NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 27 BALTIMORE RAVENS 21
October 4, 2009
Pull up the stat sheet from an NFL game and you can usually find the keys to victory. When the Ravens trounced the Browns one week ago, the stats had victory written all over them.
But good luck finding a statistical explanation for this week’s outcome. The sputtering Ravens essentially beat themselves in Foxboro Stadium, losing to a seasoned Patriots team, 27-21.
Penalties, turnovers, sloppy tackling, dropped passes or botched routes by the Ravens in key situations—and perhaps even some questionable officiating—were enough to give away this game to the Patriots by a margin no bigger than the nose of the football.
It’s not that the Ravens played poorly. They essentially played the Patriots even, and even staked a slight statistical advantage in many key categories. They outpaced the Patriots in:
- yards rushing (116 to 85)
- passing (247 to 234)
- first downs (23 to 21)
- plays (66 to 65)
- yards per play (5.5 to 4.9)
- third down efficiency (64% to 40%)
So how did they lose?
They beat themselves with the small mistakes. Nine Ravens penalties for 85 yards, compared to five for 41 yards for the Patriots, all but erased Baltimore’s statistical edge. And it was not just the penalty yardage as much as the timing of the penalties that cost the team, giving the Patriots four additional first downs to extend drives. The longer the Ravens allowed Tom Brady and the Patriots offense to hang around on the field of play, the more chances the Ravens gave the Patriots to put points on the board, while keeping the potent Ravens offense sidelined.
Perhaps the Patriots’ stubborn willingness to stick with their running game also contributed to their success. With thirty rushing attempts to the Ravens’ seventeen, the Patriots mounted a ten-minute time of possession edge, 34:56 to 25:04. This was the kind of game the Ravens could have come away with a win if they just gave themselves a few more “at-bats,” especially considering how productive they were when they did have the ball.
This week the grades reflect good performances marred by crucial mistakes.
Quarterback: B
Joe Flacco seems to be making a habit out a couple poor throws to start games before warming up. He drilled his first pass into the turf at Derrick Mason’s feet, and then missed Willis McGahee out of the backfield before getting into a rhythm and connecting with Mason six times on the opening drive to grab the lead. Stacking seven in the box, the Patriots dared Flacco to beat them. And despite a lot of pressure in his face, Flacco responded well, buying time and getting hit just as he released passes, often waiting for receivers in isolated one-one-one coverage to break free outside the hashes. He was especially effective on third-down completions. As the game wore on he showed good improvisational skills, checking down to optional receivers and even flipping an underhand pass to Heap. As if to outdo himself he attempted a left-handed throw, running left with a defender on his right shoulder, but was called for grounding when the ball didn’t travel far enough. He was not on the same page as Derrick Mason when he purposely underthrew a sideline pass as Clayton broke deep. The ball floated to Leigh Bodden for Flacco’s only interception. Otherwise he had 27 completions out of 47 attempts on the day, for 264 yards and two touchdowns (QB rating: 78.7).
Running Backs: B
Willis McGahee earned the start, but seemed to be a little more tentative running the ball this week, and had just over two yards on his two carries in the first half. His second half rushing was a near mirror of the first. Despite facing seven in the box most of the game, Ray Rice damaged the Patriots defense by averaging 9.4 yards, but was given just eleven carries. Rice was the more explosive of the two backs, and did a lot of damage in the third quarter, including a 50-yard burst up the middle. His five catches for 49 yards were timely. He still represents a very small receiving target for his tall quarterback. And Rice did trip twice on the turf. McGahee did hold onto a tough catch at the goal line as fellow Miami Hurricane Brandon Merriweather popped him. It was McGahee’s league-leading seventh touchdown for the season. Le’Ron McClain blocked well but did not get his number called as a ball carrier. He also seemed to have trouble hearing a Flacco audible and failed to block for McGahee to stall a drive.
Wide Receivers: C+
Derrick Mason continues to pace the team as Flacco’s go-to receiver. He thrived against one-on-one coverage on the outside and ran effective patterns to get himself open. After netting six catches and an impressive TD grab on the opening drive, Mason was contained by the Patriots with just one more catch on the day in the team’s final drive. Kelley Washington was effective in the slot, although he had one key drop. Mark Clayton wears the goat label this week after allowing a Flacco fourth down throw inside the ten reach his shoulder pads and pop to the ground to end the game. The heart breaking near-win was similar in feel to the Ravens 2007 epic loss to the Patriots 27-4 after the Bart Scott meltdown in the east end zone. The drop was surprising after Clayton had already made three catches for thirty yards during the drive.
Tight Ends: B
Todd Heap blocked very well and made a couple of nice catches, totaling four for 46 yards. His best catch was over the middle stretching beyond Darius Butler to snare a hard thrown ball. The 22-yard reception was the second longest play of the day for the Ravens, behind the Rice run. He also executed a nice comeback route and catch near the sidelines for a first down. LJ Smith played sparingly.
Tackles: C-
The Ravens tackles had their hands full with the Patriots’ pass rush. Jared Gaither left the game on a stretcher after jamming his forehead into his quarterback’s back on a sack, but apparently is getting good news from the doctors. Prior to that he was beaten on a couple of outside moves and also on a bull rush by Tully Banta-Cain, getting pushed into Flacco’s face on a throw that easily could have been a touchdown pass. He was better as a run blocker, although he was inconsistent in space blocking out on linebackers and corners. He did register one false start. Michael Oher was more nimble downfield, but he too had some difficulties pass blocking. He was also backed into Flacco to force a near interception, and on the touchdown throw to Mason the ball nearly did not leave Flacco’s hands after Oher ducked his head to allow Derrick Burgess to fly by. With Oher moving to the left side, Marshal Yanda played right tackle. He looked rusty on the first few snaps but improved, particularly with help from his tight end.
Interior Line: B
The best block on the day belonged to Matt Birk as he cleared out the middle on Ray Rice’s 50-yard run. Birk also corrected his snap-count “tell” on shotgun snaps; the Patriots were keyed into his previous pattern of bringing up his head before the snap, and by changing his timing he was able to draw the Patriots offsides on three occasions. Ben Grubbs was very good in space on screen passes. Chris Chester was not as consistent as earlier contests, but played decently.
Cornerbacks: A-
Fabian Washington and Domonique Foxworth had an excellent day overall, holding wideouts Randy Moss and Sam Aiken to a combined four catches and 76 yards. Moss did break inside Foxworth for a touchdown catch on a ball thrown early by Brady. In the nickel, Chris Carr did an admirable job on Wes Welker. Foxworth was flagged on a very questionable pass interference call.
Safeties: C
Dawan Landry struggled. He had trouble covering Ben Watson and Wes Welker, where the Patriots were able to do most of their damage throwing the ball. His missed tackle on Sammy Morris gave up a Patriots touchdown and he was slow to close on a Moss reception over the middle. Tom Zbikowski played sparingly and looked flat footed covering Wes Welker. Ed Reed had a quiet day and seemed to hurt his problematic neck making a tackle.
Linebackers: B-
With Tavares Gooden out of this game, Dannell Ellerbe started and played in running situations. Ellerbe played aggressively, which both helped and hampered his team. He overran Lawrence Maroney after a short catch to allow a longer run, and took a poor angle on Sammy Morris’ TD run. In passing situations Brendon Ayanbadejo played well, especially covering Wes Welker in the slot. A quad injury tackling Morris ended his day, but hopefully not his year. It was a bit disconcerting to see the Patriots rush effectively straight up the middle. Blitzes up the middle were not effective, however, Ray Lewis was able to run free off the edge to hit Brady as he threw, and Jarret Johnson sacked Brady to force a punt. Johnson also made an excellent open field tackle of Maroney for a loss.
Defensive Line: B
On Tuesday in film sessions the coaches will have some discussion around the defensive front being ready to play on quick snap counts. Other than throwing over the middle to the tight end and slot back, the Patriots next best option was running straight up the middle on the Ravens. After Haloti Ngata was flagged for clipping Brady’s helmet as he tried to bat a pass attempt, the Patriots ran the ball seven times inside the red zone and reeled off a couple eight-yard gains before Brady ran it in from the one. Against the pass, the front four was able to get much better penetration this week, however. That included Terrell Suggs beating tackle Matt Light with an inside-out move to sack Brady, causing a fumble that resulted in a TD for the Ravens thanks to Dwan Edward’s hustle. Ironically, the Ravens had taken out Ayanbadejo and Pryce on the play, expecting a run. Suggs looked slow however dropping into coverage. Trevor Pryce was overpowering against tackle Nick Kraczur at times, including a sack of Brady to hold the Patriots to a field goal after the Ravens fumbled away the opening kick.
Special Teams: B-
After fumbling away the opening kick-off, it was looking like another terrible day for the Ravens special teams. But they played mistake free after that miscue. Eventually the Ravens allowed Lardarius Webb to return a kick, and he looked more explosive than Carr getting the ball out to the 36 in the fourth quarter. The Ravens looked very strong in kick coverage, particularly Jameel McClain, Edgar Jones, Brendon Ayanbadejo, and Matt Lawrence. Sam Koch punted well again this week, including a 57 yarder and two more inside the twenty for a net average of 42 on the day.
Coaching: C
John Harbaugh got called with a personal foul for squawking at the officials. Deserved or not, that cannot happen. The decision to throw the ball 47 times was curious when the running game showed so much promise, even though the Patriots seemed geared to stop the run. Typically you want the other team to prove they can stop the run before you abandon the tactic. On defense, while pressuring Brady made a lot of sense based on film from recent games, too often the blitzers were clogged in the middle of the Patriots line. While the outside rush provided free lanes to reach Brady, he did burn them when it left Randy Moss one-on-one on Foxworth for a decisive touchdown.
Officiating: D
NFL officials must deal with a lot of vagueness when it comes to determining what’s a catch, what’s a fumble, what’s a foul. As a fan, you must cope with complicated rules that create this kind of uncertainty, even as you are watching slow motion replays from three angles. But what you should not have to live with as a fan are inconsistent calls. In this game, Ron Winter’s crew was terribly inconsistent. Were they confused? Were they intimidated by the home crowd and the Patriots’ celebrity? It is hard to say. But what is not hard to say is that this crew had trouble spotting the ball correctly and even more trouble consistently calling illegal contact downfield.
The Patriots seemed to benefit from generous spotting, most notably on the fake field goal attempt that should have given the ball back to the Ravens deep in their own territory, with a chance to drive for a tying field goal. Even when given the chance to review the catch and the spot, Winter called it in favor of the Pats. Yet, the Ravens were denied two first downs on questionable spots: once when Clayton seemed to stretch after a nine-yard catch, and then with five minutes left in the fourth quarter as McGahee seemed to stretch the ball out to the 46 for a first down, and the linesman ran in to spot it on the 45. Then there was the offensive pass interference call on Derrick Mason where it was difficult to see any contact at all, much less contact on a defender making a play on the ball. This, despite Mark Clayton getting pushed in the endzone twice with the ball in the air on lob throws—how is that not illegal contact and pass interference?
And then there’s the Chris Carr foul, flagged for merely extending an arm toward a receiver pushing him out of the break?
The Ravens are still steaming over the personal foul call on Suggs where he may have been pushed or he may have dove toward Brady’s knees. Since Brady sidestepped Suggs it seemed highly unusual to call it a foul, but Brady lobbied and got the critical, drive-extending call. And yet there was a blatant clip of Jarret Johnson by Kevin Faulk that was ignored. Where is the consistency? And you have to question whether Flacco really should be flagged for intentional grounding if he is hit throwing the ball, and it prevents an otherwise legal throw from crossing the line of scrimmage.
Broadcast: C+
The CBS “A” crew is a good one. Yet one gets tired of seeing sideline shots of Belichick and Brady while there is a game happening on the field. Eventually, Phil Simms could not contain himself heaping praise on Brady. He had you believing Tom Brady invented the quick snap count, and credited him with employing it even when he was not. He also made a comment about the Patriots keeping defenses off balance all year, while the facts would seem to suggest that the team has struggled to run the ball and Brady has struggled with accuracy coming into this game. The kicker was Simms suggesting Welker was wide open for a touchdown when in fact replays showed Welker two yards down field with two Ravens players in his area. Like the officiating, praise from the booth is fine as long as it’s even-handed.
