
By Byler Henry
The first game of the regular season did not go the Dolphins way at all. From the opening kickoff to the end of the game, it was a total domination for the Ravens. They set the tone early on the first play of the game with a 49-yard rush, which set them up for a touchdown on the gameâs first drive. All their first quarter drives ended with touchdowns. The Dolphins tried to get something going, but the offense, couldnât put together any scoring drives and the defense couldnât stop the Ravensâ offense. It just snowballed from the first play and by halftime the Ravens led 42 to 10. They won 59 to 10. The Ravens had a total of 265 rushing yards and 380 passing yards. Head Coach Brian Flores describes what he saw out there. âWell, it starts with coaching. It starts with me. Iâve got to do a better job of coaching this team. Weâve got to play better. It starts with me,â he says. âWeâve got a long way to go. Weâve got a lot of work we must do. The good thing is, is we get to practice tomorrow, we get to practice this week, and weâve got an opportunity to get better. Thatâs the goal, and thatâs what weâll try to do.â
Lamar Jackson had an impressive game passing for 324 yards with 5 touchdowns, 17 completions on 20 attempts, and 0 interceptions. His favorite target that day was rookie Marquis Brown from Oklahoma who had 147 receiving yards on 4 receptions and 2 touchdowns. Mark Ingram had an excel-lent rushing game with 107 rushing yards. On the other side, the Dolphins offense only had two scoring drives in the second quarter, and quarter-back Ryan Fitzpatrick couldnât muster any Fitzmagic to get them out of this jam. He was 14 for 29 with 185 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. DeVante Parker led the receivers with 75 yards, but Preston Williams got the Dolphins only touchdown. The running game was
nonexistent with Kenyan Drake rushing for 12 yards on 4 carries. Center Daniel Kilgore had a comment on the overall offensive game. âAgain, I think itâs when you donât have those positive plays at the beginning of the series. Whether itâs a 3-yard run or a 4-yard run, we have to be able to build off that more consistently. The pass game feeds off the run game. The run game feeds off the pass game. When youâre able to do both things at one time, youâre going to experience more success and we werenât able to do that.â Along with the inability of the offense to score points, the defense gave up yards with defensive holding penalties which also hurt them.
Overall, this was not a good way to start the season. Next week the Patriots come down to Miami for an intense rivalry game. They have a lot of mistakes to clean up and they canât play against the Patriots like they played against the Ravens, that effort wonât cut it. The Patriots defense looked really good against the Steelers. They were able to cover the receivers and make it hard for Ben to hit his target. If the Dolphins receivers struggled against the Ravens defensive backs, they are in for a long Sunday against the Patriots defensive. If Tom Brady has time to throw,
heâs going to pick the defense apart. They just must put this loss behind them and prepare for the Patriots. Itâs only one game down, and there is 15 more to go.
View highlight and commentary at https://youtu.be//S1Fx6pAtxmY
