As promised in “Bold Predictions”, the Ravens took the Texans lightly and paid the price. From Kubiak’s game plan to Flacco’s execution and all points in between, they failed on every level of offense. With a crowded playoff race, the Ravens have assured themselves a better draft pick with their season basically over. ~ Brian Bower
The Ravens offense could not have possibly looked worse today. Joe Flacco was as bad as I have ever seen him. I can’t think of a worse offensive day. The defense held up its end, but it wasn’t even close to enough. The offense had no answers to the heavy Houston blitzes and the receivers failed to make plays for Flacco on throws that were catchable but not 100% accurate (especially Torrey Smith). That’s something you need when your quarterback is having a bad day. ~ Tyler Lombardi
Hey, 2013 Ravens, we didn’t miss you! I don’t know if it’s just familiarity with Gary Kubiak or what, but all 4 AFC South teams (Jacksonville, Houston, Tennessee, Indy – think about it) have made the Ravens’ offense look completely inept for long stretches. However, none made Joe Flacco, Justin Forsett & Co. look as mediocre and sub-par as Kubiak’s old squad did today. In the midst of what is perhaps his best season, Flacco had arguably the worst game of his 7-year career. There may or may not be any truth to the assertion that several reporters were tweeting during the game that Flacco was hurt, but while the man had very little help, he was absolutely inaccurate, throwing off his back foot, and playing with a severe case of happy feet. If he WAS indeed hurt, the misstep that is this organization’s refusal to carry a real backup QB was on full display. When your AVERAGE 3rd-down attempt is 9 yards, you’re doing something very, very wrong. Just an unacceptable effort from a team that had everything to play for. ~ Derek Arnold
The Baltimore Ravens offense was absolutely putrid as was the play of Joe Flacco who still fails to make pre-snap adjustments in the face of obvious A-gap blitzing. It’s as though he goes into vapor lock at times and plays the position mindlessly.
The play calling was suspect and left the Ravens with far too many second and third and long situations. Romeo Crennel was a step ahead of Gary Kubiak all day. This was essentially a playoff game and the Ravens didn’t appear to be prepared mentally, physically or schematically.
Here are a few eye-poppers…through 3 quarters the Ravens trailed to the Case Keenum-led Texans 19-7, had 5 first downs and trailed in time of possession 29:09 to 15:51 and they had less than 20 yards rushing.
Making matters worse, injuries are reaching epidemic proportions. Barring a miracle this season is over and in the spirit of the Season this game “stink, stank, stunk”. ~ Tony Lombardi
Joe Flacco will if anything be remembered as the most hot and cold QB in NFL history. This was a historically bad game by him. The Ravens playoffs hopes are looking bleak. ~ Ryan Jones
Today in Houston, the Ravens’ playoffs chances got knocked down and are currently facing a nine-count. Today and throughout this season overall, Baltimore hasn’t earned the right to play in the postseason. Injuries aren’t an excuse, as all teams incur injuries.
Simply put, the Ravens were a little above average in 2014. ~ Mike Fast
I had this game completely wrong. After last week’s effort vs. Jacksonville, I thought the Ravens would show a greater level of focus from the outset today. Instead we saw an incredibly ugly 1st half from Flacco and the Baltimore offense. Wins against both Houston and Cleveland should have been anticipated. Yada, yada about this (accurately) being a week-to-week league; but if you can not win this game – you probably don’t deserve to be a playoff team. The injuries to Wagner and Monroe just add salt to the wound. ~ Chris Stoner
It is unfathomable that a team fighting for the postseason can look and play so flat two games in a row — against Jacksonville and Houston no less. The offense has been The Walking Dead three first halves in a row. The slow starts have forced the team to abandon the running game and the offensive line has been exposed in pass-blocking situations. And a huge reason for the slow starts is because the running game has vanished since the San Diego game. Defenses have been all over the early down attempts, leading to too many third-and-long conversion scenarios.
Harbaugh and his staff deserve blame for not having this team in attack mode from the first snap. Instead, the Texans looked like the team that wanted it more, and their coaches ran circles around the Baltimore staff. Just like last season, the Ravens’ ability to get into the playoffs is out of their hands. And just like last season, they don’t deserve to get in. ~ Dev Panchwagh
Was this the worst performance by the Ravens in team history? For a team that controlled their own destiny against a team that was practically eliminated from the playoffs, they totally layed an egg. The Ravens lost this before they got off the plane. They were simply outcoached and outplayed from the start until the final gun. IF the Texans had any sort of offense, the Ravens lose this one by 40 or more points. The Texans lack of offensive is the only reason the Ravens had any hope at all in the second half.
The offensive line was horrendous, as they gave Flacco no time and the running game absolutely no holes. Joe Flacco played, what might have been, the worst game of his career. He missed targets by large margins, and was never comfortable. The Ravens defense actually played pretty well, but the offense gave the Ravens absolutely no chance. JJ Watt is by far the best defensive player in the NFL. No one, since Ray Lewis, has been this dominant. But he didn’t beat the Ravens, the Ravens were outplayed as a team. Now, the Ravens have to beat the Browns next week and hope for a lot of help. The best chance they have is to beat the Browns, and have the Bengals lose their last two games. ~ Joe Polek
That will certainly go down as one of the worst offensive performances of the Flacco era, but it wasn’t all on the quarterback. Yes, he stunk. So, too, did most of the offensive line, as the Ravens couldn’t run the ball or throw it for most of the afternoon. You can also file this one under “the other team tries too” as Houston produced an exceptional game defensively, led by wrecking ball J.J. Watt who made a major case for the NFL’s MVP award with that performance on Sunday. It was ugly, but not completely stunning. The Ravens have been flirting with one of these kind of outings for a couple of weeks now and it finally came to fruition. ~ Drew Forrester
As a Flacco defender…it was a tough day….did Kubiak feel bad for the Texans for not being a better head coach for them?
That plan was awful. ~ Ken Zalis
I picked the Ravens in a squeaker knowing the Texans would game up, but this was far worse than any fan could foresee. It could have easily been a 30 point loss but for a stout Ravens red zone defense that finally buckled. Flacco was horrible and Kubiak had no answer for Romeo Crennnel’s defensive stunts. So much for a home playoff game and now we need help to even smell the post season. ~ Fran “The Fan” Vojik
The shortened version is:
The O-Line was decimated by the Texans pass rush. The run game was non-existent. More drops by Steve Smith Sr. Most importantly, Joe Flacco looked scared (which you can’t blame him for) of the pass rush for the first time I can remember in a long time. It was hard to watch this Ravens team (for the last 2 weeks), to the point that I started watching the Maryland BBall game mid way through and just kind of kept an eye on the Ravens. Changes need to be made and Ozzie should be given part of the blame for the failures of this season. ~ Matt Costantini
Ugh. Starting with San Diego’s comeback last night, a bad vibe and a real uneasiness started to set in. Still, never would have guessed the offense would ever look that bad. Flacco seems to have one of these types of games every year, but he had pretty much avoided it so far, so it figures it would happen now!
Figures it would also happen when the OL played one of their worst games too.
All things considered, the Defense played pretty admirably, but with no help from the O, there was only so much they could do.
The Ravens can still make the playoffs, but now need help from Denver, KC and Pitts. ~ Brian McFarland
