REARVIEW MIRROR
October 5, 2008
Call it déjà vu. Call it a nightmare. For the second week in a row the Ravens outclassed a physical, favored opponent. Like the Steelers game six days prior, the Ravens put the unbeaten Tennessee Titans on the ropes by grabbing an early lead and dominating on defense. Their defense was so dominant, in fact, that even a small Ravens lead in the second half was starting to feel like a commanding position over the visiting Titans.
But for the second week in a row
With two of the NFL’s best defenses meeting to revive this old rivalry, it had all the makings of a nasty, low-scoring affair. True to form, 71,131 fans at M&T Bank Stadium witnessed a chippy, choppy game.
Tight, defensive contests usually turn on penalties, turnovers, and special teams play. And that is exactly the way this ugly game went. It was marred by stalled drives, shoving, jawing and flying yellow flags. Twenty-five percent of the snaps resulted in a penalty or turnover. The two teams were flagged 21 times for 169 yards.
The Titans were the first to succumb to their mistakes. Penalties for offsides and personal fouls prevented them from moving the ball and helped the Ravens extend their drives. The frustration boiled over on the Titans sideline, with players like Keith Bullock, Albert Haynesworth, and Cortland Finnegan shoving and barking at each other.
Their offensive struggles certainly had to lead to the Titans’ bad mood. Kerry Collins had that same deer-in-the-headlights look the Ravens had seen from him eight years prior, in
Meanwhile, the Ravens offense was putting together consistent, if not entirely productive drives. They held the time of possession advantage over the Titans by about nine minutes. Seven of their nine drives averaged nine plays each. But they failed to capitalize while only managing a single-touchdown lead. Time and again they stalled in no-man’s land. Whether attempting long field goals or short punts, their advantage was squandered.
And then the game turned, nearly as suddenly as it had in the Week Four loss to the Steelers. First the Titans put together a 13-play 81-yard drive, aided by defensive holding. And on their next possession, roughing the passer and too many men on the field for the Ravens helped propel another Titans drive, 80 yards in 11 plays to seize the win.
When dominant play is erased by costly mistakes, players’ grades suffer. Here are the results:
Quarterback: C-
This was a step back for Joe Flacco, which is to be expected with a rookie quarterback. On the plus side, he shows patience escaping rushes while completing throws on the run. He again showed a knack for throwing the ball in locations where only his receiver can make the catch or shield defenders. He also showed that he can get hot, build confidence, and thread difficult throws to keep drives alive. Leading his team to their lone touchdown Flacco connected on twelve straight completions at one point. He got better this week finding secondary receivers and spreading the ball around. However, he also continues to start slowly, throwing off target early. He again demonstrated what appears to be his greatest vulnerability: seeing linebackers and underneath defenders. It led to two bad interceptions, and a would-be third interception that was bobbled by David Thorton.
Running Backs: C+
Le’Ron McLain continues to make Ozzie Newsome smart for letting Ovie Mughelli go the way of free agency. McLain side stepped Titan tacklers to pick up extra yardage and pounded the ball hard in the fourth quarter when the Ravens were protecting a lead. Le’Ron again showed a nose for the end zone with his hard goal line running. Willis McGahee appeared to be slower to the hole, dancing, and not as explosive as McLain. All told McGahee averaged less than 3 yards on his 22 carries. McLain averaged nearly 5 YPC on eleven carries. The difference between the two backs was most apparent midway through quarter two, after the Titans had tied the game at three apiece. McLain started a drive with a six yard run. Similar calls for McGahee on the next two possessions gained two and zero yards, leading to a punt. Together, McGahee and McLain managed 115 yards on the ground against the stingy Titans, who were often stacking eight and nine in the box.
Wide Receiver: C+
Mark Clayton woke up from his early season slumber with four catches for thirty-seven yards. He should get better separation plus he needs to be more aware of the sticks. After one catch he moved laterally after gaining possession instead lowering his shoulder and running north and south to pick up the needed first down. On his nine yard end around he could have followed a Ben Grubbs block for a lot more yardage instead of cutting inside. Demetrius Williams did not run crisp routes on timing plays, but showed toughness hauling in a long catch over the middle. Mason made some critical catches on slant calls, but also had an easy drop.
Tight Ends: B-
Primarily used as blockers the tight ends performed well overall. When called on to catch passes, Todd Heap chipped in with 4 catches for 41 yards, including a 17 yard gain. Perhaps he silenced some critics by holding on to the ball on two consecutive hard hits, including an obvious helmet-to-helmet foul on the Titans’ Finnegan, which was not called. Bonus goes to the Ravens’ number 48, tight end Chris Chester, for nice blocking in the red zone.
Tackles: C
Both starting tackles, Adam Terry and Jared Gaither committed costly false starts. Gaither’s penalty erased any chance of a touchdown to end the half. Terry was performing well as a run blocker until he was helped off with a right knee injury. But Willie Anderson appeared to be flawless in stepping in for Terry. Gaither shows that he can dominate at the point of attack, but he has trouble blocking in space, and looked lost or confused trying to get his hat on a blue shirt at the second level. He had trouble sealing Kyle Vanden Bosch who successfully provided back-side pursuit. Gaither is still a work in progress who must learn not to take plays off.
Interior Line: B+
Ben Grubbs played very well. He was so dominating pulling to the right that the Ravens called for the same counter-action on three consecutive plays to jump-start a drive. Jason Brown more than held his own against the heralded Albert Haynesworth. The Titans got no pressure on Flacco up the middle.
Cornerbacks: B-
As a cornerback, Frank Walker is a nice safety. In other words,
Safeties: B
Jim Leonard was again very active filling in for Dawan Landry at free safety. He led the Ravens with seven-and-a-half tackles, while also pressuring Collins. Ultimately however, the team recorded no sacks on Collins, which was another difference maker in this tight game. Ed Reed showed savvy, playing possum at one point and crashing in for a stop in the backfield, and later slapping away a throw into the end zone. But let’s face it, Reed is far from 100% healthy. He seems to be in pain at the end of every play. Alge Crumpler burned him at one point, slipping past Bart Scott on a throw underneath.
Linebackers: B
Ray Lewis made his mark in the NFL playing sideline to sideline. In this game, as in the Steelers match-up, he looked like a dominant, old-school linebacker, moving forward and punishing ball carriers with his tackling. His weakness these days, as evidenced in the Titans game, is when runners have a chance to find him, set their feet, and juke him to slip past. Jarret Johnson continues to play the game at a higher level than the supporting cast. Bart Scott appears every bit to be playing for a big contract. The linebacking corps as a whole, however, faltered in covering the Titans tight ends in the flat. Bo Scaife and Alge Crumpler accounted for 9 of the Titans’ 17 catches, and over half of the total receiver yards, doing most of their damage on the two Titans’ drives.
Defensive Line: A
This group controlled the game. The Titans managed just 48 yards rushing. When they weren’t controlling the lanes for the linebackers to fill, they were getting their hands into the passing lanes, altering throws, knocking down passes, and in one case causing a turnover when Haloti Ngata’s deflection tumbled into Justin Bannan’s hands. This group played the game in the Titans’ backfield. Outstanding.
Special Teams: D-
Better play by the special teams units might have prevented the loss. The coverage units were terrible. The Titans managed a 39 yard punt return and a 49 yard kick off return. Corey Ivy’s personal foul (horse collar tackle) added insult to injury and gift-wrapped excellent field position for the Titans at the Ravens’ 35. Later, Ivy failed to locate the ball when Sam Koch bounced a punt at the two. That put the ball on the twenty when the Titans started their final drive. It may be time to start worrying about Matt Stover. He missed a 45 yarder that would have changed the game. The Ravens also shied away from setting up Matt with another long attempt late in the game. Matt did knock in a 37 yarder and had one kick off go for a touchback. Yamon Figurs was hesitant in his returns.
Coaching: C
It’s hard to credit coaching when the team has eleven penalties and burns time outs unnecessarily. Again this week they didn’t maintain composure when they could have bore down and put away the disjointed Titans. Failure to play with composure in the face of an aggressive opponent was a problem once again. It’s almost as though teams know how to get under the Ravens’ skin and that suggests the coaches should be able to get it under control. Rex Ryan was not able to dial up the right combination of blitzes on Collins when the team needed it. Cam Cameron continues to be excellent with in game adjustments. After three games of running behind an unbalanced
Officiating: C-
Bill Corollo’s crew seemed uncertain and confused on how to sort-out many of their own calls. This was a game where too many flags were thrown, and it probably contributed to the level of frustration on the part of the players. At the end of the first half the refs failed to restore four seconds that had ticked off the clock on Gaither’s dead ball penalty, which cemented the Ravens taking a field goal instead of one more throw into the end zone. The blow to the head call against Terrell Suggs on the Titans winning touchdown drive was curious. More curious was Corollo’s explanation that the Titans committed a dead ball foul, false start, but play was allowed to continue, wiping out the Titans’ penalty. Hmmm.
Broadcast: C
Solomon Wilcotts and Ian Eagle talk so much that you find yourself tuning them out. They were somewhat erratic in identifying which players were involved in certain plays. And the CBS crew was often very slow to provide replays, or sometimes failing to show any at all.
