BALTIMORE— Los Dolphins de Miami They were playing out the final minutes of a particularly ugly loss on Sunday when things went from bad to worse.
The top-ranked defense had already been humiliated and defeated by the Baltimore Ravens when star linebacker Bradley Chubb fell to the ground, face up and unable to move due to a knee injury. A while later, the team leader was loaded onto a cart and taken to the tunnel.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel regretted his decision to keep Chubb on the field in the final minutes of what became a 56-19 loss.
“In retrospect, I wouldn’t have wanted it at all if I knew I was going to get hurt, for sure,” McDaniel said. “That’s a familiar part of the job that I understand perfectly. He doesn’t seem very smart at all.”
While it seems unlikely the sixth-year pro will return to play this season, McDaniel grimaced and held out hope for a favorable diagnosis.
“We still don’t have the information to know what it is. We’ll be able to find out (Monday),” McDaniel said.
All in all, it was a horrible day for a team trying to beat the Ravens and earn first place in the AFC.
“We came into this game with high hopes of playing at the level we wanted to,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said. “When those standards are not met, it is very disappointing.”
The Dolphins fell behind by 22 points early in the third quarter, and a harried Tagovailoa couldn’t make up the deficit in a lopsided setback that prevented Miami (11-5) from clinching the AFC East.
In a matchup between the teams with the two best records in the conference, Baltimore (13-3) dominated the Dolphins to earn a first-round bye and the opportunity to play every home game in the postseason leading up to the Super Bowl .
If Miami can’t beat Buffalo next week, the Bills would win the AFC East title and the Dolphins would start the playoffs on the road.
Miami led 10-7 before the Ravens went on a 28-3 run between the second and third quarters. Last year, Tagovailoa rallied Miami from a 35-14 hole to a 42-38 victory.
But this Baltimore team would have none of that. Not only did the Ravens intercept two passes and finish with three sacks, but Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson tore through Miami’s defense for 321 passing yards and five touchdowns.
Miami could still finish second in the AFC by beating Buffalo. The Dolphins haven’t finished atop the division since 2008 and have gone more than three decades without securing a top-two spot.
Source: AP
