I think I should get out of the football forecasting business. Two weeks ago I predicted a Ravens rout in Jacksonville. What happened? An impotent offense got their heads handed to them by an aggressive Jaguars defense. This past week I predicted Ravens Revenge. They would come out angry and embarrassed, I said. We would beat the Cardinals by two touchdowns or more. What happened?
The Ravens were outplayed again by another 1-5 team, this time in their own backyard.
The M&T Bank Stadium crowd was restless early. I listen to the radio broadcast during games and, in his pre-game notes, Gerry Sandusky said that the Ravens had to come out strong on their first offensive possession to put the fan’s minds at ease. Well, it took until the 3rd quarter for that to happen. The Ravens were booed off the field at half time and justifiably so. After some salty talk by the team leaders in the locker room and installing a reconfigured game plan, they finally woke up in the second half.
The media said this game was the greatest comeback in Ravens history. True, but it’s nothing to crow about. Ladies and gentlemen, coming back from a 21 point deficit to an obviously inferior team is no feat. The Ravens are lucky they are not 4-3 at this point and looking up at Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
I guess I shouldn’t complain. The Ravens did what good teams do. They played badly and still won. They fell behind to an inferior opponent and found a way to come back. The Cardinals did what bad teams do. They got a good lead and then found a way to lose it.
STUDS
Two players stand out for me – Terrell Suggs and Anquan Boldin. Suggs, the player who wanted to be drafted by the Cardinals and wasn’t, played like a man possessed. With 13 tackles and one sack, he was a one-man wrecking crew. The thing is, he could have had two more if he wrapped up Kevin Kolb correctly. Boldin, the player who said he bore no grudge against the team that traded him, put his new team on his back in the second half. Ray Rice scored all 3 second half TDs, but it wouldn’t have happened without Boldin’s inspired play.
Things To Fix at the Half-way Point
We’re suddenly at the half-way point of the season. Here are a fan’s thoughts on what concerns him most with the Ravens – and some possible solutions.
The Competitive Edge: With the exception of the Rams game, the Ravens have showed a disturbing trend in playing down to the level of their opposition (Titans, Jaguars, and Cardinals). As fans watched the Texans easily handle the Jaguars last Sunday, one had to ask – what happened in Jacksonville? One thing for sure…playing down to the level of bad teams won’t be a problem for the Ravens through the month of November. There’s none on the schedule.
Joe Flacco still struggles with pocket awareness. I could see his fumble coming last Sunday as a Cardinals defender rolled around his blind side and swatted at the ball. Yes, he’s more agile this year, yes, he’s more alert, but he struggles with his drops and still holds onto the ball too long. Joe is obviously more comfortable throwing the ball out of a spread, shotgun formation. When he lines up in the spread, he sees the field better, reads defensive alignments more accurately, and has more time to set up. If I were John Harbaugh, I’d demand that Cam Cameron run the offense out of the no-huddle – gun most of the time until the defense beats it, or circumstances dictate otherwise. It didn’t take reading Mike Preston’s column to figure that out.
Our Big Ben. When it comes to upcoming contract deals, everyone thinks Joe Flacco and Ray Rice. The front office better be looking at the play of the offensive line without left guard Ben Grubbs. I’ve read scattered commentary that the Ravens might let him walk after this year to go after the big money like former Ravens center Jason Brown.
In my opinion, that would be a huge, huge mistake.
Left tackle Bryant McKinnie hasn’t played at a high level since Grubbs went out with his turf toe. Grubbs’ replacement, Andre Gurode, is out of position at guard and plays like it. Gurode and McKinnie are feeding off each other’s unfamiliarity with the offense. I didn’t realize what an able mentor Grubbs was until he went out with an injury. We can make do without Lee Evans at wide receiver; but we definitely struggle without Grubbs on the o-line. We need him back, and in a hurry.
David Reed gives every impression that he’s playing not to get hurt. On two successive kickoffs fans saw him lower his head steps before he was even touched by the Cardinals kick coverage. So far, fans have seen nothing of the breakneck returns he made last year. If he’s afraid to get hit he shouldn’t be there. The Ravens need to step up the play of the return teams in general (see below) and it can start right here.
Return Teams: Next to the offensive line, this is my area of greatest concern. Opponents are getting big yards on kickoff and punt returns. If Billy Cundiff doesn’t go deep (read: out of the end zone) with his kickoffs, opponents are running the ball out 5-6 deep and getting good return yards. On the Cardinals’ Patrick Peterson’s 82 yd punt return, he ran out of 5 tackles. The Ravens need to toughen up this unit and get some decent field position on both sides of the ball. The offense will need it as they go against some of the toughest defenses in the league over the next 4 weeks. Between now and December, the teams the Ravens face have defenses ranked no lower than 13th.
This Week
Speaking of defense, the League’s two top defenses meet in Pittsburgh Sunday night as Baltimore and Pittsburgh meet for 1st place in the AFC North. On September 11 the Ravens beat the Steelers into submission, 35-7. It’s doubtful that 42 points will be scored between the two teams and this time I expect the winning margin between the two will be much closer. The Steelers will remember the 2 pt conversion, the chop blocks, the passing in the 4th quarter. It will make for a slobberknocking, slugfest that NFL fans have come to enjoy.
At this point, it t looks like the Steelers will have three of their four starting linebackers out. James Harrison is still a no go with an orbital fracture, and linebackers LaMarr Woodley and James Farrior have leg injuries that will probably keep them on the bench. Joe Flacco should be happy.
Now he can concentrate more on where his favorite nemesis, Troy Polamalu, is. At all times.
WR Lee Evans may return for the game, but the Ravens are ominously silent concerning Ben Grubbs. The “other” Ben (Roethlisberger) is red hot and will severely test the Ravens 3rd ranked pass defense. I just hope the players and coaching staff looked long and hard at what worked in the earlier meeting (protect Joe, run the ball, get after #7) and duplicate the effort.
The Ravens will also need Big Ben’s personal nemesis to step it up once more. As T-Sizzle said after the first game:
“His soul may belong to God, but his ass belongs to me.”
Make it happen, T.
Ravens 16, Steelers 10
