The Ravens dominated the Texans today, 41-13, for their fourth straight win and third straight win on the road. That should be the first thought… three road wins? We haven’t seen a team in Baltimore that can win on the road since 2000.

Joe Flacco made great progress as a QB today. With his favorite target going down early he was forced to find other options in the passing game, which lead to Todd Heap finally looking like his old self. Joe stretched the defense with multiple deep throws, one resulting is a TD to WR Yamon Figurs (Congrats to Yamon on his first career receiving TD). Joe has now thrown 6 TD passes in his last four games with no turnovers.

Willis McGahee looked healthy and ran hard the entire game. He went over the 100 yard mark for the second time this season and added two TD runs. And I must add, his new touchdown dance is hilarious.

The Ravens defense was solid through most of the game. The air defense still has some leaks, but they overcame the injuries and picked off Sage Rosenfels four times. Ray Lewis had two interceptions thanks to the great play of NT Haloti Ngata. The return of Samari Rolle was immediately apparent. When Frank Walker, a fomer starter, can be your nickel back, you’ve got some depth. Walker may not be a star, but being able to use him to help Fabian Washington and Rolle is a great advantage to this Ravens defense.

Ngata is probably the Ravens best defensive player. Haloti came up big when he picked off Sage Rosenfels at the goalline which ended a good drive by Houston, he has two interceptions this season (three for his career) which is more than all-pro safety Ed Reed! Ngata has disrupted the QB more times this season than I can count, which has lead to turnovers and missed opportunities for opposing offense. We’ve heard all season about Albert Haynesworth and Shaun Rogers, but there’s no #92 I’d want more on my team right now thatn Ngata.

New kick-off and long field goal specialist Steven Hauschka. If anyone remembers seeing this kid kick in college with NC State, you know the kind of leg he has. I’m going to steal a line I heard on the postgame radio show today, but bringing in Hauschka is bigger than just getting a new leg… it proves that John Harbaugh is learning and, more importantly, willing to learn. Poor special teams play (bad kick offs, bad coverage, refusing to try long field goals) already cost this team a few games (Pittsburgh, Tennessee) and almost cost them a win last week (Cleveland). Kudos to John for making a move.

And let’s just make an overall comment here… The Ravens have now scored 27, 29, 37 and 41 points in their last four games. A lot of help is coming from this defense, but let’s also give credit to an offense that is able to take advantage of a short field and take the points it is given. When was the last time you remember the Ravens scoring more than 25 points in four straight games? Or averaging 33 points per game in a stretch like that? We’re going to have to go look that up, but I can’t remember anytime. Even with those scores, this team is only averaging 21 points per game on the season… which tells you just how poor this offense was for those first five games. Now that the Ravens have both pieces clicking, it’s time for the rest of the league to watch out.

Quarterback: B+
Joe Flacco continued his solid play against the Browns. He remained cool, calm and collected, even after the Ravens fell behind by two touchdowns. He showed nice touch on his throws and made some spectacular passes into tight coverage. There is still a bit of a learning curve (intentional grounding penalties, being one of them), but the rookie continues to make positive strides.

Offensive line: A
This unit was solid throughout the game. Flacco was well-protected throughout the game and had plenty of time to make his reads downfield. The line opened up holes for the most part, but softened up when it counted most.

Wide receivers: B+
Welcome to the offense Mark Clayton. The wide receiver notched his first touchdown in two seasons. Derrick Mason continues to be Flacco’s favorite receiver, snagging nine passes for 136 yards.

Running backs: A
Ray Rice continued to dominate among Baltimore’s running corps for the second week in a row. The rookie averaged just over seven yards per carry, and created running lanes of his own. Le’Ron McClain was solid in his performance, and added a touchdown that was setup by a beautiful Rice run.

Defense: B-
The defense did a solid job of stopping the run, but struggled a bit against the pass. If the Browns hadn’t insisted on running the ball against the best defense capable of stopping the run, the Fabian Washington and Frank Walker would have been in for a long and brutal day. If Braylon Edwards doesn’t drop that very catchable ball from Derek Anderson, the outcome of the game might have been different. Bart Scott led the team in tackles (10) and Terrell Suggs snagged a key interception and returned it for a touchdown that sealed the victory for the Ravens.

Special teams: C+
The Ravens were helped immensely by the Browns’ ineptness, which setup great field position for the Ravens for much of the first half. The special teams coverage continues to have ups and downs. In this game, they had both, and sometimes at the same time. For instance, Matt Stover punts a 62-yarder, which is pretty good for a 40-something. The bad news is that the Browns’ Josh Cribbs returned it 92 yards for a touchdown.

Our quick thoughts today come from ExtremeRavens staffer John (aka BallTMore) … and we thank him for his help!

Flacco looked pretty good again this week, he wasn’t as accurate, but he still made some solid throws. Still has some trouble throwing the deep ball. He hangs the ball in the air which allows the D to adjust to the ball.

Joe is also faster than he looks, he had two good runs today, one resulting in a TD to seal the game. Joe also showed he has good hands for a big guy, hauling in a great pass by Troy Smith in the 3rd qtr. (highlight of the season so far!). Penalties killed the drive, so the Ravens had to settle for a field goal.

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Following two devastating losses in consecutive weeks - in two games the Ravens certainly feel like they should have won - things get no easier as the team hits the road for five of its next six games. The first of these games is against the Colts, and no reference to where they used to play or how Baltimore fans feel about the game is necessary.

Lucky for the Ravens, the Colts might be one of the weaker teams they face in this dreaded six game stretch. At 2-2, the Colts have underperformed so far this season and were only able to squeak out a win against Houston last week thanks to an astonishing 21-point surge in the final four minutes of the game. Once able to score at will against opponents, the Colts’ offense appear to be missing something this year. All the weapons are there, but the functionality is not. Similarly, a strong defense from past seasons is struggling this year to contain the run.

Heading into Sunday, here are two key match-ups to keep an eye on … Read the rest of this entry »