It was a loss that was inevitable. The altitude, the precision of Peyton Manning, the emotion of the crowd, and everything else combined made for a chance of victory that was slim-to-none.
The first half wasn’t so bad. The second though – up until garbage time in the 4th quarter – was a whole lot of ugly, with Ravens players appearing as lost as a child without its mother. It’s clear some of the new faces in this new place are in need of some team chemistry when it comes down to crunch time.
One positive that we can take out of last night’s embarrassment at Mile High is this: Chemistry will come.
Every team has its time where the identity changes and we are kidding ourselves if we say we never saw last night’s game coming. It happens!
We have been extremely lucky to be able to watch the Ravens play under coach John Harbaugh. Every year since he’s been here, he’s fielded a team that had a chance at making the Super Bowl.
So, yes, there is some shifting around taking place and the crop of players that start in this year’s playoff run (yes, THIS year’s playoff run) might not even be on the 53-man roster yet.
Dallas Clark made it clear that the speed of this game might be a little too much for him at this point – and that’s fine. Ed Dickson has to start making those key catches – and he will. He’s a tremendous talent that coaches believe in and whose skill will lead him to success with more reps. Remember, last night was his first live action after missing most of the preseason with an injury.
The defense is suspect, but let’s be honest—it was Peyton Manning. Yes, he threw seven touchdown passes, but if not for poor tackling by Michael Huff and James Ihedigbo, at least two of those scores had the potential to be turned into just field goals.
Another noteworthy piece to remember: if John Harbaugh trusts his players and challenges the call on Wes Welker’s blatant drop, it’s still 17-14 Ravens with a huge momentum shift in the game. Should Joe Flacco have led a nice drive after the punt, it could have been a ten point lead—truly a 21 point swing.
Things went wrong and this team isn’t used to opening day meltdowns, but do you remember Week twos in previous years? We started 1-1 last year just to win the Super Bowl. Heck, we were supposed to miss the playoffs completely – but somehow we found a way.
As you heard about a million times from coach Harbaugh in our edition of America’s Game: “It wasn’t pretty, but it was us”.
This year’s ride might not be a pretty one, but it’s going to be interesting to watch.
The upcoming schedule brings home games against the Browns and Texans and before you say we can’t beat Houston at home, think back to last year’s rebound in Week 3 against New England…we will be just fine.
After that, it’s the Dolphins and the Bills, two games we should and will win. Assuming we snatch all four of these games, (it all comes down to the Houston match-up) we arrive back at M&T Bank for a huge game against the Packers 4-1 with a chance to start the season with five wins in six games.
Coaching has to be better and players have to build chemistry. If it all comes together, however, it’s going to be worth it
Buckle up, Ravens fans. Much like our baseball counterparts in orange and black, the journey for this year’s playoff push is going to be very close and quite exciting.
