The loss was bad, how’s the report card?

Quarterback: B-

Joe Flacco avoided the pass rush all day, made a few impressive runs, and even made a few nice passes. His arm wasn’t quite as sharp was it could have been, though, with many of this throws landing behind their intended targets. The windy conditions seemed to limit Flacco and the entire offensive scheme; the Ravens never even tried to stretch the field. Flacco had two interceptions on the day, though he only deserves credit for one.

Running Backs: D+

How bad was the Ravens rushing attack? Joe Flacco’s 57 yard performance led the team. Similar to in Indianapolis, the Ravens running backs tried to run around the defense, instead of through it.  Willis McGahee was limited by injury again. Ray Rice stepped in and did a fair job, but even he looked scattered. The Ravens couldn’t get anything started on the ground - not that they could be expected to match the Giants 200+ yard performance.

Wide Receivers: D

Derrick Mason had 7 catches and 80 yards, but attempt at impersonating David Tyree may have cost the Ravens the game. Mark Clayton and Yamon Figurs were non-factors. Todd Heap made three catches for a total of 17 yards. This group continues to take the life out of the Ravens offense with dropped passes and poor routes.

Offensive Line: C-

The front five of the Ravens had their ups and downs, as did most units. In the passing game, they kept the rush off of Flacco for most of the game, allowing only one sack. That’s not to say Flacco never felt the pressure, but the line helped him manage it well. In the running game, the offensive line looked lost. No sealed corners. No running lanes. And worse? The unit was charged with five false starts.

Defensive Line: D+

The Ravens defensive line was handled all day by the Giants fron-five. They occasionally got pressure on Manning, but were pushed aside and pancaked time and time again in the running game.

Linebackers: D

Outside of Ray Lewis’ interception, the unit failed miserably. Lewis was mentioned more for missing tackles and overpursuing than he was for making tackles. Terrell Suggs and Bart Scott were never mentioed. Jarrett Johnson’s off-sides penalty negated an interception by Fabian Washington. The unit was out of position and looked out of place.

Defensive Backs: C

The Ravens secondary normally takes the brunt of the criticism in bad losses, but not today. The Ravens secondary was far from stellar, but at least they showed up. Eli Manning and his receiving corps didn’t  beat the Ravens today. Jim Leonhard deserves some credit for a game well-played and being the only Raven man enough to take on Brandon Jacobs face-to-face.

Special Teams: D+

Kick returns by Yamon Figurs were surprisingly strong, but hardly enough to save face for a bad season. Matt Stover had a kick blocked. Sam Koch was bothered by the wind. The unit didn’t necessarily hurt the Ravens effort, but they sure didn’t help either.

Coaching: C-

The coaching in this one is hard to read. To start with, the Ravens looked outmatched. That simply shouldn’t happen. The Giants knew every scheme Rex Ryan had and they came prepared. Offensively, Cam Cameron shut the Ravens down himself. At the same time, however, adjustments were clearly made at halftime and the Ravens looked like a new team. If not for a few mistakes specific to the players, not the coaches, I believe this team would have made things far more interesting. The biggest questions, though, have to be for John Harbaugh, who conceded defeat and truly shut the offense down in the 4th quarter. Running the ball is for eating clock, not saving it.

Quarterback: A
For weeks, Joe Flacco has managed the offense, and that trend continued against the Texans. The rookie protected the ball, while still taking plenty of shots down the field. All told, Flacco turned in a solid performance with a 118.9 passer rating that included 185 yards and two touchdowns. Flacco is beginning to come into his own at a very important time for the Ravens. Troy Smith also continues to contribute to the team, as he threw for a touchdown.

Offensive line: B-
For the most part, the offensive line protected their quarterback. Although the unit allowed three sacks, they did a great job at opening up running lanes to help sustain drives. The Texans’ star defensive back, Mario Williams, was held in check throughout the game. Penalties continue to plague the line.

Wide receivers: B
Last week, the offense welcomed Mark Clayton to the 2008 season. This week, it was Todd Heap’s turn to be reintroduced to the offense. Heap turned in a two touchdown performance. Yamon Figurs was serviceable in place of Derrick Mason, who suffered a dislocated shoulder early in the game. Despite the injury, Mason caught three passes for 41 yards.

Running backs: B+
Willis McGahee returned to the field after watching rookie Ray Rice trample the Browns last week. McGahee racked up two touchdowns of his own; his best performance of the season.

Defensive Line: A
Haloti Ngata showed sheer dominance throughout the game. From snagging an interception in the red zone, forcing an interception, and nearly blocking a punt, Ngata is having a Pro-Bowl year. The unit also held the Texans’ red zone offense in check, limiting them to just three points from inside the five-yard line.

Linebackers: A
Middle linebacker Ray Lewis hauled in two interceptions that looked like they were intended for him anyway. Lewis finished the game with eight tackles. The unit helped ensure that the running game was taken away from Houston, while limiting the short yardage passes of Texans quarterback Sage Rosenfels. Terrell Suggs was able to pressure Rosenfels throughout the game, and managed a safety early in the game.

Defensive Backs: B-
The secondary did a decent job of containing Texans receiver Andre Johnson, limiting him to 66 yards and no touchdowns. Samari Rolle returned to the field and hauled in an interception of his own. The unit was exploited a couple of times in the game. One of those miscues resulted in a Houston touchdown. Against a better quarterback, the secondary might have had big problems.

Special teams: B
Steve Hauschka announced his arrival to the Ravens squad by sinking a field goal from 54 yards, while punter Sam Koch held the Texans in check. The kickoff coverage was much improved this week. Matt Stover missed a 50-yard field goal, but that is quite a stretch for him anyway.

Coaching: B+
The Ravens clearly executed the game plan they wanted. The offense continues to field a balance attack to keep opposing defenses honest. The defense continues to dominate opposing offenses, while the Ravens offense sustains drives, eating up the clock and actually scoring. Why was Stover sent out to kick a field goal from midfield when  Hauschka already proved he could kick it from further?

Got a question for Baltimore Ravens Pro-Bowl linebacker Terrell Suggs? I’ll be interviewing him in the next few days. If there is anything you ever wanted to ask Suggs, now would be the time. Please send all questions to d.peterson@extremeravens.com. Be sure to title your email “Question for Terrell”. Please submit your questions by 8:00 pm EST tomorrow, Saturday, November 8, 2008.

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.

Well now… that was one doozy of a game.

The Ravens scored early, faltered often, scored late and some how pulled out a win - even if it wasn’t the strongest, most convincing victory in recent memory.

Here are some quick thoughts coming out of the game…

Game Balls: Offensive game ball goes to Ray Rice. 150 yards on 21 carries, including a huge run late in the game to set-up the go ahead score. Rice was strong throughout the game, even when it appeared the offense was having issues. He ran straight at blockers and only made moves when he had to. And boy, those moves were pretty. Standing in for Willis McGahee, you can’t say enough about Rice’s performance as a rookie.

Honorable Mention: Mark Clayton, welcome to the 2008 Baltimore Ravens offense. We’ve been waiting years to see this guy contribute in the way he did today. Cam Cameron and the Ravens finally seemed to figure out how to use Clayton in this offense: send him down field and challenge defensive backs to catch him. Sending Clayton downfield opened up the offense in other ways too - drawing linebackers out of the box and asking safeties to cheat. Read the rest of this entry »

The midway point of the season is upon us as the Ravens enter their eighth game of the season against the Browns - the first divisional rematch of the season for either team in 2008. Oh, how things have changed since that game win Week Three in Baltimore.

The Ravens enter at 4-3, riding their second two-game win streak of the season, and feeling good again. Not only are they winning, but the offense has shown signs of life against two weaker opponents.

Meanwhile, the Browns enter at 3-4, have won three of four games, including beating the defending champion New York Giants. The Browns reversed that 0-3 pretty quickly and confidence is running high in Cleveland these days. The big question is can the Browns keep up and truly return to the playoff-caliber team we saw last season?

As we look at this Week Nine match-up, here are two key player-to-player battles to keep an eye on…

Ravens Defense vs. Browns Offense

LB Terrell Suggs vs. QB Derek Anderson

The Ravens defense must not have liked getting embarassed by the Colts three weeks ago in Indianapolis. Since then, against two weaker offensive opponents, the Ravens defense has found its fire again, and the Dolphins and Raiders were the victims of all their built up rage.

Fronting the charge for this defense in both games, though, was not Super-Raven Ray Lewis. Instead, it was Lewis’ younger, pass-rushing protege Terrell Suggs that was really on top of his game and giving the defense its life.  Over the course of the season, Suggs has shown his strength not only as a Pro Bowl caliber player, but as a legitimate defensive leader. Read the rest of this entry »

Fans saw a new look from the Ravens offense yesterday, dubbed the Wild Bird. Is this an offense that is here to stay, or will it be migrating south for the winter?

Read the rest of this entry »

I was mid-way through developing a post for this week about how well John Harbaugh has handled this team so far - how well he has done transforming it from a collection of stars into a real unit - when a couple of stories broke in the last 24 hours that simply have to make you wonder.

First, as everyone knows, there is the Chris McAlister situation. McAlister was apparently benched (actually, not even apparently, he was) in Sunday’s win over Miami by John Harbaugh. Reports about why exactly this happened and what led to it have been sketchy at best; some point to McAlister’s poor play against the Colts while others point to a larger issue of subordination. Either way, it’s not good.

Honestly, the McAlister situaton was going to lead my article on Harbaugh’s incredible turn around with this team. That is, before today.  Had the issue remained quiet, it would have been the perfect example of the kind of change that Harbaugh has brought to this team. Brian Billick rarely called out his players publicly, but the players never hesitated to call out Billick, it seemed. That was a major issue late in the Billick administration.* Rather than handle their business in-house, too many players thought they had the right to question Billick, his decision-making, and his authority in front of the media. Read the rest of this entry »

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

The Ravens got back on track in Miami today… it wasn’t the prettiest or easiest win they’ve ever had, but it was a win nonetheless. The team definitely showed some signs of growth.

-Joe Flacco had a solid day throwing the ball. He finished with a 74% completion percentage and a passer rating of 120 (120!). He looked good again throwing the ball to the sideline and made good decisions when dumping the ball off, keeping the Ravens out of long yardage situations. His fumbling when being hit in still a concern; it seems like the ball could come loose at any second when he is being sacked. In the long run, hopefully we’ll see Joltin’ Joe put it all together, but today was a nice step forward for a rookie coming off three tough games.

Read the rest of this entry »

It might be the biggest debate in the sports world today. It’s a debate that transcends individual sports - you can find it in baseball, football, basketball and hockey… even soccer. It’s a debate that polarizes fans of the same team, even.

The question is about how teams deal with officiating mistakes that change games. Already this football season we’ve seen a number of poor calls made that have drastically changed games. In Week 2 in Denver, Ed Hochuli unintentionally blows a play dead, giving the Broncos another chance to win the game. This week, in Baltimore, we saw a phantom roughing the passer call give new life to a beaten Titans team.

[What’s actually a bit ironic, is that in the Titans game this year, official Bill Carollo noted that a false start had been called as well, but officials were unable to stop play before the second penalty. The failure to stop play resulted in the Titans reawakening. Several years ago, in Tennessee on Monday Night Football, the Ravens stopped the Titans on the goalline to end the game. The play before, however, Peter Boulware was flagged for encroachment on a play in which Steve McNair scored. In that instance, the official’s to stop play saved the Ravens.]

Regardless of specifics, however, the debate rages on… how big an impact do bad calls actually have on a game? Read the rest of this entry »