The Ravens entered the fourth quarter with a 35-14 after quarterback Lamar Jackson’s 79-yard touchdown run.
At that point, it seemed unfathomable that the Dolphins would make the game competitive — let alone win it.
But Miami scored three touchdowns to tie the game with 5:19 remaining in the fourth quarter. And then with 14 seconds left, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa hit receiver Jaylen Waddle for a game-winning, 7-yard touchdown.
Final score: Miami 42 - Baltimore 38.
The Dolphins were able to get it done in large part because of explosive plays. Tyreek Hill had a 48-yard touchdown and a 60-yard score. Those two drives took less than 90 seconds off the clock and allowed Miami the time to finish off the comeback.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said there were communication issues among the defensive backs that led to the Dolphins’ long pass plays.
“Never did you think we were going to have that many balls thrown over our head,” Harbaugh said in his postgame press conference. “That just can’t happen. That’s not OK. I don’t care who’s back there, [or] what they’re doing. Those plays will cost you a game when you have a lead like that. You can’t have miscommunication. You can’t have a guy running a post behind Cover-3. Those kinds of things can’t happen.”
In the fourth quarter alone, the Dolphins had four plays of at least 20 yards. In all, Miami completed four passes of at least 30 yards downfield with 33, 48, 59, and 60-yard gains.
“All credit goes to the Dolphins. They got the job done in the second half and in the fourth quarter,” Harbaugh said. “It’s going to be one of the biggest comebacks probably in the history of the National Football League, and we’ll give them credit for it.
“We have to own it, every single person. I told the guys in the locker room, ‘How [do] we respond to this? That will be the story.’ We have a 17-game season, this is the second week of the season. What we do from here on out, everyone taking a hard look at what we did — coaches, players, everyone. Calls that we made, plays that we made, plays that we didn’t make, and let’s come out of here a better football team for it and get to work and get ready for the next game against New England in New England.”