MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Ravens are back, but the Dolphins are firmly not.
Baltimore’s win over the Dolphins on Thursday night, with a healthy return by quarterback Lamar Jackson, is the first step toward a huge potential turnaround. Jackson threw four touchdowns, while running back Derrick Henry ran for 97 yards in a comprehensive win.
Here are my takeaways:
1. From 1-5 to the playoffs?
That’s what the 2025 Ravens are trying to do.
Baltimore, now 3-5, has four losses to teams in the top 10 of our NFL Power Rankings (Lions, Rams, Bills and Chiefs), and in their remaining nine games, they only face one such opponent. The Ravens would have to go at least 6-3 if not 7-2 the rest of the way to make the playoffs, but they’ll be healthier than the one that struggled mightily out of the gates.
Jackson, back after missing three games with a hamstring injury, threw three touchdown passes to tight ends on Thursday – two early to Mark Andrews and another to Charlie Kolar in the third quarter. He added a fourth to wide receiver Rashod Bateman. Even the Ravens defense, which came into the night ranked 30th in points allowed, came up with a big takeaway early to set up a seven-yard touchdown drive.
Opening the year 1-5 and making the playoffs is not unprecedented – Washington did it in 2020, winning a bad division at 7-9, and the 2018 Colts finished 10-6 and won a playoff game. The 2015 Chiefs won their final 10 games and even won a playoff game, and the only other team to pull it off in the Super Bowl era is the 1970 Bengals, who finished 8-6 after a 1-5 start.
2. Back to normal for listless Dolphins
Could last week’s unexpected 34-10 rout of the Falcons be a surprise spark for the Dolphins? There was no sign of it on Thursday.
Miami moved the ball with ease between the 20s in the first half against Baltimore, only to stop themselves when it mattered most.
Down 7-3, the Dolphins marched to Baltimore’s 21-yard line, had three straight three-yard gains and lined up to go for it on fourth-and-1. But a false start on tackle Larry Borom took that away, and Riley Patterson missed a 35-yard field goal so the drive came up empty.
The Dolphins did it again just before halftime, going from their 20 to the 13, getting stopped on third-and-2, and then saw quarterback Tua Tagovailoa throw a lob incomplete on fourth down. Two trips in the red zone yielded zero points, so Miami was down 14-6 at the half when it could have easily had the lead.
3. Do not trade Mark Andrews
The Ravens’ 2024 season ended in the playoffs on a huge drop by Andrews, and he had a quiet start to this season. On Thursday, though, it was a reminder of how well he and Jackson can play together.
Andrews totaled just 208 yards and two touchdowns in Baltimore’s first seven games, but Jackson’s healthy return Thursday brought an awakening to Andrews as well. A two-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal got Baltimore’s offense going, and he followed with a 20-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
On a third-and-1 at Miami’s five-yard line, the Ravens lined up Andrews for a direct-snap tight end sneak, Tush Push style, and he converted with a two-yard gain to set up another touchdown.
If this was a lost season, you could understand Baltimore shipping Andrews off to make it easier to re-sign tight end Isaiah Likely in the offseason, but if the Ravens are going to make a postseason push, the 30-year-old will be a central part of that turnaround.
So, stop any talk of a trade next week.
Mark Andrews (No. 89) helped ignite the Ravens offense on Thursday night. (Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
4. So many bad contracts limiting the Dolphins’ rebuild
Regardless of whether Mike McDaniel keeps his job until the end of the season, the Dolphins have major salary shedding to do in the offseason.
Want to move on from Tagovailoa? That would mean $99 million in dead cap next season, and that would ideally be split over the next two seasons. Want to move on from wide receiver Tyreek Hill? That also makes sense, but it would mean another $55 million in dead cap. The Dolphins could trade edge rusher Bradley Chubb this week, but doing so would mean $35 million in dead cap, and they’d have to restructure contracts just to be able to do that.
Miami has barely any cap space in 2026 as it stands – only three teams have less space – and they’ll have to be creative to get out from under some of the terrible contracts they’ve handed out in the last two years.
4 ½. What’s next?
It’s crazy for a 3-5 team to have a clear path to the playoffs, but in a bad AFC North, the Ravens really do. Their next three are easy – at the Vikings, at the Browns, home vs. Jets – and that sets up a final gauntlet with four division games in the final six weeks, all against the Steelers and Bengals.
It gets tough around the holidays – against the Patriots on Dec. 21, then a trip to Green Bay in Week 17 – and Baltimore would probably have to split those two at least to stay in contention. Survive that and it all could come down to the regular-season finale at Pittsburgh, perhaps with a division title and home playoff game on the line.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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