QUARTERBACK: C+
Steve McNair reminded me of the kid that just got a brand new football but used the old one instead because the weather was bad and he didn’t want to mess the new one all up. Or like a hip teenager who wore his old clothes to a party he wasn’t too keen on saving the new and more stylish threads for a night when he really wants to go steppin’ out. In other words, I got the impression that he was holding back, doing what he minimally needed to do to eat up the clock and get out of the game injury free.
McNair showed fancy footwork sidestepping pressure from the Bills’ front seven while delivering safe passes. On the opening drive, McNair focused on short passes to Derrick Mason and seemed a bit pre-determined where he would deliver the ball as opposed to the week before when he calmly read through his progressions. As a result he missed a streaking Todd Heap who was one on one and heading towards the end zone. With Heap one on one with a small DB, I’ll take my chances in the end zone with mitts like his.
Early in the game McNair stepped up to avoid a big rush and you got the feeling that he was about to deliver a big play because the move up in the pocket bought him ample time to throw. Instead he tossed a poorly thrown ball into the waiting arms of LB London Fletcher in Ravens’ territory. Overall McNair was 23 of 35 for 215 yards which isn’t so bad considering the conservative plan but he needs to do a better job in the paint — the red zone. His 70.7 rating on the day is just about right but I’ll give him a slight bump for managing the game and keeping his defense off the field.
RUNNING BACK: C+
Either Jamal Lewis just can’t get to the edges or the Ravens were simply intent on just going toe to toe with the Bills and hope that their superior size would wear down the Bills. It never did as the sledding was tough. Not only were 8 in the box, the Bills were tight in the box not respecting Lewis’ ability or lack thereof to get outside. You’ve at least got to show it but then again, that may have been exactly what the Ravens wanted to do — not show anything. Mike Anderson needs more touches when the box is tight. He seems to have a better ability to squirt through and pick up extra yards as evidence by his 30 yard run on the Ravens last possession. Ovie Mughelli has been almost flawless as a receiver this season and yesterday, not only did he demonstrate soft hands again, he reacted, read and ran to the same soft spot in the Bills defense that McNair saw on his 24 yard reception in the second quarter. Another plus for the backs yesterday, selling the screen. While it still needs work, there’s potential there going forward.
RECEIVERS: B-
Derrick Mason got off quickly on the first series (5 catches and 1 drop) and you had the feeling early that he might have his way with the Bills secondary. The Bills responded with tighter zone coverage later in the game against the Ravens vanilla play calling. Todd Heap was solid although he did drop one after McNair’s pass took too long to get there allowing a Bills’ DB to jar the ball loose from Heap’s clutches. Demetrius Williams showed savvy on one third down conversion and he did his best Clarence Moore T-Rex impersonation on another pass that may have resulted in a first down deep in Buffalo territory. Mark Clayton was relatively silent while fighting off a flu bug.
OFFENSIVE LINE: C+
The Ravens offensive line was supposed to get the running game untracked last night against a smallish front seven and a defense ranked 29th against the run. It didn’t happen and perhaps that has something to do with Adam Terry and Chris Chester being inserted in place of Ogden and Vincent due to injury. The line did finish the season keeping McNair clean again and establishing a team record for sacks allowed (17). Terry did a very nice job of keeping Pro Bowler Aaron Schobel in check. Schobel had only one assisted tackle on the day.
DEFENSIVE LINE: B+
The Ravens held the Bills to 39 yards rushing and they disrupted J.P. Losman throughout the contest although they didn’t produce the sacks that one may have expected. At the same time, the Ravens didn’t seem to give Losman as many looks as they did Ben Roethlisberger the week before. Similarly the Ravens didn’t show Derek Anderson much in terms of varied looks back on Dec. 17. A very workmanlike effort from a group deserving of the vacation time.
LINEBACKERS: B
Ray Lewis was the busiest of this bunch with 8 tackles a forced fumble leading to a turnover and a sack, his 5th on the season. Credit Lewis for keeping the team’s collective head in the football game and not allowing them to go on vacation a quarter too early. Bart Scott nearly had another sack but let Losman slip away into the waiting arms of Lewis. Scott also made a nice play on McGahee in the backfield to tackle him for a loss of 3. AD had one of his quieter games on the season.
SECONDARY: B-
The Ravens had a bit of a soft white underbelly in the middle of the field when in coverage and Losman exploited it at times with Roscoe Parrish and Lee Evans. While they looked to be protecting against the home run ball, they still managed to give it up. Samari Rolle whiffed on Evans after a double move giving up another big touchdown and Dawan Landry allowed Losman to complete a lollipop pass to Evans for a 52 yard gain on the Bills last possession. He had the time and the size to knock the ball down but failed to do so. Ed Reed delivered some shots on Bills’ receivers destined for “Jacked Up†had there been a Monday Night game to watch tonight. Chris McAlister was solid throughout and the Ravens should give some consideration to allowing McAlister to mark the opponent’s best receiver. He blanketed Evans on one deep pass and looked more like the receiver than Evans. He made a very athletic play on his 31 yard pick six and he closed a ton of ground to bat away a Losman pass intended for TE Robert Royal in the third — a man McAlister wasn’t even assigned to on the play.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C+
Sam Koch finished his fine rookie campaign with a 38.3 yard net average, nailing 3 more punts inside the 20 to run his total on the season to 30, the best since Kyle Richardson’s 35 in 2000. He only had 3 touchbacks during the 2006 regular season. Yesterday not one of Koch’s punts was returned. The kick coverage team performed pretty much as they have all season, allowing 21.7 yards per return while averaging slightly under 20 yards per return, 4 yards off the seasonal average.
Cory Ross is not the answer! A player that averages less than 3 yards per punt return, doesn’t come up and make the tough fair catch and isn’t sure handed, should not be your solution to a thin stable of punt returners for a team with high playoff hopes. A team as solid as the Ravens shouldn’t put themselves in position to let a promising season slip through the butterfingers of a far less than average punt returner. It’s time for Plan C. Matt Stover was as he always is inside the 40 — MONEY!
COACHING: OFFENSE C/DEFENSE C+
Did the Ravens coaches use their vacation days this week? Very little imagination on either side of the football but then again, we might look back to this game at some point and want to boost these grades. Maybe Brian Billick and Rex Ryan are more visionary when it comes to managing the season in its totality without giving away too much against a team they expected to beat. Please ditch the reverse or re-design it. In 8 tries this season, the Ravens have a total of 34 negative yards.
NOTABLES AND QUOTABLES: Willis McGahee needed just 33 yards to reach 1,000 for the season for his third consecutive season. He got 23 thanks to the Ravens defense. "It was tough," McGahee said. "[The Ravens] have a good defense. They’re all good on that side of the ball, so I knew it was going to be hard to run on them."…"We went toe to toe with a team that a lot of people think will be in the Super Bowl – or close to it," Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams said. "We’ve played a bunch of those teams and gone toe to toe with them. That gets us all excited, considering the youth on the team and knowing what we have coming back."…the Ravens improved to 42-14 at home since the 2000 season, the best in the league during that span. The Broncos lost yesterday at home dropped them to 41-15 during the same time…Very little thought from the usually below average group that manages the stadium scoreboard, fireworks, etc. Hello, it was New Year’s Eve and one might think that they would have tried to create a more festive atmosphere. Happy Festivus? It was more like the Ravens’ offensive game plan, Happy Siesta!
