Ravens vs. Dolphins: Miami Grades, Notes and Quotes

The Miami Dolphins did all of their scoring within a 30-second window at the end of the first half and only gained 61 yards of total offense in the second half. 

Despite that, they came out victorious over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday by the score of 15-13 in a game where you can't honestly state that the better team won. 

Miami's offense was atrocious save for Lamar Miller, who himself almost gifted the Ravens a win. The shining spot for Miami was its front seven, who were active and engaged throughout the afternoon. Other than that, this was not a good team performance in any way, shape or form. 

The Dolphins are 5-7, but they're still mathematically in the hunt for the final AFC wild-card spot. Let's take a look at how the slop show played out at Sun Life Stadium. 

Positional Grades

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This offensive performance was beyond brutal. Here's a look at the offensive grades. 

Quarterback: F

It was a throwback to the Tony Sparano-Chad Henne days—only Ryan Tannehill was nowhere near as efficient as checkdown Chad was in his heyday. Instead, he was methodical in his mediocre-at-best play. 

Even his best throw was a terrible one that wide receiver DeVante Parker bailed him out on by an excellent leaping effort. 

Overall, it was not a good look, considering this was a game in which Tannehill was supposed to have more of a say in the play-calling. On the bright side, there were no turnovers for Tannehill. 

Running Backs: B

The best offensive player was Lamar Miller, who got 20 carries and ran for 113 yards on 5.7 yards per carry with a long of 22 yards. Even he tried his best to lose the game thanks to a fumble late in the fourth quarter that gave the Ravens great field position. Had Justin Tucker been the Justin Tucker of old who made those long field goals routinely, that fumble would have lost Miami the game. 

Wide Receivers: D

DeVante Parker was Miami's second-best offensive player thanks to three catches for 63 yards and a 38-yard touchdown reception. Said touchdown was a bailout of a Tannehill throw that was a bit too high; however, you can't complain too much when you have receivers like Parker so your quarterback can go deep and have a decent rate of success. 

As for the rest of the receivers, it wasn't pretty, as no other receiver had more than five yards. Jarvis Landry was unusually quiet with two catches for five yards. 

Tight Ends: F

Once again, Miami's tight ends were a disappointment. Dion Sims and Jordan Cameron combined for two catches for eight yards, and Cameron, in an attempt to line up with his hand in the ground, drew a false-start penalty for flinching. 

Offensive Line: B

Miami's offensive line was pretty good despite the horrid performance of the rest of the team on that side of the ball. It created holes for Lamar Miller to run through while limiting the Ravens defense to one sack. 

Defensive Line: A-

Olivier Vernon had a huge game with two-and-a-half sacks, while Derrick Shelby had half of a sack of his own to go along with a pick-six late in the first half that wound up being the deciding score of the game. 

Meanwhile, Jordan Phillips got a nice pass deflection that led to a Reshad Jones interception—which set up the Tannehill-to-Parker touchdown on the next play—and Ndamukong Suh was quiet but impactful with two quarterback hits and two tackles while allowing the defensive ends to get to the quarterback frequently (Miami had 10 quarterback hits). 

Linebackers: B

I received a tweet asking if Koa Misi was always this good. Granted the tweet was from a writer from Baltimore, but it's still interesting that I got said tweet. Misi was good on Sunday thanks to seven tackles, three of them for a loss. Kelvin Sheppard was also fairly good. In fact, the one linebacker who didn't perform up to snuff was Jelani Jenkins, who is usually Miami's best linebacker. 

Defensive Backs: D

Other than Reshad Jones and Bobby McCain, this was not a good effort for the Dolphins secondary. 

Brent Grimes continued his transformation into Frank Grimes as he was burned often, while the rest of the corners had issues with slippage on the field. 

Now, the Dolphins would have avoided some of that slipping had they played a straight man-to-man press scheme, but I've only had that complaint about the team for four seasons. 

Special Teams: C

There was nothing special about Miami's special teams. Matt Darr punted a lot (nine times to be exact), but his last punt bounced harmlessly into the end zone and gave the Ravens a good 10 to 15 yards more than they should've had. 

Andrew Franks missed an extra point and had another one blocked; however, the official waved both those off because of Ravens penalties. It does say a lot about Franks that the Dolphins decided to go for two on the third chance. 

The return game was once again plagued by mistakes. It wasn't a good outing for special teams. 

Coaching: D

Good news: The Dolphins won. That doesn't automatically warrant a high grade. 

The play-calling on offense started off well with plenty of runs, but in the fourth quarter, specifically the final offensive play, I was puzzled as to what was going on. Yes, there was "balance" in terms of play-calling, but it wasn't rhythmic or smooth in the least.

I'll give offensive coordinator Zac Taylor the benefit of the doubt because it was his first NFL game calling plays after the firing of Bill Lazor, but it didn't have to be that much of a disaster. 

On defense, the continued decision to play off-man coverage in the secondary nearly killed the Dolphins. Had the defensive line and linebackers not showed up to play, the results would've been a lot worse. 

A Putrid Offensive Performance

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Somewhere beyond the pearly gates, the late, great Jim Mandich is telling it like it is the way he used to about this team. 

It sounds like this. A phrase Mandich has used in the past, a phrase that fits Miami every week. 

It's the perfect way to describe the offense: "[A] stench of cow manure hovers over this performance by the Dolphins." 

Gaining 219 yards isn't going to cut it if that's all Ryan Tannehill passed for. Except, Ryan Tannehill didn't pass for 219 yards; he didn't even pass for half of that amount. 

He passed for 86 yards. It was the worst game a quarterback could put together without throwing an interception. Funny thing is, while his line will get blamed again, it only allowed him to get sacked once, and he dropped back 19 times. 

Lamar Miller accounted for 113 yards on his own and was the shining spot for the offense. 

As for that 219 number: That's the total amount of yards the Dolphins offense gained. 

Despite the victory, you can't let that slide, especially since it only gained 61 of those yards in the second half.     

Derrick Shelby and Olivier Vernon Came to Play

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

Miami's defensive line won the game. 

Specifically, two members of the defensive line won the game: Derrick Shelby and Olivier Vernon. 

Both players are in a contract year, and with their performances on Sunday, they stand to make a lot of money. Vernon had 2.5 sacks and was an absolute pest in the pocket all afternoon. 

Shelby was also a major pest toward Baltimore QB Matt Schaub, as he had half of a sack (shared with Vernon) along with a pick-six. 

The pick-six won the game, while the pair's constant pressure on Schaub kept Miami ahead despite Baltimore's repeated threats in the second half. 

Send Reshad Jones to Hawaii

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

I've always wanted the Dolphins to have a Troy Polamalu or an Ed Reed as their safety. 

It's exciting they have this era's version of those two future Hall of Famers in Reshad Jones. 

Jones is having a fantastic 2015 season (and is one of the few Dolphins you can say that about with a straight face) and in fact might be the best safety in the NFL today. 

He added to that claim against the Ravens thanks to seven tackles, an interception and a pass deflection. 

Jones should be on his way to the Pro Bowl, and he's the only Dolphin I feel comfortable saying that about. As for the offseason, the key should be to build around him in the backfield and add at least two corners and another safety who's worthy of lining up next to him. 

'Who Are We Kidding? Not Many Games You'll Win with 15 Points'

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I appreciate honesty and candor from athletes, and Ryan Tannehill was correct with this quote, per Andrew Abramson of the Palm Beach Post: "Who are we kidding? Not many games you'll win with 15 points."

You're right, Ryan; you don't win many games with 15 points. But back off a second because you're responsible for only six of those points. 

Even then, it was DeVante Parker who pulled that throw in. 

Miami's offense was a mess all season, but this was the worst it's been in a long time. I know I've already talked about this in two of the previous slides, but it was just that horrendous. 

'The Rookies Stepped Up'

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It's a Dolphins victory, but there's not much good to say about it. 

You can call what I'm saying "negative", and maybe I am being too negative. But I'm calling it like I see it, and I'm not seeing a very good football team. 

I'm big on symbolism, though. Ben Silberman tweeted this during the game. Seeing the picture of the rainbow, along with interim head coach Dan Campbell's comments about how the rookies played, made me think a little bit more positively. 

"The rookies stepped up," Campbell said, per James Walker of ESPN.com.

This was the best game a Dolphins draft class as a whole has had in its rookie season. 

First-round pick DeVante Parker was the top receiver and responsible for the only offensive touchdown of the afternoon. That touchdown was set up by a Reshad Jones interception that came thanks to second-round pick Jordan Phillips reaching up and deflecting a Matt Schaub pass. 

Bobby McCain started at cornerback and was quite decent with six tackles and a pass defended, but he would likely be better if the scheme called for him to press the receiver instead of playing five yards off of him. 

Jay Ajayi didn't get as many carries as he should have but was able to walk in for a two-point conversion. 

That's four of Miami's seven 2015 draft picks making a big difference on Sunday. That's a pretty good rate of success, one you haven't seen from the Dolphins in a long time. 

That's the rainbow. DeVante Parker can be a top-flight NFL receiver, and along with fellow rookie Ajayi and veterans Jarvis Landry, (hopefully) Rishard Matthews and Lamar Miller, he can help make up the bones of a 2016 Dolphins offense that should have better coaching.

Jordan Phillips is developing nicely, and once Bobby McCain realizes his true destiny as a slot corner, he should be able to thrive (he's a pit bull of a corner reminiscent of Cortland Finnegan when he was with the Tennessee Titans). 

Hope is all you have as a Dolphins fan and should be what you look for in Miami's final four games of the season instead of hoping for a tank job (no player is worth tanking for in this year's draft). Despite the putrid offensive performance, there was still a rainbow, and the hope at the end of that rainbow is a pot of gold for 2016 and beyond. 

Statistics courtesy of NFL.com. 

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