Ravens at Dolphins Week 1 Stock up, Stock Down for Miami

The Miami Dolphins were beaten by the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. And by beaten, I mean they were destroyed, decimated, embarrassed, routed, crushed, trounced, obliterated, annihilated, and disintegrated. The 59-10 victory by the Ravens continues a three games streak in which the Ravens have won 59-10, 44-0, and 38-6. To save you the math, that is 137-16 in three games. Not exactly a great showing.

There were plenty of options for this week’s Stock Down nominees, but there were actually some Stock Up players worth mentioning as well. You will find our top three for each category.

Stock Up: DeVante Parker. The Dolphins cam into the game having just traded their top wide receiver to the Houston Texans, with questions once again surrounding Parker and his ability to perform like a “number one” receiver. He was that on Sunday, making plays and trying to get the Dolphins offense moving. He was targeted seven times, with three receptions for 75 yards. It was not a stellar performance, but on a day that ended 59-10, Parker was one of the lone bright spots on the field for Miami.

Stock Down: Offensive line. Ouch. Not a lot can be said of the offensive line other than ouch. The allowed three sacks, 12 quarterback hits, seven tackles for a loss, and, according to Pro Football Focus, 11 hurries and 18 pressures. That is what you call a bad day. Granted the right side of the Dolphins’ offensive line had been with the team about a week, with Danny Isidora and Julién Davenport both joining the team after roster cuts, but it still was not pretty, with Ryan Fitzpatrick running for his life on most passing plays, and Kenyan Drake and Kalen Ballage finding no running space on the ground attack.

Stock Up: Matt Haack. Haack is currently the AFC leader in punting average, second in the NFL. That is a pretty good stat, given he was the only player on the Dolphins to routinely move the ball on Sunday. He averaged 53.7 yards per punt on his six kicks, with a average net of 48.8 (tops in the league), two punts inside the 20, and a long of 58 yards.

Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images

Stock Down: Special Teams (outside Matt Haack and Jason Sanders). Haack was great. Sanders was really good, one-for-one on extra points and one-for-one on field goals, blasting a 54-yard kick. After that, special teams struggled. Tackling across the board, special teams and defense, was an issue. Jakeem Grant muffed a punt on the one time Miami forced Baltimore to kick away the ball, and the Ravens recovered. The Ravens faked a punt, up 35-3 at the time, picking up just 60 yards on the direct snap and run. Special teams were a mess. Anyone have the phone number to Darren Rizzi?

Stock Up: Preston Williams. The undrafted free agent not only made the roster, but started in his first career NFL game on Sunday. He also did this.

Stock Down: Brian Flores and the coaching staff. First-time head coaches did not do well this week, and that could be expected. But Flores and the staff clearly were out-coached on the day. They looked to stuff the run, daring Lamar Jackson to beat them, then when he did, they did not adjust. The defense was struggling, special teams had their issues, and the offense, short of the one touchdown drive, never found a rhythm. They have to now keep the locker room together and show this week - against the New England Patriots because of course it is against the Patriots - they learned and are going to have this team in a better position to compete.