You see Dolphins fans, this is why we can't have nice things. The last playoff wildcard spot was ripped out of the Miami Dolphins cold dead hands by the Baltimore Ravens Sunday afternoon in the form of a punch-to-the-junk 28-13 loss.
The loss was so disheartening that defensive tackle Jared Odtrick blew his stack on the sideline, screaming in Coach Joe Philbin's face.
That's not a great sign of team morale, even if Odrick hastily took to Twitter to defend the outburst as a case of being too passionate about the Fins. The reality is Sunday's loss drops the Dolphins back into the pack of teams fighting for playoff position now, and, of course, the Dolphins play the Patriots next week. This is not ideal.
The Dolphins now have the dreaded "In The Hunt" next to their name again, along with the following teams:
Baltimore Ravens (8-5), Houston Texans (7-6), Miami Dolphins (7-6), Kansas City Chiefs (7-6), Buffalo Bills (7-6) and Cleveland Browns (7-6).
While it may seem like the Dolphins have as good a shot as any of those above teams to make the playoffs, the Ravens and Chiefs hold the tie-breaker if it is to come to a head-to-head situation; meaning the Dolphins basically trail them both by two games with three games to go.
It all started out so promising for the Dolphins Sunday as they took a 10-0 lead quickly. Then they allowed a Ravens 97 yard touchdown drive to end the half, and you just had a feeling you were in for another Dolphinsy afternoon. They did not disappoint.
So since Ravens took ball at their 3 yd line with 3 minutes left in second QTR, Ravens have gone on 28-3 run and outgained Dolphins 328-91.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) December 7, 2014
Yup, the Dolphins completely shit the bed once they got that 10-0 lead, thus throwing away any advantages they held over teams competing for the last playoff spot going into their last three games of the season.
It's tough to pinpoint a specific thing that went wrong for the Miami Dolphins Sunday, oh wait, no it's not -- Dallas Thomas sucks at football. The Miami Dolphins right tackle got Ryan Tannehill killed all afternoon, and it's a minor-miracle he finished 23/33 for 227 yards and a touchdown; he rarely had time to think in the pocket. The Dolphins allowed six sacks on the day and what felt like a million-and-one QB pressures, making things impossible for Tannehill all day long.
On the other side of the ball, things weren't much better. Joe Flacco finished 25/33 with two touchdowns, slicing-and-dicing a beat up and injury depleted Miami Dolphins secondary. The Dolphins defensive backfield got even thinner in the second half, when safety Louis Delmas was carted off the field with what looked like a season ending injury.
Everything was bad, and with a trip to New England next week, things don't seem likely to get much better for the 7-6 Dolphins. One can assume every game is a must win from here on out, but even 10-6 might not do it, they may need some help at this point.
The good news is, if you're a Dolphins fan, you're used to this by now.
I thought you'd changed @MiamiDolphins
— Slim (@SkinnyMcGhee) December 7, 2014
My dad just called me to apologize for raising me a Dolphins fan.
— Josh Appel (@JoshAppel) December 7, 2014
WHY DO I TELL MYSELF EVERY YEAR THAT THIS DOLPHINS SEASON IS GOING TO BE DIFFERENT. IT'S THE SAME DAMN THING EVERY DAMN YEAR.
— Jake Winderman (@jakewinderman) December 7, 2014
Dolphins are probably why LeBron left.
— Rohan Nadkarni (@MiamiRohan) December 7, 2014
Dolphins punch you right in the package again
— Lou Le Batard Show (@LeBatardShow) December 7, 2014
It was fun there for a minute, folks. Tough end.
— Pablo (@pabloknows) December 7, 2014
I get some sort of optimism about the Dolphins, and then they do this.
— Big Fat Fleek Salad (@SubstitutePapi) December 7, 2014
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