My Dad used to tell me that if you try to figure out women you might end up losing your mind.
The same is true about the NFL in 2014.
All signs pointed towards a Ravens blowout. Perhaps even John Harbaugh’s players thought the same judging from their apparent lack of intensity. It was the Jaguars who came into Baltimore like sharks in blood-invested waters – looking more like the team trying to secure a spot on the postseason dance card than the hosts.
Fortunately the Jaguars lack talent and just as fortunately the NFL doesn’t award points for style, only wins and if nothing else the Ravens accomplished their No. 1 goal on Sunday – to advance to (9-5) on the season.
Be that as it may, to say the Ravens performance on Sunday was ugly is an insult to all things ugly. This column very well could be The Ugly, The Uglier, The Ugliest and The Roseanne Barr.
But I digress…
THE GOOD
Save a few questionable decisions that could have led to turnovers along with his failure to milk the play clock in the fourth quarter, Joe Flacco had a pretty decent game, connecting on 20 of 30 for 221 yards and a score. It could have been better had it not been for drops by Torrey Smith, Owen Daniels and Crockett Gilmore…The O-Line kept Flacco upright the entire afternoon and he was hit only twice…Marlon Brown had a nice game and seems to be getting back to attacking the ball in flight with his hands. He’s beginning to look like the player from 2013.
The defensive front 7 shined again, this week producing 8 sacks for a total of 63 lost Jaguars yards. Standouts included Terrell Suggs, Pernell McPhee and Tim Jernigan…It was the difference in the game…Asa Jackson after being torched on a Blake Bortles to Cecil Shorts connection that went for 30 yards bounced back with an outstanding play to stall that drive, fighting through a blocker to drop Marquise Lee for a 1-yard loss on a bubble screen to the left. Jackson also had excellent coverage on Shorts on another deep pass down the left but this time the Ravens CB was in perfect position. Unfortunately he injured his MCL on the play and his status going forward is uncertain…Rashaan Melvin had a solid debut with a tackle-for-loss and a near interception.
Darien Stewart had the Ravens first blocked punt for a touchdown since Ed Reed did it against the Seahawks back in 2003…Kamar Aiken was Johnny-On-The-Spot and scooped up the blocked punt for the game’s first score. Aiken made another excellent special teams play later in the first quarter dropping Jaguars punt returner Ace Sanders immediately after he caught Sam Koch’s 53-yard punt…Koch was solid on the afternoon, netting 47.3 yards on his four punts, knocking 2 inside the 20…Jacoby Jones was a productive punt returner averaging 16.3 yards on 3 returns.
THE BAD
The Ravens running game could not get untracked at all until the fourth quarter when they played to kill the clock. They managed only 93 yards on 26 carries (3.6 ypc) and up until the 3:21 mark of the 4th quarter the Ravens only had 44 yards on 19 carries. It wasn’t one of the offensive front’s best performances in the running game…Torrey Smith killed a drive in the second quarter with a holding penalty and a drop of a perfectly thrown ball by Flacco that collectively cost the team about 30 yards. The drive ended with a missed FGA by Tucker from 54 yards out. He probably should’ve rested another week.
Courtney Upshaw and Pernell McPhee struggled when asked to set the edge in support of the run…Every week Matt Elam has Ozzie Newsome pondering WTF were we thinking? He fails in coverage and each week he’s good for one missed tackle…Brynden Trawick was flagged for an offsides on a kickoff and then later an unnecessary hold on a punt return…Up until Sunday Long Snapper Kevin McDermott had been quiet, a good thing given his job. Against the Jaguars he was noticeable for all the wrong reasons — not good for his job.
THE UGLY
The Ravens converted just 4 of 12 third down attempts…They had 9 penalties for 70 yards…They fell asleep twice on teams, once during the onsides kick in the second quarter and then later in the third quarter during a fake punt. Special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg should not have been surprised. The Jaguars are the league’s biggest gadget play team and the Ravens lack of preparedness was disappointing.
Gary Kubiak’s play calling was curious at best and it is borderline shocking that they didn’t take more shots down the field given the time Joe Flacco had to set and throw. The Jaguars safeties are vulnerable deep. Kubes is also becoming a bit too predictable. His sub-packages tip his plays and the Jaguars were prepared…Not sure who John Harbaugh’s “eye in the sky” is but the decision to challenge the near-interception by Melvin was ridiculous. The challenge was DOA and this is a somewhat disturbing pattern of Harbaugh’s. The way this team tosses away timeouts and then chooses not to use them when they should is alarming…Not sure if the fault was Harbaugh’s or Rosburg’s but losing 5 yards to a delay of game prior to Justin Tucker’s FGA was extremely amateurish. The 54-yard attempt hit the upright. From 49 yards out the attempt would have succeeded.
Booing the home team? C’MON MAN! I thought you were better than that Ravens Nation. Shameful!
THE MEGAN FOX
Since Haloti Ngata’s suspension two weeks ago the Ravens have 14 sacks. Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs certainly deserve their fair share of credit but at least part of their success can be attributed to the pressure the Ravens are creating up the middle – pressure that limits the escape options for opposing quarterbacks. A huge contributor of those bottlenecks is rookie Tim Jernigan. It is no coincidence that Jernigan’s increased number of reps has bumped the team’s opportunities for sacks. Against the Jaguars Jernigan had 2 sacks of his own and 5 hits on Blake Bortles.
No wonder the Ravens were excited to see Jernigan still on the board in Round 2 of the 2014 NFL Draft.
