The Ravens are coming to town following a bad loss to Buffalo. Flacco threw 5 INTs...though Baltimore still nearly pulled out a win. I'm not sure if that says more about the Ravens or Bills, but regardless they'll be looking to have a bounce back game as well as us after our sloppy loss to New Orleans. A home game with the Ravens is obviously easier than a road primetime game in the Superdome, but Baltimore won't be a pushover. The Dolphins have much to do to show they aren't just a carbon copy of the 2012 Cardinals, or 2008 Bills/Jets. Sadly the 2012 Cardinals were outgained in their first 4 games as well, yet managed to win all 4 against better teams before going down the tubes after that. They never had a bounce back victory, and I'd consider a win over the defending Super Bowl champs who will be just as pissed off as us a pretty great way to bounce back. The Ravens aren't as talented as they were in 2012, but they're still a solid team. They're also a team that has blown us out in every meeting since 2007, so a win would be a big positive in that respect as well. It would be nice to outgain them as well, but I guess as long as we win I won't care. Eventually though, to continue winning this defense is going to need to step up from their current spot of being the 7th worst in the league. One good sign is I trust them to actually get turnovers now. After throwing 5 INT's in Buffalo, Flacco should be ripe for the picking.
Luck, Ryan, Bree's, flacco. What a gauntlet of qbs. Why don't we get to play the jake lockers, josh Freeman's, and geno smiths to start the the season. Our defense has struggled for sure but we drew a tough hand with these opposing qbs. Worst of all being Bree's who capitalized on even an inch of loose coverage
I agree. Both teams will be looking for bounceback. Both teams are embarrassed. The Dolphins are at home which is a nice advantage. But the Ravens have full confidence in their ability to beat the Miami Dolphins in that home because they've done it so many times. The Ravens have the experience and coaching advantages. EDIT: Let's not get caught up arguing that latter point. They just won the damn Super Bowl. When Miami wins the damn Super Bowl I'll be glad to refer to them as having the experience and coaching advantages.
It's a winnable game at home and that's all that matters. If we focus on not turning the ball over, we should win this game.
I dunno man, Baltimore is going to come out playing like a wounded animal fighting for it's life, and we better match that intensity or we will be going into a bye week 3-2, and we all know how long those bye weeks are when you LOSE right before them. We need to run the ball on them. Buffalo was able to do it and I think we should do the same. Tannehill mistakes need to not happen. He really...really needs to quit coughing the ball up. The guy fumbles sooooo much man. The INTs I can live with as most of them are on the O-line not protecting in my opinion. Still....not gut wretching drive killing mistakes please. We hung right in there with New Orleans and had three ample opportunities to smack them in the mouth and couldn't do it. You don't get but a couple of chances against good teams before they close the door on you. Baltimore is an average team in my opinion and we can definitely beat them at home but it wont be easy. This is a very important game for us in my opinion.
You know if there's one thing I am kind of worried about, it's the danger that comes with the feeling in the locker room that it was just one game, that they're 3-1 and they're glad that game is over and they can't wait to play next week so that they can put that performance behind them. It makes me wonder if the team truly believes the Saints exposed weaknesses that will prevent them from winning unless they get them fixed, versus if the team just thinks they had a crazy bad game that got out of control and it doesn't matter because it's just one game and they're 3-1. With the Ravens at 2-2, traveling on the road and looking at the prospect of being sub-.500 if they lose to the Dolphins next week, I believe in all likelihood they're very desperate to get their problems fixed. The Dolphins need to feel that same desperation, the same frustration, but there are indications that they might be kind of mentally containing all of that to just the one game. If I'm Joe Philbin then I'm trying to draw attention to the fact that the problems against the Saints have been underpinning their performance all year and that they're not going to win another game if they don't get them fixed because teams are adapting to them.
I was going to post about Mike Wallace needing to bounce back, but he hasn't even gotten started yet. He had a great game against the Colts, but one great game doesn't really qualify for much when you're a 60 million dollar #1 WR. We'll learn a lot about Tannehill though. He now has more INTs than TDs all because of one bad game, so we'll see how he responds. Going to be a nerve-wracking game for sure. Although 3-2 isn't terrible, don't want to go into the bye losing 2 in a row. 4-1 with 3 wins over the AFC and you can wipe away that ugly loss to the Saints. Still too soon for that, we haven't played any divisional games yet, or some of the teams who are much worse than the Saints (Steelers, Bucs, Panthers). SD flying to Miami could also be tough for the Chargers (specifically their defense, which is ranked worse than ours even after the NOLA game), as we saw when we upset Seattle in Miami last season.
