Today on Flashback Friday we look back upon a rather bizarre game at M&T Bank Stadium featuring the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals on November 10, 2013. Here’s a snapshot of the Good, Bad & Ugly from the game along with video highlights.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/-LX2WtyfFbc[/youtube]
THE GOOD
Nearly everything that was good in yesterday’s game took place on the defensive side of the football. The Ravens secondary had arguably their best outing of the season. Jimmy Smith (5 tackles, 2 PD’s, 1 TFL) was stout at corner and Lardarius Webb (5 tackles, 1 INT, 6 PD’s) was extremely active and was also effective blitzing from the nickel position. James Ihedigbo also had a very good game with 9 tackles, 2 INT’s and 3 PD’s…Elvis Dumervil was a force on the edge and got the best of Andre Smith and at times Andrew Whitworth, leading to 2 1/2 sacks…Dean Pees called a great game mixing in an assortment of blitzes to confuse and rattle Andy Dalton.
THE BAD
Joe Flacco has now had very poor outings in two consecutive games and has developed a very bad knack for taking a sack to knock the Ravens out of field goal range. He has consistently thrown late and/or behind Jacoby Jones on deep posts when Jones has established scoring separation. Some of his decision making with throws was very Dalton-esque and he’s very fortunate that a couple other passes weren’t picked off.
The conservative approach on offense in the second half is just further proof that John Harbaugh teams just don’t go for the jugular. Their failure to keep Cincinnati guessing and on their heels paved the way for the Cincinnati comeback. Was not a fan of the play calling leading up to Justin Tucker’s game winner. Given the windy conditions that kick was hardly a given and had Tucker missed the Bengals would have been about 35 yards away from a game winning attempt of their own.
THE UGLY
Once again King Ugly goes to the offensive line and more often than not the guilty party was Gino Gradkowski. When is enough, enough with the second-year former Delaware Blue Hen? Is the once heralded Jah Reid that horrific at guard that the Ravens are afraid to move AQ Shipley to center?
PLAYER OF THE GAME
There were several standout performances on defense but the nod here goes to Lardarius Webb who rebounded immensely after a shaky start in Cleveland last week. Webb was often assigned to the dangerous AJ Green and kept the All Pro in check. If not for two balls with fortuitous bounces off James Ihedigbo, both leading to catches of 43 and 51 yards accounting for 94 of Green’s 151 receiving yards, Green would have been limited 57 yards. Webb’s threatening presence in blitz packages also helped others to clean up and register QB hurries and sacks.
