Baltimore's 22-point margin of victory was Thursday Night Football's second-largest by a road team in nearly four years. As referenced yesterday, this matchup had mammoth fantasy implications. The Ravens are now (somehow) within earshot of first place in the AFC North, while the Dolphins looked nothing like the squad that steamrolled the Falcons only a few days earlier.
Starting with the Ravens, Lamar Jackson is in midseason form despite missing the past month. He's now thrown 55 TD passes and only five interceptions since Christmas 2023. It is possibly the greatest passing stretch in NFL history. (More on that on today's podcast.) That he's doing it without the benefit of an impactful ground game is all the more remarkable.
Meanwhile, Derrick Henry salvaged a barely tolerable showing (13.1 points). He's credited (deservedly) with 6.3 yards per carry. But with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter, he was sitting on 11 carries for 41 yards against a bottom-tier run defense. Eventually he and Jackson and the rest of the offense wore them down. But he couldn't punch one in from the goal line. Remember, he'll turn 32 in a couple months. He's both great and increasingly risky as the season progresses.
Mark Andrews now has four TD catches in his last three games with Jackson. But it marked his fourth game of the year -- three with Jackson -- with three targets or less. Essentially, he's on pace for numbers similar to last year's, except with fewer scores and a roughly 33% drop in yards-per-reception. He's as TD-dependent than ever, meaning great ceilings and awful floors.
For the Dolphins, this might be the end of a four-year run at Super Bowl contention. They now have a losing record (including the postseason) during the Mike McDaniel era. Their salary cap situation next year is among the league's worst. Jaylen Waddle is one candidate to go elsewhere by next Tuesday's trade deadline. Third-year phenom De'Von Achane is possibly as valuable as he'll ever be: a healthy, versatile, and cheap 24-year-old who in two years probably will be much more expensive.
It's easy to envision this offense imploding if management throws in the towel. It's also possible that Ollie Gordon and even Malik Washington could become weekly fantasy-startable options if Waddle and Achane depart. The next few days will be fascinating.
For the closest-score contest, I probably had the absolute worst prediction, restoring me to my normal humble stats. Mike Vanacore (34-10) bravely pushed for victory. But in the end, Brian Cloutier (30-10) took the prize. Congrats Brian.
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