REARVIEW MIRROR
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 12, BALTIMORE RAVENS 7
OCTOBER 24, 2011
There was a point in history when the Jacksonville Jaguars dominated the Baltimore Ravens. Badly. So badly, that the Ravens franchise began 0-8 against their one-time divisional rival.
But that was then. That was before the Ravens reeled off six wins in the next seven contests against the downtrodden Jags, who came into this nationally telecast contest with a five-game losing streak that had firmly placed their head coach and former Ravens linebacker coach Jack DelRio firmly on the hot seat.
The Ravens, who came in boasting a 4-1 record, and speculation that they might be the best team in the AFC, swore that they would not allow a letdown to occur again. Not after getting beaten in their only previous loss by the only team the Jaguars had previously beaten, the Tennessee Titans.
To say they let their guard down, again, would be an understatement. In what was perhaps the most anemic offensive performance in what has been a long franchise history of anemic offensive performances, the Ravens lost to the Jags 12-7. Think about that: the worst offensive performance ever for a Ravens team. That bar had been set pretty low, but it is difficult to recall a more pathetic effort by a Ravens offense.
They got beat by a team who seemed to use the old Ravens formula: dominate on defense, cause turnovers, kick field goals.
Jags’ kicker Josh Scobee was Matt-Stover-perfect on four field goal tries – three of them over fifty yards. That was the Jags’ entire offensive output, as rookie Blaine Gabbert completed nine passes for just 93 yards, all of them off his back foot.
The Ravens defense yielded field goals mostly because their offense simply could not budge the field position. They went eight straight series without a first down. At one point well into the third quarter, they had more penalty yards against them, sixty-four, than total offensive yards for them, fifty-six.
It’s hard to explain. Perhaps it was the mere appearance of Kyle Boller this weekend as an NFL starting quarterback, in an Oakland Raiders uniform, that threw the Ravens offense into a nostalgic tailspin.
Why not blame Boller? Because just about everyone else remotely associated with this Ravens offense is due some criticism.
Quarterback: D
Joe Flacco’s timing and accuracy issues with his receivers continue. With defenders draped all over them Flacco conservatively led his receivers with balls thrown too early and too far out of reach. He connected on 55% of his 38 passes for just 138 yards. That included one very nice touchdown strike to Anquan Boldin in the back of the end zone with a little more than two minutes left in the game—finally. It was followed however by an interception to seal the loss as he tried to stick a throw to his tight end sitting in the middle of a two-deep zone.
For a quarterback who came into the season talking about being more aggressive, Flacco seemed to do the opposite in this game, playing to avoid mistakes in reaction to the poor play of his supporting cast. And it only seemed to lead to more mistakes on his part, including nearly doing the unconscionable when he narrowly missed stepping out of the back on the end zone for a safety on a long pass attempt.
Running Backs: D
Ray Rice logged in with his worst performance in a long time. He did just about everything poorly. That included a costly fumble to put his team in an early hole and a dropped pass. He was also underwhelming in pass pro particularly when he was trucked by blitzing linebacker Darryl Smith. Rice, who came into the game third in the league in total yards, managed just 28 on the ground in 8 carries, and 35 more on five catches. At one point in the middle of the game he seemed to be sent to the bench. Vonta Leach was fine as a lead blocker, doing his job. Ricky Williams got just three carries for five yards.
Wide Receivers: C-
For three quarters Ravens receivers Anquan Boldin, Torrey Smith, and LaQuan Williams could not shake defenders. Repeatedly Flacco would scan the field and find no open receiver to throw to. Boldin and Smith combined for seven catches and 72 yards, nearly all of it in the final minutes on a ninety-yard scoring drive that included two noteworthy catches: the Boldin leaping TD catch to the post, and a Torrey Smith side-out pattern to the five where he made a very difficult catch as safety Dwight Lowery bore down on him with a head-shot. Smith also managed a difficult grab earlier in the drive with Rashean Mathis draped over his back. Boldin did not offer much of a block on a lone attempt at throwing a wide-receiver screen to Smith.
Tight Ends: C
With the Jaguars’ defense pouring through the offensive line, and with running backs doing little to help in protection, the tight ends did not factor much into the passing game. They were mostly asked to stay back and help block. Their blocking was not much help, either. Dennis Pitta executed a terrible cut block on the Ravens own goal line to allow a run stuff. Later in the game, when the offense finally opened up on the four-minute drive, Ed Dickson contributed with a couple of nice catches and stretches to extend the sticks.
Tackles: D
Bryant McKinnie seems to get slower each week. At the same time, he doesn’t seem to be getting smarter. The Jags appeared to have discovered through film study that the tandem McKinnie and guard Andre Gurode tandem have not yet figured out the Ravens protection schemes, and they attacked it with both pass and run stunts all night long. McKinnie had difficult simply finding a body to block. A poor pass block by McKinnie led directly to a Flacco fumble.
On the opposite side, Michael Oher was not much better. He continues to struggle sealing the backside on stretch blocks, allowing Tyson Alualu to chase Rice down or funnel cutbacks into the middle of the pile. Oher also had two consecutive holding calls that led to a 4th and 43 situation. It was that ugly for the Ravens offense.
Interior Line: F
There aren’t words for how badly Andre Gurode played. He looked lost. John Chick and Clint Session ate him alive on the pass rush. He was flagged for jumping offsides when he finally noticed that the Jags were about to come with a stunt. On a run where he was asked to block at the second level he seemingly could not see linebacker Paul Posluszny standing directly in front of him, allowing Rice to get swallowed up as he tried to cut free. Marshall Yanda and Matt Birk had their share of troubles with protection schemes, at times double teaming on the interior as two defenders attacked Michael Oher.
Cornerbacks: B
Remarkably, this makeshift unit of Lardarius Webb, Danny Gorrer, and Cary Williams plays consistently well. So well that first-round draft-pick Jimmy Smith, back from an ankle injury that occurred on the opening kick of the opening game, did not need to play. Williams continues to close aggressively and the Jags seemed to shy away from his side of the field at times. He made a very nice play on slant thrown on-target in the end zone to break up the pass. The only real gaffe for this group was a missed tackle by Webb to allow Jason Hill to extend a catch with an additional ten-yard run.
Safeties: A
Bernard Pollard put in a remarkably strong performance with starter Tom Zbikowski sidelined with a concussion. He was extremely aggressive on the line of scrimmage with perfect form tackles that repeatedly jarred the ball loose from Maurice Jones-Drew, including a critical forced fumble recovered on their own one-yard line. Pollard exceeded expectations in coverage as well, including nice single coverage on tight end Mercedes Lewis in the end zone. Ed Reed was also active and also helped to force Jones-Drew’s fumble at the Ravens 1. The All-Pro provided a scare writhing on the ground in pain with a daunting looking neck stinger.
Linebackers: B
Ray Lewis had studied the film and was waiting for Jones-Drew. He took excellent angles to meet the ball carrier in the holes and did not miss. Jarret Johnson uncharacteristically did whiff on a couple of tackles when coming down the line of scrimmage to meet Jones-Drew. Jameel McClain played well, shooting gaps and accumulating seven tackles to Lewis’ eight. He did botch a turnover opportunity when he tried to scoop a loose ball and instead kicked it rather than falling on it. Brendon Ayanbadejo was ejected for a retaliatory punch to the head after getting stiff-armed to the facemask after the whistle.
Defensive Line: C+
The Jags offense was able to push the Ravens defensive front around at times, which allowed Jones-Drew to get to the second level and rush for 105 yards on 30 carries. Haloti Ngata and Terrence Cody were neutralized. Art Jones played quite a bit but often with poor pad-level, causing him to back-pedal. Terrell Suggs played very well, getting into the backfield and at one point blowing up a shovel pass. Paul Kruger beat tackle Guy Whimper with a speed rush for a sack. Suggs, Ngata and Pernell McPhee also got to Gabbert in the sack column.
Special Teams: C-
The Ravens punt coverage was good, holding the Jags to a six-yards per return average. Albert McClellan stood out in particular on coverage. Although Haruki Nakamura did miss a tackle on punt returner Mike Thomas to allow a 28-yard return. Good tackling combined with Sam Koch’s excellent punting, with a 52-yard average, allowed the Ravens to avoid field position disasters. On their own punt returns, the Ravens did not provide much blocking as Jags swarmed to the returner. Prescott Burgess was flagged twice on returns, for holding and a facemask. Ed Reed nearly muffed a punt when he tried to pick it up on a roll. Paul Kruger was flagged for running into the punter. Billy Cundiff badly missed a 52-yard field goal – a distance Josh Scobee had no trouble with. In crunch time, Cundiff was unable to send an onsides kick ten yards.
Coaching: D-
Most of this loss is squarely on the poor performance of the Ravens offensive starters. That said, when they looked to the Ravens sidelines for answers, there was little in the way of help. This was literally true at times, as the offense, eager to pick up the pace, was frequently waiting for coordinator Cam Cameron to get play calls sent into Flacco. There were also issues getting the right personnel onto the field. You know it’s a problem when mild-mannered rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith is yelling at the bench to get the play in. Head coach John Harbaugh, who doesn’t go blameless in this loss, was visibly agitated by the lack of pace.
Beyond the issue of pace, Cameron seemed to have no counter for what the Jags were doing to stymie the Ravens passing game. His receivers were getting jammed at the line, and then mugged with tight, man coverage. Cameron did little early on to alter his game plan to take advantage of this aggressive defense, leaving Flacco to circle in the backfield looking for open receivers running the same plays over and over again as the pass rush bore down on him. And when Cameron finally did go to a spread offense late, it appeared they had never practiced it, as the rookie wide-out Williams inexcusably covered-up the tight end Pitta for an illegal formation.
Harbaugh also made a poor decision to try an onsides kick at the end of the game against a team whose kicker had already booted two 50+ yarders, but whose offense had barely moved the ball all night. You kick that ball deep and ask your defense to give you the ball back.
Officiating: F
Let’s be clear. This loss was not due to officiating. But that did not make the officiating any better.
There was too much confusion on sorting out calls. They could not get fumble calls correct, which resulted in numerous challenges to reverse calls. They seemed baffled by an offsetting trio of penalties on a punt. They gave Thomas Hill a bad spot short of the first down. Paul Kruger roughed the punter but it was merely called running into the kicker. Something as simple as clock management was botched, as they whistled a stoppage of the first half with 2:01 on the clock and the ball already in Flacco’s hands.
There was a horrendous penalty called on Bernard Pollard for hitting a defenseless receiver – there was no primary contact to the receiver’s helmet – and yet a more egregious hit on Torrey Smith by Dwight Lowery was not flagged. Just as inconsistently, the crew seemed to have a special definition of defensive holding for Rashean Mathis, who spent most of the night bear-hugging Ravens receivers, and yet Danny Gorrer was flagged for applying the same sort of tight coverage.
To top it all off, the officials allowed the play clock to expire on the Jaguars on their final kick off, and then allowed them time to get an eleventh man out onto the field before resetting the clock. Strange.
Broadcast: B-
First the bad. When the first half takes two hours to broadcast, there are way too many commercials. It’s hard to imagine anyone outside the two cities involved in the game watched the second half thanks to poor play and excessive stoppages. Too bad, because the crew was pretty good. Mike Tirico did a good job relaying explanations for all the strange officiating, and criticizing the terrible NFL rule for losing challenges after successfully correcting bad calls. Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden were effective in quick and pointed criticisms, whether it was a critique of bad officiating, bad execution, or bad coaching on the part of the Ravens. And there was plenty for them to criticize, unfortunately for Baltimore and a national television audience.
