The Ravens (4-2) had all the advantages that you could think about coming in to their Monday night game against the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-5), losing 12-7.
Did Joe Flacco play well in the loss? Absolutely not. Was it all his fault? Nope, I don’t think so at all.
Baltimore’s patchwork offensive line didn’t do a good job of protecting Flacco, forcing the fourth-year quarterback to scramble and misfire on multiple occasions.
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Baltimore’s preseason came to an end with a 27-21 loss to the St. Louis Rams Thursday night. The loss isn’t so bad for the Ravens, but some of things that went on during the game were troublesome.
First, Dannell Ellerbe’s showboating on his interception and touchdown was a terrible moment in the game. Ellerbe is clearly talented, but he drew the ire of John Harbaugh immediately after that play. Chances are Ellerbe still makes the team, but his playing time could be significantly reduced, at least to start the season, because of that incident.
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Training camp for the Baltimore Ravens arrives with issues that are both large and small. There are high hopes going in to the 2010 season, but there’s always the caveat in the NFL of if players don’t get then there could be a successful season.
The biggest issue that the Ravens are worrying about right now is the head injury to Sergio Kindle. Kindle, a second-round pick out of Texas, was drafted to be a pass-rushing specialist this year, while being slowly developed to be a starting linebacker in the future. That plan now has to be scrapped because Kindle has a fractured skull, according to coach John Harbaugh. Kindle will be in Westminster as soon as possible, but that could be a ways in the future. Also, to complicate matters, Kindle isn’t under contract. The Ravens were going to probably offer Kindle a fair contract, but with this injury, his contract could become more complex.
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Now that the Baltimore Ravens’ season is over, it’s time to focus on free agency. Doing this, we have to go in under the assumption that 2010 is going to be an uncapped year and therefore, there are certain rules and regulations that each team and player must follow.
Since the Ravens were one of the final eight teams left in the playoffs, they can’t sign a free agent unless they lose one. Right away this makes it tough for the Ravens to make any improvements or changes to their squad.
As for the players, with no Collective Bargaining Agreement in place, players that are four year veterans that would be unrestricted free agents are restricted free agents. For the Ravens, that means they have a decision to make on Mark Clayton and Demetrius Williams.
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With the playoffs just about on the line and the chance to knock out the defending Super Bowl champions, the Baltimore Ravens choked in a big game again. This time they fell 23-20.
It started and ended poorly for Baltimore, but in between the Ravens did indeed look like a payoff contender. Pittsburgh got out to a quick lead and it was evident that it was going to be a long day. The Ravens couldn’t stop committing penalties and making mistakes throughout the first half. It wasn’t just limited to the players though.
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The Baltimore Ravens have got to be happy to be playing at home this weekend. With a blizzard hitting most of the Northeast and some of the Midwest, the Chicago Bears are struggling to get to Baltimore. As it is, the NFL granted the Ravens request to move the start time of the game back to 4:15 p.m.
For the second straight week, the Ravens are playing an opponent that has a struggling quarterback and a defense that hasn’t been very good all year. Chicago was able to beat Pittsburgh in Week 2, but really has gotten trounced by superior opponents all season long. Cincinnati dropped 45 points on the Bears and Minnesota absolutely picked the defense apart. I wouldn’t expect anything different Sunday afternoon from the Ravens.
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The Baltimore Ravens are coming off of a loss against the Green Bay Packers. Baltimore was dominated in every phase of the game Monday night and is coming in to Sunday’s game with Detroit reeling from injuries. If there’s a week that the Ravens should rest their injured players for the stretch one, it’s this week.
It’s not that Detroit isn’t improving, they are, but they are still brutally bad. The Lions were beat up by Cincinnati last Sunday and are going as far as resting rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford this week. This game is shaping up very badly for Detroit. The Lions are choosing to start Daunte Culpepper who hasn’t been on his game in years. Although the defense is getting better, they still may have trouble keeping up with the Ravens.
On Baltimore’s side, starters like Ed Reed, Jared Gaither, Jarret Johnson and Mark Clayton are all battling injuries. If I was John Harbaugh, I’d rest them for at least this week, possibly next week as well. Reed is dealing with a leg issue, Clayton has a pulled hamstring, Johnson and Gaither are just banged up. Terrell Suggs is also trying to come back from a knee injury. Suggs, in my opinion, should rest another week unless it is totally necessary for him to return. If Clayton doesn’t play, I’m going to be looking for Kelley Washington and Demetrius Williams to get the bulk of the time in Clayton’s slot.
The other player battling injuries, but continues to play and practice through it, is Joe Flacco. Flacco has been battling a hip and ankle injuries for some time now. If Baltimore gets up by enough, I say Harbaugh should take him out and put Troy Smith in. For one, it’ll give Flacco’s body a little more time recover for next Sunday. Secondly, just in case something does happen to Flacco, Smith will have had some playing time with the team and can knock off some rust.
Better defensive play and, hopefully, better red zone decisions and conversions, well lead to a 31-10 win over Detroit.
Watching the Ravens-Packers game on Monday night was very frustrating because of all of the yellow on the field. No, it wasn’t Green Bay Packer yellow, it was yellow flags from the referees.
Every time the Baltimore Ravens made a good defensive play it was marred by a penalty. I don’t think everything the Ravens did to Green Bay was a penalty and certainly not the first pass interference call on Domonique Foxworth. Foxworth played textbook man coverage and was whistled for a penalty. It seems that the secondary, especially Frank Walker, has been penalized all season long.
The problems didn’t start with Green Bay, and I’m sure they won’t end this week with Detroit. Part of the problem with the Ravens is their reputation. For years Baltimore trash-talked their way through games and made the rest of the NFL despise them. Not so much the league, or the refs, but the teams. Since John Harbaugh took over last season, the Ravens have stopped with the extra activities after the plays. The reputation, however, has stuck.
Maybe the Ravens can work on this perception in the last four games of this season and keep it up next season, but it might be a little rough at times until there is a noticeable change in the attitude of the Ravens players.
The Baltimore Ravens moved Lardarius Webb and Marshal Yanda to first-team players on the depth chart Tuesday. It’s not big news and not really all that important, but it’s worth talking about.
Webb, of course, replaced the injured Fabian Washington in the lineup on Sunday night. His rise in his rookie season has been meteoric. The third-round draft pick started very slowly in training camp, but started to turn it around on special teams. Then he started to get in some plays in the nickel package. Now, Webb is the starter. For what it’s worth, I liked what I saw out of Webb on special teams. He seemed to have a nose for the ball on kick and punt coverage. It looks to me like he can be a shutdown corner. No, Webb is not as big as Chris McAlister, but size doesn’t matter as much as speed at the corner back position. Webb was a very solid addition for the Ravens in the draft, and is a welcome addition in a secondary that has been suspect all season.
Yanda, on the other hand, has finally gotten his job back. Yanda was the starting right guard for Baltimore until he shredded his knee last season. Chris Chester hasn’t played poorly, but Yanda is much nastier when blocking. Also, I think John Harbaugh, like many coaches, believes that players shouldn’t lose their starting jobs to injuries. Yanda just needed to get his knee healthy. I fully expect the offensive line to be even better in the upcoming weeks now that Yanda is back on the right side next to rookie right tackle Michael Oher.
I don’t think the depth chart matters too much in any instance, but I’m certain it doesn’t matter with the Ravens. Since Harbaugh took over last season, the whole roster has been used. I wouldn’t put too much stock in these moves, other than Harbaugh is putting the best 11 men on either side of the ball on the field. I do like how Harbaugh uses the entire active roster, for the most part, in every game, but elevating Webb and Yanda to first team is the right move.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Baltimore Ravens shut down the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football. All it took was a nice interception return by Dawan Landry. That play just about closed out the Browns. I’m going to take a look at how we got to that point.
The first half was a really ugly half of football. Neither team could get anything going on offense and the defenses dominated. Then Cleveland got the ball to start the second half and went three-and-out. The Ravens took over and Derrick Mason got free for a 41-yard gain in to Cleveland’s red zone. Ray Rice ran it in from there for the first score of the game.
Landry picked off Brady Quinn’s next pass and took it in to the end zone. The Browns were done then, but the Ravens put another field goal on the board to complete the game’s scoring.
What bothered me about this game was the Ravens’ first half clock management. While there was time left in the first quarter, the Ravens had no timeouts left. Partially this was due to a bad challenge by John Harbaugh on a Jamal Lewis run. The offense sputtered in the first half. Cam Cameron never got the running game in rhythm and Joe Flacco looked flustered at times.
Steve Hauschka added to frustration with his first quarter field goal going wide left. That was his third miss in six chances. I can’t see Hauschka surviving for another week. Points are just too valuable in the NFL, and especially in the upcoming weeks against Indianapolis and Pittsburgh. Hauschka needs to hit his field goals all the time, not just in garbage time. He also missed an extra point. Harbaugh wasn’t happy with Hauschka after the game and he has since been released.
The shining part of this game was the defense. The defensive line got to Quinn multiple times throughout the game. Baltimore’s linebacker corps was one of the better units on the field playing in pass coverage and stuffing the run. I liked how the secondary tackled the receivers and gave run support to the front seven. Of course they had their interceptions and added to the scoring.
Lardarius Webb may be the next big time player on the roster. His time in the secondary was solid, but his real value Monday night came on special teams. Webb had a good return on the opening kickoff of the game, but was spectacular on punt coverage. If he wasn’t making the tackle, Webb was searching for the ball and helping the team down it inside the 20.
Overall, the Ravens played a good half of football. They obviously have to improve if they’re going to even compete with Indianapolis. I liked certain things from the Ravens on Monday night, but there are plenty of holes to work on this week in practice.