There will be complaints about the officiating. There can be excuses about injuries -- as the third-string cornerback R.J. Stanford got picked on all day, backup right tackle Dallas Thomas gave up multiple sacks and Louis Delmas was lost for the remainder of the season.

But none of that changes this fact:

The Miami Dolphins 28-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens for intents and purposes eliminates the Dolphins from a playoff hunt. And this season, that includes a trip to New England next week, is starting to look at lot like last season.

And 2012.

And 2011.

And 2010.

And 2009.

Mediocre. Not good enough. Not able to answer the call in big moments. Unfulfilling. Disappointing. And, of course, likely out of the playoffs.

I do not get this team. Sometimes they start slow. Sometimes they cannot finish. Often they simply do not have what it takes.

They had it going well in the first quarter. They turned away the Ravens on their first three drives while building a 10-0 lead.

And then they collapsed in the second quarter. The Ravens got physical. They imposed their will. They won at the line of scrimmage.

Oh, about the line of scrimmage. Dallas Thomas needs to be benched. Everyone with eyes knows this. And yet he stayed out there pass play after pass play, letting Elvis Dumervil pad his sack stats.

Dumervil finished with 3.5 sacks.

At one point it is no longer Thomas's fault. The fault lies with coaches, who continue to put an overmatched player out there. Jason Fox should have been in there in the second half today. And yet coaches stuck with Thomas as if sacrificing him into a volcano.

There was no challenge of a potential safety. There was no resolution to a terrible run defense, as Baltimore shredded the Dolphins on the ground -- the third game in a row that happens.

On the Baltimore side, meanwhile, the game seemed to turn on a fourth-and-one situation from their own 35 in third quarter. The Ravens, turned back multiple times on third-and-one, went for it.

They made it.

And never really looked back.

And that leaves us with very little to look ahead to the rest of this season. I'm sure the Dolphins will say they still have a shot.

Doesn't feel that way.