In a 27-13 win that snapped a three-game losing streak, rookie quarterback Joe Flacco operated at a faster tempo. He lined up often in the shotgun formation, and the Ravens engineered four scoring drives.
That included a crisp two-minute drill capped by Flacco delivering an 11-yard strike to wide receiver Derrick Mason for a touchdown with 30 seconds remaining before halftime.
The shotgun and the no-huddle represent familiar territory for Flacco, who was exposed to that combination regularly at the
The Dolphins had trouble substituting personnel to make adjustments.
"I think Joe likes to run it," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of the no-huddle. "I don’t know if he prefers it over the huddle or not, but I think it puts defenses in a tough spot. It makes those guys operate maybe a little bit more simply at times, and that’s an advantage to the offense.
"We’ve had some success in it, and other times we haven’t. But it’s been effective so far, and Joe seems comfortable with it."
Flacco appeared more decisive and confident against the Dolphins, who entered the game ranked 29th in pass defense.
And the first-round draft pick took advantage of their lack of sound coverage by completing 17 of 23 passes for 232 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a 120.2 quarterback rating. He was sacked three times, but never seemed to get rattled.
"It felt good compared to last week," tight end Todd Heap said. "We improved a lot of things offensively. We were able to sustain some drives, which was good to see.
While Flacco botched a handoff and was nearly intercepted one play prior to his touchdown to Mason when cornerback Will Allen failed to catch a pass thrown directly at him when Mason drifted away from his pattern area, he had a strong game overall. Especially one week after a three-interception outing in a 31-3 blowout loss against the Indianapolis Colts.
"It was a bounce-back game for us as a team," Flacco said. "You get in the groove of the game. I felt good from the first play out there and we grew in confidence as a team."
To open the third quarter, the Ravens exclusively stayed in the no-huddle on a 13-play, 67-yard drive where Matt Stover kicked a 28-yard field goal. It lasted six minutes, 28 seconds with eight runs for 50 yards.
Running back Willis McGahee rushed for 105 yards, including a five-yard insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter to complete the Ravens’ scoring.
"Is the running game where we want it? I think it was good last week," Harbaugh said. "As we all know, one week to the next doesn’t guarantee anything. I’m sure Oakland is going to be cranked up to stop that running game, so we’ve got to find a way to run it against them and to throw it and to run the screen pass and to protect the quarterback and all the things we have to do."
For the season, Flacco has completed 107 of 167 passes (64.1 percent) for 1,076 yards, two touchdowns and seven interceptions for a 68.8 quarterback rating.
Although he has struggled with turnovers, Flacco has remained poised through his growing pains. He completed passes to six different targets Sunday, averaging 13.6 yards per completion.
The Ravens lack a legitimate big-play threat outside, rarely throw deep and aren’t regularly involving Heap, but are beginning to employ more screen passes and may open up the offense if Flacco continues to progress.
At this stage of Flacco’s development, the Ravens and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron are becoming more at ease with allowing him more latitude to run the offense.
"I’m not sure how much we haven’t given him," Harbaugh said. "We’ve got a certain two-minute offense that’s part of our system, and he’s got the whole package. Now, how
