MIAMI -- The Baltimore Ravens do this to you, and it doesn't matter who you are or where you're playing. They break you physically, they break you emotionally and they break you mentally. They did it to the Cowboys in Dallas in the 15th game of the regular season. They did it to the Jaguars at home in the 16th game.
And they did it Sunday to Miami at Dolphin Stadium, beating up the Dolphins 27-9 in a game that looked more like a hazing incident than an NFL playoff game.
When it was over, the Dolphins had set all kinds of season lows, or highs, or however you want to look at their whopping number of interceptions (four) and turnovers (five) and utter degradation (lots).
Baltimore safety Ed Reed had two interceptions for the fifth time in seven games, an achievement that begs you to look at this sentence again. Just to make sure you read it correctly. In the past seven games, he has 10 interceptions -- two in a game, five different times. All since Nov. 23.
Reed scored a touchdown, his third in seven games and his 11th overall in the NFL, to cement his status as one of the most dominant defensive backs in NFL history. Cornerback Deion Sanders was better in pass coverage, and safety Ronnie Lott was a bigger hitter, and both players are in the Hall of Fame. But that's the kind of company Ed Reed now keeps.
"He's maybe the best player in the game," said Ravens coach John Harbaugh.
Maybe? Screw maybe. Quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Brett Favre win the biggest awards, but no one player in football terrorizes an entire team more than Ed Reed. When it comes to active defensive backs, and even linebackers and down linemen, Reed is too good to be compared to the peons who play this game today -- but he's not the only mentally abusive player on the Ravens. He's not even close.
Linebackers Ray Lewis, Bart Scott and Terrell Suggs combined for 20 tackles, three for losses. Defensive end Trevor Pryce got to the quarterback twice, and defensive tackles Haloti Ngata and Justin Bannan clogged up the rushing lanes to the point that Miami, which outran its opponents by almost 300 yards this season, quit running the ball in the second half. Just stopped doing it.
"That's defense," Reed said. "That's what a defense does."
Not most defenses.
"Then that's what separates us from the rest," he said.
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| Count 'em: 10 interceptions for Ed Reed in the Ravens' past seven games. (AP) |
Dallas quit in a revolutionary fashion, surrendering two touchdowns runs of more than 75 yards, both in the final minutes of a 33-24 loss that lingered like a hangover into the following week. Needing to beat the Eagles to reach the playoffs, the emasculated Cowboys didn't put up a fight, going down 44-6.
While that was going on in Philadelphia, Baltimore was pulling the wings off Jacksonville, beating the Jags 27-7 by forcing four turnovers (including two picks by Reed, of course) and getting Jacksonville to roll over in the fourth quarter. Proof? Baltimore has a slow, never-used running back named Jalen Parmele who broke a 31-yard run, his career long (of course), in the fourth quarter.
Sunday in Miami, it was Willis McGahee who took a fourth-quarter handoff and rambled 48 yards into the missing heart of the Miami defense, setting up Joe Flacco's 5-yard scoring scramble for the game's final margin.
And McGahee knew exactly what had happened on his 48-yard romp. His offensive line had broken the hole for him, but his defense had broken the Dolphins' spirit.
"Our defense is one of a kind," McGahee said. "I just can't explain it. We go against these guys every day and we know what they can do, but when you sit back and watch and see what they do against other teams, it's ridiculous."
Baltimore's defense suffocated Miami coach Tony Sparano's belief in his own team on the first series of the game, setting in motion the three hours of degradation that followed. The Dolphins were at the Ravens' 1-yard line, second and goal, when Sparano called for a tricky rollout. Didn't work. He called for a basic run up the middle. Didn't work. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, before the crowd could even get into its "gooooo" chant, Sparano hurried his kicking team onto the field and took the three points.
Miami led 3-0, but Miami had just fallen behind.
"Disappointing," said Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown. "We knew that was a big point in the game."
Every point in the game is a big point in the game against the Ravens. Nothing is given. Nothing is yielded. The mental pressure is relentless to the point that Flacco, the rookie quarterback, was saying after the Jacksonville game that he had expected the Jags to wilt after one quarter.
Next up: The Tennessee Titans.
When do you think they'll wilt?
