The Baltimore Ravens went to Arizona and defeated the Cardinals, 31-24, in Week 8, to move to 6-2 on the season. RSR staff react to the win here.
Derek Arnold
It was three steps forward last week and two steps back this week for the Ravens offense, which is still in search of consistency. The screen game continues to spin wheels in the mud, and the run blocking is really up and down. But they took advantage of the short fields the defense gave them with touchdowns, not field goals, and punched it in repeatedly from the red zone.
The defense was very sluggish to start, getting pushed around by the Arizona OL for big chunks on the ground. Their saving grace was forcing Josh Dobbs into bad throws, and catching them. Brandon Stephens‘ interception was a great diving effort, and the only reason he didn’t have two was because Geno Stone jumped in front of him to increase his NFL lead. Michael Pierce played like a man possessed, wrecking countless Cards plays. I know I saw him pancake his blocker at least three times to come crashing into the backfield.
Great game punting the ball by Jordan Stout, and Justin Tucker doinked one from 51 but redeemed himself from 48.
Bottom line, they won a road game eight time zones away from where they played two weeks ago, and are 3-0 in those games. They’re tied for the best record in the AFC. Things are good, Flock.
Kevin McNelis
Today was not the offense’s finest hour, and pass protection had a lot to do with that. In the Bold Predictions piece, I’d said that this felt like a game where Josh Dobbs’ fast-and-loose style would mean an early TD drive while the Ravens tried to account for him. That style also meant Baltimore’s defense could be opportunistic, bringing down two picks.
This felt like a game where second-half adjustments were going to show who the better team was, and boy, did they. What I didn’t call for was this being a game so clearly defined by the big boys. On defense, it was the Juggernaut, Michael Pierce, and on offense, it was the Bus rolling full speed. Sure, he didn’t hit the 100-yard rushing mark like I thought, but he made up for it with a third touchdown instead of the two I’d predicted.
This was definitely not a pretty game, but it played out more or less the way a lot of us expected.
Darin McCann
It wasn’t always pretty, but perhaps we got a little spoiled by last week’s rampage against the Lions. Still, Gus Edwards, Michael Pierce and another overall strong performance by the defense willed the Ravens to a win what felt pretty comfortable the entire second half.
Well, you know… mostly comfortable.
Take the win. They all count.
Jared Pinder
It seems weird to complain about a game where the Ravens won by putting up over 30, but this is the environment the Ravens are living in. The defense played great today, with Micheal Pierce having a dominant game. It only looked bad because of the refs and Agholar being bad on the hands team (on his first try). The offense was so sluggish today, mainly due to the bad blocking, but thankfully, Gus could carry the rock in the second half.
Although this game was not a smooth ride like last week. the 1-7 Cardinals gave the Ravens everything they had and made life miserable for the offense in the first half.
If the Ravens were unsatisfied last week they are not going to be happy about today. They’re 6-2, but they feel like they should be so much better…yet they aren’t.
Ravens are a mad 6-2.
Chris Schisler
I’ll take it. It’s a win. The Ravens won a game and are 6-2. The opening drive was an underwhelming and soft start by the defense. The offense wasn’t overly impressive, but Monday should be named Baltimore Gus Edwards appreciation day. The Ravens won – but that creeping feeling that they once again played down to the level of their competition is certainly present.
This was the Michael Pierce Bowl. He had a career game. The defense adjusted against the run. Odafe Oweh was disappointing. He missed a sack and had an offsides penalty.
This was a win. I’ll take it. That said the Ravens who played the Lions didn’t show up to this game. The Ravens had a B effort against a team that let them get away with it. Chasing consistency hopefully starts to look more consistently good. I’ll take it, but Baltimore wants more out of this team.
Chad Racine
This game shouldn’t have been as close as it was. The score didn’t reflect that it was really only close in the beginning. Not nearly the dominant performance of last week’s game but it’s still a win. I’ll take that instead of the style points with both Pittsburgh and Cleveland losing. At 6-2 the Ravens are now tied with the best record in the AFC. The rest of the division’s record is 4-3. Things are currently sitting pretty for the Ravens.
Brennan Stewart
A very sloppy start and a very sloppy finish, but Baltimore managed to take enough control in the second and third quarters to give itself a decent safety cushion.
There was a heavy reliance on Gus Edwards today, who finished the game with 80 yards and three rushing touchdowns. Lamar Jackson was much more static in the pocket, ending with five carries for only 17 yards (now his season low).
The defense stepped up big when it mattered. Michael Pierce was a star of the game, forcing a turnover on downs on back to back drives in the first quarter by making stops on Marquise Brown and Emari Demercado. The interceptions from Geno Stone and Brandon Stephens were crucial for killing Arizona’s momentum as well, and now Stone’s lead for most interceptions in the league grows to five.
Although it wasn’t pretty, Baltimore’s win puts it at 6-2 in the AFC North. It’s a comfortable position at this point in the season, with the Bengals, Browns and Steelers all sitting at 4-3 after today.
The biggest weakness right now is obviously staying in control the entire game. It’s hard to say where that starts, whether its the play calling, the personnel decisions, or perhaps a mix of both.
With that said, improvements need to be made ahead of next week’s matchup against the 5-2 Seahawks.
Rob Shields
This game was about as ugly as the CBS announcing team.
This always felt like it was going to be an ugly game. The team has traveled a lot lately and you felt some let down was inevitable after the big win last week and the upcoming schedule. This game sandwiched in between all of that was always going to be a bit of an issue and they still easily should have won the game, if not for the soft defense at the end and a boneheaded play by Agholor (why is he on the hands team?)
Whatever, the win is what was important. Unfortunately Cincinnati got the big win and they look like they are back but otherwise, it was a good day of losses in the division.
Tanner George
Well, a win’s a win.
The 31-21 scoreline was much, much closer than it should’ve been, but what matters is that the Ravens move to 6-2 and maintain their grasp on the division. It certainly wasn’t a dominant victory in the desert, but these are the types of wins that matter as we turn the calendar to November. Jackson wasn’t exceptionally sharp today, holding onto the ball way too long on a few plays, and the defense wasn’t spectacular. Not picking up the onside kick was sloppy and the tackling issues eerily similar to last year resurfaced. Letting the Cardinals hang around for so long was concerning, as well.
But six wins in eight weeks sounds pretty good to me.
Next is a tougher task against Seattle, which is looking like a must-win with the Bengals finally hitting their stride…
And this guy named Geno Stone is starting to look pretty good.
12 Responses
Ravens fans get best of both worlds – 6-2 and nobody whining that we peaking too early. Typical NFL. Chiefs lose to bad team, Niners 3 loss streak, Eagles need rally to beat bad Was team. Fans will learn that maybe one or 2 teams a year have a nice smooth ride. Everyone else is on a roller coaster
Not a masterpiece but I’ll take it. Eric gives good perspective. Remember that this game is x’s o’s, personnel, health of personnel, coaching, weather, maybe crowd noise, but it is emotional! That’s really why we like it , right?
Can’t be emotionally up for a game like this, but you have to cross the t’s and dot the i’s. I think they did that ok in that respect. Seattle, Browns , Bengals next. I think they’re up for all three. Bengals will be the big one.
Mediocrity (parity) was on full display today with the Ravens reverting to form following their stellar performance last week! They are consistently inconsistent, but are one of the above average teams in a league full of sub average teams! As good as our defense appears, they have not been tested yet by a good QB! But, there don’t appear to be many of them either, so, we will continue to hold our collective breaths with each game and rely on upsets throughout the league to help us reach the postseason and, hopefully, beyond!
It wasn’t the prettiest game, but we won. I’ll take it. Those announcers who called the game were so one sided for the Cardinals we could almost predict what they’d say
Next. Ravens were mediocre. Cardinals we’re great. My husband and I actually watch a play and predict what they’d say. Most times we were right!
Sloppy play at the end not being able to put game away is a Harbaugh trade mark
They scored a TD to ice it. Quit whining.
They let a 1-6 team with an inept QB hang around until the final gun! That’s not whining; that’s a sad commentary on a supposed SB contender!
After stomping the Lions, the Ravens had a lot to live up to. Let’s hope they play better next game against a stronger team.
Well said Diogenes! Can’t be up for every game and they still found a way to win!
Owaye and Clowney gotta get better. Owaye gives away 20 yards on missed sack and Clowney gives away 50 yards by not just falling on fumble.
Let’s not blame the poor play on the players – let’s put that blame on the coach calling those offensive plays. For the most part the players executed what was called. There were not a ton of drops or incredibly poorly thrown balls. The players ran what was called – and what was called by Monken was mostly garbage. Jet sweep, jet sweep, short run, incompletion. We came out against Detroit knowing we had to be aggressive and put up points and the play calling reflected this belief. It was a great game plan and swept away the Lions. It showed a great mix of passes and runs and utilized the entire playbook. Fast forward to Arizona and it’s like the coaching staff decided we did not need to bring the same urgency and aggressiveness against the weaker Cardinals. Monken calls a mostly boring vanilla predictable game and the Cardinals keep it mostly close. Thank God they finally decided to hand it to their battering ram Gus Edwards when they are near the goal line instead of trying to be too cute with Lamar, Justice Hill et. al. Just impose your will and bang it in.
The great teams bring the urgency and unleash the full potential of their offense every week and essentially say to their opponent, “try and keep up”. Our coaches scale the game plan to the opposition and allow them to stay in games they have no right to be close. We just need a coaching mindset change. Bring it all every week and challenge EVERY team we play to “try and keep up”.
Does the other team yell “jet sweep” everytime Zay Flowers come on the field. Cause that’s all they ever run for him. I knew after he went up and caught that that one deep ball against Cincinnati that they’d never try it again. Our offense is so consumed with “spreading the ball around” that we never really get anybody involved other than Andrews.
I haven’t seen Flowers run anything deep lately, and Bateman feels like a 5th option. Yes, he did have the dropsies a couple games ago. But that’s when you try to get his confidence back. Beckham and Algohor are not in their prime. From training camp on, all we heard was how great Flowers was inside/outside. But now they’ve turned him into a line-of scrimmage guy. Teams don’t respect that, hence they’re always ready for it. Bateman leads all receivers with two catches for 34 yds. Flowers has 5 catches for 19 yds. Two catches for 34 yards?! This speaks volumes.