Baltimore Ravens vs Dolphins: Makings of a Playoff Game

We all love a late regular season game with playoff implications. It’s even better when it feels like an actual win or go home playoff game. And that’s exactly what we have as the Baltimore Ravens travel south Sunday to face the Miami Dolphins.

Here we are at Week 14 and the Ravens find themselves at 7-5. Same as the Dolphins. The Ravens are not out of the picture but are forced to win all of their remaining regular season games. Same as the Dolphins.

Unfortunately, Baltimore has it a little more difficult than does Miami. The Ravens are going to have to beat a tough Dolphins team on the road. The Ravens are in, by far, the strongest division in the NFL. And as of current standings, tiebreakers for the wild-card spots favor Miami over Baltimore.

Still, the Baltimore Ravens are in great shape going into this week’s matchup.

The Baltimore Ravens are a superior team to the Dolphins. Offensively this a game management scenario for Joe Flacco. Miami has surrendered 100 yards to a rusher with almost every team they’ve faced. Look for the Ravens to exploit the Dolphins’ rush defense with fourth-ranked running back Justin Forsett. This will help take the pressure off Flacco to try and force the ball down the field.

We’re getting into the dog days of football here. Steve Smith has been huge for the Ravens at the start of the season; but the game plan simply cannot rely on the veteran receiver, alongside Torrey Smith, to stretch the field against Miami’s sixth-ranked pass defense.

The Ravens’ biggest advantage has got to be the way their defense matches up against this Miami offense. It’s true Baltimore still has one of the weakest secondary units in the league. But Baltimore’s fourth-ranked linebacking corps will be the difference maker. I have nothing against Ryan Tannehill, but he’s a college receiver playing quarterback in the NFL.

“Hello Mr. Tannehill. This is Terrell Suggs and C.J. Mosley. Have you guys met?” Even with the loss of Haloti Ngata, it will be a true test for Tannehill’s decision-making and out-of-the-pocket skills.

A must-win game for both teams. I’m going with the Baltimore Ravens defense and Super Bowl MVP quarterback, 30-20.