3 Takeaways from Dolphins' Week 17 Loss vs. Ravens
The Miami Dolphins received a wake-up call about their hopes of winning the AFC in their 56-19 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
The Baltimore offense overwhelmed a Miami defense that suffered yet another key injury at the end of the Week 17 contest.
Miami lost touch with Baltimore in the second quarter, when the home side put three touchdowns on the board.
Tua Tagovailoa was unable to answer Lamar Jackson's offensive output and that ultimately cost the Dolphins in Baltimore.
The Dolphins' loss forced them into a must-win situation in Week 18 against the Buffalo Bills. They need a victory to hold on to the AFC East title and the No. 2 seed.
Gap Between Baltimore and Miami Was on Display
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The Dolphins ran into a Baltimore buzzsaw.
The Ravens are playing the best football of any team in the NFL. They did not suffer a drop off after their statement win over the San Francisco 49ers on Christmas Day.
Sunday's loss showed there is a gap between the Ravens and Dolphins in the AFC. The two sides will be the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds if the Dolphins beat the Bills next week.
If that happens, the talk about the AFC's Super Bowl berth will favor the Ravens because of how lopsided the 56-19 game was.
Baltimore is the clear team to beat in the AFC and Miami potentially has three games to fix everything that went wrong to prepare for a potential AFC Championship Game.
Jaylen Waddle's Absence Hurt Dolphins Offense
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Miami's case for a potential competition with Baltimore in a few weeks is that it did not have a full-strength offense available at M&T Bank Stadium.
Jaylen Waddle's absence was felt as the game went on and Tagovailoa needed to throw to keep the Dolphins in the game.
Cedrick Wilson scored the team's first touchdown, but he had one more catch after that and finished with 27 receiving yards.
Tagovailoa attempted to get Braxton Berrios, Durham Smythe and his running backs involved in the passing game, but none of them truly filled Waddle's void.
Even Tyreek Hill was affected by Waddle's absence, as he caught half of his 12 targets and only had a long reception of 25 yards.
Baltimore's defense contained Hill enough so that he would not alter the final result. The Ravens could do that because they were not threatened by Miami's other targets.
Injuries Continue to Pile Up
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Miami's defense suffered a massive blow late in Sunday's game, as Bradley Chubb was carted off.
Head coach Mike McDaniel received criticism for even having the star pass-rusher on the field in the first place in a blowout loss.
The Dolphins feared that Chubb suffered a torn ACL, per Pro Football Talk.
If that is confirmed on Monday, the Dolphins would be without their sack leader for the postseason push and parts of next season as well.
Chubb's potential absence takes some bite away from a defense that was already hanging on a bit after some key injuries in previous weeks. Linebackers Jerome Baker and Jaelan Phillips were placed on injured reserve in December because of season-ending injuries.
A weakened Miami defense would be one of the reasons why the team can't be trusted in a deep postseason push in an AFC with a ton of talented quarterbacks.
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