SAN DIEGO — The football sailed over the outstretched fingertips of Baltimore Ravens rookie cornerback Jimmy Smith, well past his reach as Malcom Floyd dashed away from him into the end zone.
The first-round draft pick was helpless to stop Floyd from hauling in the touchdown pass from strong-armed San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers as another spiral darted through the air past the first-round draft pick.
Back in Southern California roughly an hour from his hometown of Colton with a large contingent of family and friends watching, Smith was picked on repeatedly.
It was that kind of ugly evening for Smith and the Ravens’ defense, experiencing a meltdown of epic proportions Sunday night in an embarrassing 34-14 defeat before 67,242 at Snapdragon Stadium. It was a season-high for points allowed.
"We got our ass kicked," outside linebacker Terrell Suggs said. "When you don’t show up to play in big games like this, you’re going to get your ass kicked. This is definitely humbling.
"It’s a reality check. We’re in hell now, but we got a vacation home in hell. When it’s tough for everybody else, it’s just right for us."
It’s a costly setback since it drops the Ravens behind the Pittsburgh Steelers in the race for the AFC North division title unless the Steelers lose tonight’s game against the San Francisco 49ers.
And the Ravens have now lost their grip on potentially claiming the top seed in the AFC due to the New England Patriots’ victory over the Denver Broncos.
If the Ravens had defeated the Chargers and then won their remaining two games against the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals, they were previously assured of earning home-field advantage for the playoffs.
Although the Ravens lost, they did clinch at least a wild-card playoff berth due to the New York Jets being blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh was in no mood to discuss the implications of the setback.
"To me, that’s not a factor at all," Harbaugh said. "It has absolutely no factor in the way we think. We don’t have the energy, nor the time nor the inclination to give that one second’s worth of thought. All of our energy, all of our time and all of our effort has to go toward playing the Cleveland Browns.
"We’ll have our hands full. It’s a fierce division rival. They’re going to come in there hungry and they’re going to come in their looking for a victory and we better be ready to do something about it."
The Ravens’ traditionally stingy defense was powerless to stop the Charger from scoring at will, allowing their most points of the season. Rivers was deadly accurate, completing 17 of 23 passes for 270 yards and no interceptions as he now has seven touchdowns and no interceptions in the past three games.
"They did a lot of things to me as a young player," Smith said. "It was double moves I got beat on."
Familiar issues manifested themselves again as the Ravens (10-4) lost their fourth road game with the Chargers scoring 27 points before Baltimore finally answered with a late score.
And quarterback Joe Flacco was erratic, throwing two interceptions in the third quarter. He was sacked four times by former Ravens outside linebacker Antwan Barnes.
"It was an ugly one," Flacco said. "Things weren’t going our way. They were playing well and we weren’t. You have to move on. We’re really already in an all-win situation and we’ll continue to be in that. We just got to get back on the horse and go get one this week. It was just bad."
What did Harbaugh think about how the Ravens played in allowing 23 first downs and 415 yards of total offense?
Addressing the breakdowns in the secondary, Harbaugh said: "We had a lot of difficulties. We messed up."
It was a thorough beating where virtually nothing went right.
"We got beat, it’s that simple," running back Ray Rice said. "You’ve got to come out ready to play. That’s a winning performance by them."
Despite the return of All-Pro middle linebacker Ray Lewis, the defense was unable to slow down the Chargers’ high-octane offense.
Playing in his first game in a month because of a right turf toe injury, Lewis was a step behind the pace all night as running back Ryan Mathews bolted away from him for 90 yards and two touchdown runs.
"The only thing at the end of the day that’s disappointing is you didn’t come out and play your type of football," Lewis said. "Outside of that, the thought process is the same and getting into the playoffs is the No. 1 agenda.
"The disappointing part is we didn’t come out and do what we’re supposed to do. It’s one thing to try to get home-field, but the bottom line is when you get in the playoffs everybody’s record goes back to 0-0."
With top cornerback Lardarius Webb limited to nickel responsibilities due to an injured left toe, the Ravens couldn’t cover the Chargers’ tall, fast wide receivers.
Suggs was stymied in his charge toward Rivers after entering the game with 13 sacks and generating NFL Defensive Player of the Year buzz.
He was blocked repeatedly by former Ravens offensive tackle Jared Gaither, a career underachiever on his third NFL employer this year after being discarded by Baltimore.
Rivers was never sacked.
Flacco’s interceptions included one tossed directly to outside linebacker Shaun Phillips in the second half. Flacco was sacked five times.
With the exception of a perfect pass over the middle to tight end Ed Dickson threaded into heavy traffic in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, little went right for Flacco and the Ravens’ offense.
Flacco capped the scoring with a 36-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith in the final two minutes, but the outcome had already been decided.
Although Flacco completed 23 of 34 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns, nine of his completions were on safety valve passes to Rice for a total of 55 yards.
And Pro Bowl kicker Billy Cundiff failed to make a chip shot from 36 yards, pushing what’s normally a routine field goal wide of the right upright.
That miscue in the first quarter got the Ravens off to a bad start as his errant kick now drops him to 2 for 5 in December.
Cundiff didn’t practice all week due to a left calf injury, his plant leg.
"To be honest with you, I’m not making any excuses," Cundiff said. "It’s been frustrating dealing with my leg. That’s pretty obvious. Regardless of the situation, I should have made the kick.
Cundiff’s miss was preceded by Flacco being unable to connect with wide receiver Lee Evans.
First, a fade pass to Evans was nearly intercepted by cornerback Antoine Cason.
Then, Flacco didn’t deliver the football in time on another throw to an open Evans that was knocked down by free safety Eric Weddle.
Once the Ravens briefly tied the score on Dickson’s touchdown, the Chargers reassumed control.
They took the lead for good on a 45-yard Nick Novak field goal in the second quarter set up by a 20-yard pass to tight end Antonio Gates behind Lewis and in front of safety Tom Zbikowski.
That drive was kept alive by Suggs’ unnecessary roughness penalty on an illegal head slap of a Charger lineman a la retired NFL legend Deacon Jones.
The Chargers would score once more before intermission when Mathews’ got in from one yard out on a pitch out as he got around outside linebacker Jarret Johnson.
That score was set up by a 58-yard bomb from Rivers to wide receiver Vincent Jackson behind cornerback Cary Williams. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound standout went over 1,000 receiving yards on the catch.
After falling behind 17-7 at halftime, the Ravens had little choice but to abandon the running game.
Rice rushed for 53 yards on nine carries by halftime, but only had one carry for four more yards in the third quarter.
Rivers signaled immediately what kind of game this was going to be on the Chargers’ explosive, crisp opening drive.
Rivers completed 5 of his first 6 throws for 55 yards, marching the Chargers downfield for a 12-play, 74-yard drive capped by a two-yard Mike Tolbert touchdown plunge up the middle. He targeted Smith immediately on the drive.
In the third quarter, Rivers drove the Chargers down to the Ravens’ 28-yard line before uncorking his touchdown pass to Floyd. The 6-foot-5, 225-pounder finished with five receptions for 96 yards as Jackson caught three passes for 84 yards.
"It’s a long season," free safety Ed Reed said. "It’s a long two weeks. A lot has to happen. A lot will happen. Everybody still has a chance. We’ll bounce back. We have to."
Personifying the frustration of the night, Flacco got picked off by veteran linebacker Takeo Spikes in the third quarter.
And Spikes’ 45-yard return led to Mathews’ second touchdown run. This time, he just dove over the top from three yards out and landed in the end zone.
"We knew they were going to go downtown," Suggs said. "We knew they were going to spread us out and try to light up the scoreboard. I feel disappointed. I feel we let our fans down. We could still get our first-round bye.
"All that could still happen for us, but we need a little help now. We got to go the long way. We can’t let balls go over our head, we’ve got to stop the run. Back to the drawing board. Like I said, ass-whipping, reality check."
