down the Ravens' running game and force Flacco into 3rd and long because this is not your father's Joe Flacco. In the Raven's loss to the Vikings, Flacco was 27-39 for a dismal 187 yards and was 6-16 on 3rd down.
Although I don't see Miami embarrassing Baltimore in front of their home crowd, I actually see Miami's reborn offensive attitude under Matt Moore taking more shots downfield and putting more points on the board.
Miami wins in a slug fest 34-24, quote the raven, nevermore...
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I think we'll throw downfield too, but I wouldn't be surprised to see us still play conservatively for a half once again. We're one shot on Moore away from disaster.
Irishman, KeyFin and cuchulainn like this. -
Irishman likes this.
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Would love to see Wake and Ajayi destroy these mofos.
Irishman, cuchulainn and SocaCasualuk like this. -
ripper1961 and Irishman like this.
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Irishman likes this.
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No, seriously....stop.ripper1961, vt_dolfan, bigballa2102 and 6 others like this. -
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Dirty does kind of grow on you...like a rash. Wait, what?
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So they score roughly 3 points more a game but also allow 3 more.
They rush better but also allow more rush yards.
Call it a tie? LolColmax and eltos_lightfoot like this. -
My a-hole Redskins schlub roommate is trying to bait me into watching the game on TV while he drinks and becomes belligerent...Just like the Ravens.
No way in hell. I'll gamecast it if I can't watch a youtube livestream, FTW... -
Pandarilla likes this.
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Do you have to pretend you are a Trump supporter too, just to keep the peace??Pandarilla likes this. -
I will say this on his behalf, he was one measure short of eclipsing Booger's epic belch from "Revenge of the Nerds." So if takes those attributes to complete such a masterpiece, well then, I feel it's my duty to tolerate him as much as humanly possible.
If he ever does, I have a feeling the whole house will be going to jail...djphinfan likes this. -
Puka-head My2nd Fav team:___vs Jets Club Member
If you want I'll come over and take him fishing for you brah. Or we could go exploring lava tubes. Or a visit to my friends pig farm. I hate Redskins fans, and the redskins, almost as much as the jest, maybe even more. Just hearing Joe Theesmans voice makes me slightly homicidal.
Pandarilla likes this. -
I have a feeling that we're going to light the Ravens up something awful tonight....just like we did with Moore's first game against the Jets last season. Our team is hyped and ready to make a statement- this is a huge, huge game for us and I can't wait for kickoff!
Phin McCool and Irishman like this. -
Injury update for the Ravens...
Wide receivers Mike Wallace, Jeremy Maclin and Breshad Perriman are all questionable to play. Terrance West and Maxx Williams have both been ruled out. Also listed as questionable are Eric Weddle(ankle) and Tony Jefferson (ankle), outside linebacker Terrell Suggs (knee), linebacker Patrick Onwuasor (knee) and cornerback Jimmy Smith (Achilles).
For the Dolphins, no surprise that Cutler is listed out. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil (knee), receiver DeVante Parker (ankle), defensive end Andre Branch (groin) and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips (ankle) are all listed as questionable to play.Puka-head likes this. -
I think the Ravens will be ready for Ajayi plus he can't keep shouldering the run offense. MM had a great game v Jets, but we all know things can quickly go wrong when he starts to get confident and throws the ball into wrong areas. Nothing seems to be easy for the 'Fins this season and this might be the one where we get found out. Our offense just isn't great.
20-10 to the Ravens. ( I hope I'm wrong). On at 2pm here I maybe asleep by then. Give us a shout if it starts to look as though we'll win. -
My gut feeling is that Ajayi will actually do well this game. As much as the Ravens are preparing for him, they've been horrible against the run, and I remember a game last season (vs. the Bills?) where the same was being said - "We know Ajayi is coming, We're going to focus on stopping him." End result? It was one of the two back-to-back 200 yard games (if I remember rightly). So intentions are one thing, results are another, and although the Dolphins haven't been consistent, especially on offense, I just get the sense that they're fired up, ready to go, and after having trouble running the ball last game, I think Ajayi is going to be more fired up to break through. Hopefully Gase and Christensen have something prepared as well, maybe a bit more Drake or Williams, maybe more tight-end action?
There are so many tools on offense that haven't been used thus far, I'm hoping Gase finally breaks out some of those toys from his toy box and begins to bring some real diversity to this offense, keep the Ravens, and other teams, off-balance. For example, using TE's short (Marqueis Gray please!), Landry etc in the middle and then Grant and /or Stills deep there's real potential in the Miami offense to keep defenses honest. I'd like to see more more variety from Gase to utilise all these tools.
Big proviso - we've got a few questionables on the OL along with Steen ruled out. If the OL play becomes horrible then we know how the offense can stutter.
Bottom line for me, though? I'm quietly confident on this one, bit of excitement. I might even stay up until the ridiculous hours of the morning to watch the game (or go to bed and then wake up for it). It's a 2:30AM start over on my side of the pond.Puka-head, KeyFin and SocaCasualuk like this. -
OL better be on their game tonight!
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Baltimore always scares me. We never play them well. We'll be dead lucky if we come out of there with a win.
SocaCasualuk and bigballa2102 like this.
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