What went wrong? Baltimore Ravens Explain Epic Collapse Vs. Miami Dolphins

The Baltimore Ravens earned a spot on Infamy Sunday by becoming the team’s first in more than a decade blow a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter. They surrendered touchdowns on their final four possessions to allow the Miami Dolphins their first win at M&T Bank Stadium.

So how did it happen? yes Tua Tagovailoa was electric (469 passing yards, six touchdowns), but the Ravens also had some serious breakdowns in the backend on his two deep touchdown passes to Tyreek Hill. Marcus Peters was just hit hard on the first (which went 48 yards) and Hill was all alone on the second (60).

A big factor: Injuries to the Ravens’ corners, including Marlon Humphrey (groin), meant a lot of unproven players were coming in and out of the lineup, creating major communication problems. Humphrey, Ravens coach John Harbaugh and other Ravens players answered tough questions after the game. Here’s what they said.

The Baltimore Ravens responded after intercepting the Dolphins

Harbaugh said losing like that “doesn’t feel good, that’s for sure. We know we can be much better. You have to tip your hat to them; they made plays, but if you watch the tape, there are a lot of things that need to be cleaned up. We made mistakes and we have to admit it. It’s just part of the game. It’s part of the early season, but no excuses. We have to wear it. It’s bad, but we were beaten.”

Humphrey said watching most of the fourth quarter from the sideline “sucks. Everybody’s hurting these days, so we’ve just got to go, wrap things up, do what we can. But it definitely sucks to watch these last couple of episodes. I really wanted to be there, but [I’ll] come back healthy next week and hopefully I’ll be ready.”

Mixing and matching angles affected communication, Harbaugh acknowledged. “Yes, that is the question. You never thought that we would have so many swords thrown over our heads. This simply cannot happen; it’s not normal. I don’t care who’s behind me [or] what they do. These plays will cost you the game if you have that advantage. You cannot have a misunderstanding; you can’t have a guy running the post behind Cover-3. This cannot happen.”

Discussing Hill’s second touchdown, Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said communication was an issue. “There was a misunderstanding. That’s what we preach and we practice every day, but we just have to be about it in the game, and I think it showed at the end.”

“That performance depends on us, on the defense,” added Ravens insider Patrick Quinn. “On third down, we have to get off the field, give the ball back to the offense and let them continue to do their thing. Obviously, Lamar [Jackson] is a great player and hard to stop, so as much as we can get them the ball back that’s what we need to do. Communication, doing our job, whatever it is, that’s what we have to do and we have to get better at it.”