The Miami Dolphins shocked the NFL world Thursday night, drubbing the heavily favored Baltimore Ravens 22-10. Not only did the Dolphins pull off one of the bigger upsets this season in the NFL, but it was how they did it that was incredible.

Miami dominated defensively, completely shutting down Lamar Jackson and the vaunted Ravens rushing attack. Baltimore finished the game with 304 total yards of offense. However, entering garbage time with the Dolphins leading by two scores with under four minutes remaining in the game, the Ravens had mustered a mere 137 yards of offense through the first 56 minutes of the game.

That is astounding. Lamar Jackson was under duress all game, struggled to gain any traction running the ball and was sacked four times.

Meanwhile, the Miami offense, which also did not move the ball for most of the night, put together a decent second half under the helm of Tua Tagovailoa.

The Dolphins starting quarterback did not start the game, as he has been dealing with a fractured finger. Instead, Miami turned to Jacoby Brissett to start. Brissett struggled mightily and injured his knee in the 2nd quarter.

 

He was seen writhing in pain after he went down, screaming. It was initially thought to be a serious injury.

However, he appeared ready and able to go back in the game on the next series. Dolphins head coach Brian Flores opted to stick with Tua Tagovailoa. That proved to be a smart decision. Tagovailoa finished the game and led the Dolphins on a long touchdown drive to help seal the game. He even had a nice end zone dance to celebrate.

 

It was a big win for Miami, and an even bigger loss for Baltimore. The Ravens are now in a 4-team dog fight for the AFC North crown.

But for Miami, there are some key takeaways worth exploring.

Most importantly, this Dolphins team is not as bad as people thought. Remember, last season Miami finished 10-6 and only missed out on the playoffs due to some insane tie-breakers. They have a solid secondary, led by All Pro cornerback Xavien Howard. More on him to come.

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Jalen Waddle, the rookie receiver out of Alabama, is having a great rookie season. Through nine games, he has 60 catches for 557 yards. That is pretty outstanding for a rookie on a bad offense.

This team very easily could be 5-5 or 6-4 with a little luck. They lost by 3 points to the Raiders and Jaguars, and fell to the Falcons on a walk-off field goal.

The next key takeaway is that people forgot how good Xavien Howard is. Last night was a solid reminder. Howard is a 2-time Pro Bowler who was 1st team All Pro in 2020 and 2nd team All Pro in 2018. He has led the NFL in interceptions twice during his relatively brief career.

He is a baller and his ball skills for a defensive player are spectacular. Just ask the Ravens offense about that. Last night, he forced a Sammy Watkins' fumble, scooped it up and ran it back 49 yards to the house.

He weaves his way around Ravens defenders, making it look easy. It was impressive to watch. So, for football fans who have tuned out the Dolphins because of their wretched 1-7 start, don't forget this team still has legitimate talent.

The final takeaway is that the Dolphins are screwing themselves, once again.

It seems like it has been at least a decade, if not longer, that Miami has been stuck in NFL Draft purgatory. They are never good enough to make the playoffs or be a true contender. At the same time, they are never bad enough to lose 13 or 14 games and earn a top 3 pick. It seems like they are always drafting somewhere between 5th and 10th.

How many Ted Ginn type picks (drafted 9th overall in 2007 NFL Draft) have they had over the years. Winning this game Thursday night, cemented themselves in that same familiar place. Listen to who the Dolphins have coming up on their schedule.

They play at the Jets next weekend, before hosting the Panthers, Giants and Jets again the proceeding three games. They will win at least two of those games. That puts them with five, maybe six wins on the season.

That puts them right back to where they always are, drafting somewhere between 5th and 10th next year. The writing is on the wall. Tua Tagovailoa is not the future quarterback of the Miami Dolphins. If it wasn't clear, it was made clear by the team to Tagovailoa by offering three first round picks and two second round picks for Deshaun Watson recently.

This is a quarterback driven league. You either have a franchise quarterback, or you do not. Without one, in today's NFL it is nearly impossible to contend. The rule changes have made certain to that. Unless you get lucky like New England and have Mac Jones fall into your lap at 15, chances are you need a top 3 pick to find your guy.

It appears the Dolphins are going to have to wait another year for that to happen.