October 26, 2008
The Oakland Raiders made the cross-country trip to
Perhaps, too, it was the excellent coverage by the Ravens special teams that kept the Raiders pinned deep most of the first half. The Raiders started drives on their own 22, 7, 26, 3, 20, and 2 yard line in the first half. And from there the Ravens defense dominated, including a safety to start the scoring. By the time the half was over the Ravens held a 19-0 lead and the game was essentially over.
The Ravens again showed a bit of let up in the third quarter this week, this time allowing 135 yards and all ten of the Raiders’ points in the quarter, after holding them to 35 yards and a shutout in the first half.
Ultimately, however, this was a game that featured two strong defenses and the Ravens simply proved they were the better of the two Ryan-coached units. The Ravens’ strong run coverage constantly put the Raiders in third and long situations, where they were only able to convert 15% of their 13 attempts (and one for four on fourth down tries). By contrast, the Ravens converted 56% of their third down attempts to keep scoring chances alive.
Throw in some creative play calling and just one offensive turnover, and it added up to an old-fashioned Ravens kind of win.
There were enough good performances all over the field to warrant better grades this week.
Quarterback: B+
Joe Flacco may not put up big numbers, but he shows an uncanny knack for helping his team with clutch contributions. This week was no exception. His passing numbers were 12 for 24 and 140 yards and a touchdown. Half the yardage was on the 70-yard connection to Demetrius Williams. Other than that long touchdown, Joe continues to have timing difficulties with the long ball. Still, he was excellent throwing to the sticks and continues to improve on his check downs. That, along with the lack of an interception, suggests that Flacco is mastering the offense. His receivers this week started out cold, and hurt his numbers, including a one-for-six passing streak to start to the game. On a day when the passing yardage was kept in check, Flacco found other ways to contribute brilliantly, however, including a 43-yard catch on a deep sideline route hauling in a very nice toss from Troy Smith. There was also Flacco’s bootleg for a touchdown to seal the victory. Slow-talking Joe Flacco is actually quite quick when he tucks the ball and runs. It was pleasant to see Troy Smith enter the game in the “Suggs” package—a not so subtle light jab at Suggs from head coach John Harbaugh for his suggestion that Smith needs to see the field more often.
Running Backs: B
Based on one game for sure – and maybe others — Ray Rice is outperforming Willis McGahee. Although Willis did get into the end zone, it was the rookie Rice who stole the show on the ground. McGahee totaled 58 yards on 23 carries. It took Rice just 8 touches to net 64 yards. And many of Ray’s carries featured broken tackles and extra effort to gain first downs. McGahee was back to looking tentative on his running and reads, including one particularly poor decision to bounce a run outside for no gain rather than use his blockers for a sure gain. McGahee also whiffed on a pass-block attempt, forcing his quarterback to throw the ball away. And for the second week in a row Willis turned the ball over with a fumble. Le’Ron McClain looked more like a fullback and less like a tailback this week, but still chipped in with 7 carries for 32 yards. He did drop a swing pass. But he also absolutely pancaked Raiders linebacker Sam Williams to get McGahee close to the end zone.
Wide Receivers: C-
Other than the Demetrius Williams touchdown catch, where Raiders safety Gibril Wilson failed to carry out his responsibilities, there was just one other completion to a wide out – a 3 yard completion to Derrick Mason. Mason did have one nice catch in traffic negated by a holding penalty on Chris Chester. Derrick also slipped coming out of break – as is common at M&T Bank stadium where slick paint markings seem to cause problems at least once in every game. The Ravens receivers are blocking well, but not showing much separation to help Flacco.
Tight Ends: B-
Todd Heap had two timely catches for first downs. Heap could not hold on to a longer completion when safety Hiram Eugene knocked him off his feet. It was nice to see Dan Wilcox get in the box score, too, with two catches for 13 yards.
Tackles: B-
Willie Anderson seems to get better each week and today showed why he is a former All-Pro performer. The best moment for the tackles came on a variation of a counter-trey run, where
Interior Line: C+
Chris Chester played with greater intensity for the second week and held his own for the most part. As the game wore on however, he was guilty of a couple holds that nullified a long completion to Mason and a TD run by McGahee. There was less pulling in the interior this week, as Jason Brown and Ben Grubbs had hats to block directly in front of them on many snaps. They performed decently, but not spectacularly. There was too much traffic at the point of attack to get these two out in space, where they are most effective.
Cornerbacks: B+
Safeties: B
Other than being a step late once to allow a long completion, Jim Leonard was again a solid contributor filling in for Dawan Landry. Ed Reed controlled the middle of the field effectively. There was less safety blitzing in order to protect the corners, and it seemed to pay off for the Ravens. The two safeties were in on only seven tackles, but that’s an indication of solid play from the front seven.
Linebackers: A
Terrell Suggs had a tremendous game. Depending on the size of the league-fine he will probably receive, perhaps he should wear white shoes every week. ‘Sizzle’ blew by Kwame Harris to start the game off with a sack. He also got to Russell to help rookie Jameel McClain register a safety…the first for the Ravens in two years. Jameel may be auditioning for the role of Bart Scott next year. Besides having his way with Kwame Harris all day, Suggs also dominated guard Cooper Carlisle to stop the Raiders for a loss on a third and three attempt, forcing them to punt from their own end zone. Bart Scott showed good gap discipline and was rewarded with two solo tackles and two assists. Jarret Johnson continues to show tremendous explosion, chipping in with a sack on Russell. He was also active in slapping down a pass. Ray Lewis really stepped up his game in pass coverage, as did Scott. Ray made another highlight tackle at the goal line to save a touchdown, although the call was later reversed and called a score upon further guessing (?) by the officiating crew.
Defensive Line: A
Prior to the game Haloti Ngata said he was working on his pass rushing moves, and it seemed to pay off as he was getting the kind of penetration that has been missing in the Ravens four-man rush in previous weeks. Haloti chipped in with his first sack of the year. Trevor Pryce forced the Raiders linemen to hold him on just about every passing down, although he never got the call. The defensive line was a big key to the game in stopping the run; the Raiders Justin Fargas and Michael Bush netted just 32 yards for the day. One particularly impressive play midway through the first quarter had Justin Bannan penetrating into the Raiders backfield and Marques Douglas stunting behind Bannan to stuff a run attempt behind the line of scrimmage. Brandon McKinney also played well for the Ravens in run coverage and in sniffing out a screen.
Special Teams: A
The special teams unit seemed to play as though they had something to prove. The Ravens coverage units were excellent. The Raiders’ Johnny Lee Higgins gained just five yards total on three punt returns, in addition to being pinned back deep by Koch punts. It was Koch’s perfect 48-yard punt down to the Raiders six that set up the Ravens safety. Brendan Ayanbadejo was more active this week, including a nice open field tackle to start game. Higgins averaged under twenty yards on his six kick off returns. Jim Leonard was more than adequate filling in for the injured Yamon Figurs on punt returns. He nearly broke his first return for a long gain, and showed explosiveness on each of his four returns. He cut one return inside for 46 yards, to set up his team’s first touchdown. Edgar Jones was guilty of a hold to bring back another nice return by Leonard. Matt Stover chipped in with two field goals, of 38 and 30 yards.
Coaching: B+
Rex Ryan put in a very good plan to stop
Officiating: C
Jeff Triplett curiously overturned a call in favor of the Raiders on what hardly looked like indisputable evidence that the ball carrier had crossed the plane of the end zone. There is little consistency by officials across the league on what constitutes conclusive evidence on replay calls and this was a prime example. There was a poor holding call against Jared Gaither that, when replayed, was not even close to a hold; yet other, more obvious holding calls on the line were not called.
Broadcast: B
Solomon Wilcotts was very good in his explanation of what was happening on the field. He correctly noted problems, for instance, by McGahee following his blocks, but was quick to point out how McGahee corrected the error in the next series. The crew was also excellent at identifying personnel changes.
This one was an important win for the Ravens against a team they were supposed to beat, considering that the next three games will all be on the road, starting next week in
