Ryan Jones
The Ravens for the fourth straight week force no turnovers. The reason they won this game though is because they didn’t commit any.
For a team that is banged up and lacks playmakers, the Ravens margin for error is thin. It goes to show you what a difference playing mistake free football makes.
Kudos to Ravens fans. We’ve been spoiled in recent years and it would’ve been easy to bail on this team, but fans still showed up and gave the Ravens a true home field advantage.
The injury to Steve Smith is devastating. Not because of the effect it has on the Ravens season but because you would hate to see his career end that way.
Tony Lombardi
It’s difficult to feel good about the win given the loss of Steve Smith, Sr. to the Achilles injury. I doubt that he walks away from the game injured and I’m confident that he’ll return. As for the game it was a fun, closely fought battle marred by injuries on both sides. You have to wonder if there are issues with the M&T Bank Stadium turf.
I admit to questioning Marc Trestman’s game plan. The Ravens abandoned the run quickly and had only 46 rushing yards through the quarters and finished with just 72 despite taking on the 31st ranked rushing defense. The continued use of the shotgun was puzzling after it was painfully obvious that John Urschel struggled with his snaps. Joe Flacco was sharp and played mistake free football. Why is Marlon Brown still on the team?
Joe Polek
The best kicker in football once again resides in Baltimore. Justin Tucker is 14-14 in his career on 4th-quarter or Overtime Field Goal tries to either tie game or put the Ravens ahead. 5 field goals today reminds me of Matt Stover.
The Ravens defense was awful and the Offensive Line was terrible, but injuries killed them.
The only thing I can think of is Steve Smith Sr and his torn Achilles? Will he walk away from football for good? Or does he work hard to rehab and come back for one last season next year? Ravens fans hope it is the latter, but I don’t think we will know for quite some time.
Brian Bower
It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t pretty but the Ravens got the job done at home. The offense played well despite their lack of running the ball early. Kamar Aiken, Chris Givens stepped up with the injury to Smith Sr. and played well. Joe Flacco adjusted well to the multiple botched snaps by John Urschel.
On defense the secondary still had their flaws. Mosley and Kendrick Lewis appear lost in coverage but in the end the defense was able to keep the Ravens in the game.
Justin Tucker was solid connecting on 5 FG’s including his 9th career game winner.
Mike Fast
Thanks to what was likely Joe Flacco’s most complete game of the season, against a quarterback in his prime that will likely go to the Hall of Fame, Baltimore won what was absolutely a must-win game. Unfortunately, though, Steve Smith, Sr. couldn’t finish it, as he sustained what is essentially a career-ending injury when he tore his right achilles tendon.
The offensive line needs to be better and the defensive backs need to communicate more effectively, or else the Ravens may not win again until 2016.
That said, it sure feels good to win (and see the Steelers lose).
Derek Arnold
Thought the Ravens had found another new and interesting way to lose thanks to John Urschel’s floating snaps, but the Steratore crew gaveth just as they had taketh away earlier. Why Marc Trestman abandoned the run against the 31st-ranked run defense is a story for another day I suppose. The win is obviously great, but losing Steve Smith Sr. for the rest of the season is a tough pill to swallow, in more ways than one. Would be quite a sad ending to a storied career.
Tyler Lombardi
A matchup of two bad defenses made for a very fun game. Joe Flacco has what was quite easily his best performance of the season.
Running the ball should have been a bigger part of the game plan. The Marc Trestman influence continues with the pass play calling. Fortunately Flacco and the receivers besides the awful Marlon Brown were on their game.
It was a shame to see Steve Smith injured. If this is the way that he ends his career, it would be very unfortunate.
Nadeem Kureishy
Unfortunate that Steve Smith Sr is done for the year. On offense, Flacco had some great throws today. Joe was also able to set his feet and make some great throws. I thought Aiken had a tremendous game today. He made some great catches demonstrating solid concentration and soft hands. Marlon Brown continues to disappoint. He dropped a critical pass near the end of the game.
On defense, we saw a lot of communication issues across the secondary. Wright and Arrington rotated almost all game. The secondary was saved by the injuries suffered by the Chargers.
Drew Forrester
Well, a win is a win, so I’m going to keep the nitpicking to a bare minimum.
For starters, Flacco was terrific, with a handful of outstanding throws on the afternoon and a gritty 4th quarter when the Ravens were trailing and facing a 1-7 start to the season.
They ran the ball well, too, did the Ravens, which is going to be even more important now that Steve Smith is done and the only receiver worth a hoot remaining is Kamar Aiken and he’s going to be severely challenged as the team’s #1 guy.
As I sat there in the stadium and watched the game on Sunday, it dawned on me just how much work the Ravens have to do this off-season to get their team back on track and competitive in the AFC. $21 million of dead cap money and a wasted first round draft pick in 2015 have really set them back. Big time.
But today was a positive. I felt good for John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco, in particular, because those two get the most grief when the team loses.
I’d be surprised if they ever get back to .500 this season, but a few wins here and there can’t hurt. Smith’s injury notwithstanding, Sunday was a good day for the Ravens. They deserved a win.
Adam Bonaccorsi
Hooray for a W, terrible news about Smitty & our secondary is still abysmal.
The real story here is the pathetic officiating from a crew that is regarded as one of the better ones in the league. They made some phantom calls to extend drives, missed several blatant penalties, and even New York failed on the review of Crockett’s catch that was called incomplete (2 hands- 4 steps- knee down- CATCH).
The NFL & NFLRAL seriously needs to address this and soon. The officiating is becoming one big, bad joke, and nobody’s laughing.
