The Ravens came into Thursday Night Football as 8-point favorites against the struggling Miami Dolphins. Nearly every pundit selected the Ravens to win in dominating fashion but they were sadly mistaken. The Dolphins completely shut down the Ravens potent offense. The Ravens only managed one touchdown drive in the game and it came late in the fourth quarter. Baltimore is now 6-3 and ironically enough are still in first place in the AFC North due to the Steelers tying the winless Lions and the Browns getting embarrassed by the Patriots. The offense looked lost the entire game but the defense had arguably their best performance of the season. I will highlight the good and bad below with the 3 highest and 3 lowest graded players of the game according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
Highest Graded Player of the Week: Justin Houston
Houston comes in as the highest graded player this week with a PFF grade of 92.4; his highest graded game of the season. Houston was simply a man amongst boys, Houston led the team with a team high 6 pressures, and 4 hurries, also a team high. He notched one sack as well which is notable because it was his 100th career sack. The Ravens as a whole had an absurd 34 pressures in this contest. Houston did not provide much in the run defense department but was simply unstoppable as a pass rusher. The veteran is having a good season considering the Ravens acquired him on a cheap deal. 26 pressures, 11 hits and 4 sacks are all solid marks thus far, and he has a PFF grade of 77.1 on the season. He is currently the fourth highest graded defensive player for the Ravens on the year behind Campbell, Josh Bynes and Chris Westry (one game sample). Houston will look to continue the high-end play when the Ravens face The Bears next who are one of the worst pass-blocking units in the league.
Second Highest Graded Player of the Week: Calais Campbell
Campbell comes in as the second highest player this week with a PFF grade of 89.5; his second highest grade this season. Campbell continues to have a dominating season. He notched 5 pressures, 2 hits and 3 hurries in this contest, but more importantly, The Dolphins had no answer for him in the run game. He had a PFF run defense grade of 85 and completely had his way with the Dolphins interior linemen. He was constantly in the backfield blowing up plays which was evidenced by Miami’s inability to run the ball. They finished the game with 60 yards rushing while averaging a putrid 2.7 yards a carry. Though the Ravens lost this game, they have to be thrilled with the play of the defense and particularly Campbell, who has been one of the most dominant interior defenders in the league this season.
Third Highest Graded Player of the Week: Josh Bynes
Josh Bynes rounds off this list as the third highest graded player of the game with a PFF grade of 88.3; his highest grade of the year. Bynes continues his excellent play so far since taking over at Mike linebacker. But he did it a bit differently in this game, he excelled as pass rusher, notching 3 pressures and a sack. Going into the game, Bynes had only 1 total pressure on the season. Wink was aggressive all night and even Bynes got into the action. He also had a PFF coverage grade of 88.3, also his highest of the season. Bynes made a spectacular play on the goal line, nearly intercepting a pass with one hand which would’ve swung the momentum for the Ravens but was unable to haul it in. But it doesn’t take away from his excellent game. Bynes has arguably been the Ravens most important player on defense thus far.
Other notable high graded players: Tavon Young (83.9), Patrick Queen (82), Rashod Bateman (77.2, highest graded offensive player)
Lowest Graded Player of the Week: Sammy Watkins
It is no surprise that this week’s lowest graded player was Watkins, earning a PFF grade of 36.7. Watkins had a game he wants to forget and quickly. He finished the game with one catch for seven yards which led to a fumble that essentially ended the game. He also did not attempt to catch a ball thrown by Lamar on the first drive in the endzone that would’ve given the Ravens a 7-0 lead to start the game. You can argue he cost the Ravens 14 points with those two plays. Watkins has actually enjoyed a quietly good season so far; this 36.7 grade was easily his worst game of the year. He has graded in the 70’s fairly consistently. This was his first game back from a four-game absence. He will look to rebound against the Bears.
Second Lowest Graded Player of the Game: Tyre Phillipps
Phillipps comes in as the second lowest graded player of the week with a PFF grade of 42.1. Phillipps is taking over for the injured Pat Mekari who has been one of the best linemen for the Ravens this season. Phillipps allowed 3 pressures, 2 hurries and one QB hit. But he was actually worse in the run blocking department, only grading out at 27.8. He has been mostly disappointing this season, only earning a 51.6 grade thus far this season. The Ravens offensive line was in shambles all night, they had no answer for the zero coverage blitzes that the Dolphins kept sending. Phillipps, along with the rest of the offensive line, will need to turn the page quickly and learn from this bad performance.
Third Lowest Graded Player of the Week: Marquise Brown
Hollywood comes in as the third lowest graded player this week with a PFF grade of 46.2; his lowest graded game of the year. The former Sooner had his worst game of the year, 11 targets for 6 receptions for a meager 37 yards. He also had one fumble in this game. The Ravens had no answer for the blitz, they kept throwing screens to Brown all night. Only one of his catches resulted in a first down which was his worst effort of the year. This is merely a blip in the radar for Brown, who is enjoying easily his best season as a Pro so far. Credit the Dolphins as they took away every deep shot the Ravens attempted. Brown and The Ravens will look to get back to their explosive ways against the Bears.
The Ravens now sit at 6-3, still atop of the AFC north thanks to the Patriots and Lions. They’ll have ten days to prepare for the Bears, a team who nearly beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh last Monday Night. Though it looks like Khalil Mack will miss another game, which would bode well for a struggling offensive line. The Ravens offense was nightmarish in this contest, they just couldn’t move the ball and were abysmal on third downs. Feels like every top AFC team has had a bad loss so far, Titans lost to the Jets, Chiefs have just been disappointing in general, The Bengals lost to the Jets, The Bills lost to the Jags and now The Ravens drop one against Miami. If the Ravens take care of business against the Bears, everyone will forget this loss, but if we see another lackluster performance like we did against Miami, real questions will start to arise about far this team can go.
Mirzet was born in Bosnia and raised in upstate NY. Mirzet became a huge fan of the ravens when he first moved to the country and has never looked back. Mirzet is also a former base data analyst at Pro Football Focus. Using advanced metrics and stats has always been a passion of his when discussing anything football-related. Salihovic also lived in Baltimore shortly after he went to college at SUNY Cortland, he currently resides in Utica, NY.