ShareThisThe end seemed harsh, even cruel, as the most festive football afternoon in South Florida in seven years came to a bone-jarring, dream-crushing conclusion.
The Miami Dolphins' serendipitous ride through this most unpredictable NFL season was suddenly over Sunday, stopped cold by the Baltimore Ravens, who won here for the second time in three months and left no doubt whom deserved to play on.
There would be no trip to Pittsburgh, no game next week, no more delusions.
Not for the Dolphins.
Not after this.
Ravens 27, Dolphins 9.
"I certainly didn't expect for it to end this way," Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington said after throwing four interceptions, the first time this season he had been picked off more than once.
Neither did the 74,240 believers who packed Dolphin Stadium for the Dolphins' first playoff game since January 2002.
But the Ravens, known for their tenacious defense, stepped into the arena and hit the Dolphins hard and often with a brutal dose of reality.
Hit them with such force that even the home team's fans felt it.
The Dolphins, despite all the hype surrounding their remarkable turnaround, despite all the progress they made from 1-15 last year, simply weren't good enough.
Weren't good enough to beat the wild-card Ravens. Weren't good enough to beat the caliber of teams that get to the playoffs. Weren't close, really.
And the truth hurt.
"Make no mistake about it: They beat us," Dolphins cornerback Andre Goodman said, refusing to use his team's five turnovers as an excuse. "We did not beat ourselves. They beat us. Today, we looked overmatched. We didn't look like we belonged in the playoffs."
For far too much of this game, the Dolphins looked more like the team that lost 15 games last season than the team that won 11 this season.
Pennington's interceptions hurt, including two by Ravens All-Pro safety Ed Reed, who returned one 64 yards for the game's first touchdown.
So did Patrick Cobbs' fumble.
So did a botched, end-around handoff to Ted Ginn Jr. -- a play that cost the Dolphins what little chance remained for any fourth-quarter comeback.
But the Dolphins defense also played poorly, allowing 151 rushing yards and putting little pressure on Ravens rookie quarterback Joe Flacco.
"We picked the wrong time," Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter said, "to play one of our worst games."
The opponent, though, had everything to do with the Dolphins' dismal performance.
The Ravens, now 12-5, have got a strong running attack, a promising young quarterback and a championship-caliber defense. They're a good team.
The Dolphins beat only two good teams all season -- New England and San Diego, who won the AFC West with an 8-8 record.
In fact, the Dolphins beat only two teams (New England and the New York Jets) that finished the season with winning records and beat only one (San Diego) that made the playoffs.
So when Porter said, "We've been playing playoff games since the St. Louis game," he was stretching things.
True, the Dolphins couldn't afford to lose any of their final five games. But those games were against St. Louis, Buffalo, San Francisco, Kansas City and the Jets -- not a playoff team in the bunch. And, yet, the Dolphins won those games by no more than a touchdown.
So how good, really, were the 2008 Dolphins? It depends.
Are we comparing them to last year's Dolphins or to other playoff teams around the league? These Dolphins were good enough to win the AFC East, get to the playoffs. Soft schedule notwithstanding, they earned their way to this game.
"It's a big-time turnaround, and it's been a collective effort," said Pennington, who finished second to Indianapolis' Peyton Manning in the league's MVP voting. "If there's ever been an epitome of a team, it's been our team.
"So many people involved, so many people playing important roles, so many people changing their roles and having to do other things to make the team successful . . . It's been a special year."
And these Dolphins took it as far as they could.
To a man, they talked about moving forward, getting better, building on this season's success.
"We're all happy we did what we did," Ginn said. "It's disappointing that we lost this game, but we'll use this to come back stronger next year."
They'll need to.
Next season's non-division schedule will be significantly tougher. The Dolphins will play at Tennessee, Carolina, Atlanta, Denver and Jacksonville, and at home against Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, New Orleans and Houston.
"It's hard to talk about next year," Dolphins defensive end Vonnie Holliday said. "A lot can happen between now and then. But you look at what happened this year and there's so much to look forward to.
"Nobody gave us a chance to get this far."
The Ravens, though, made sure the Dolphins didn't get any farther -- and left no doubt as to why.
(Ray McNulty is sports columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. Contact him at ray.mcnulty@scripps.com.)
