It’s amazing how things turn so quickly in the NFL.
It’s been said before but it truly is a week to week situation as each win or loss holds tremendous weight due to a sixteen game schedule. Last Sunday night the Ravens completed their fall to the valley of the division with a 43-23 loss in Pittsburgh after briefly flirting with the top spot only two weeks earlier.
Now at 5-4 and hosting a Tennessee Titans (2-6) team that features an impotent offense and is in the bottom of the league against the run it would appear that on paper the Ravens should be able to have this Sunday’s game in hand. A loss here would feel catastrophic and send the team into the Bye really wondering what happened to their once promising season.
It’s an overused term but there’s no question that Baltimore must not only win this Sunday they must also hold serve for their two remaining home games against a suddenly slipping Chargers team and a season finale with Cleveland if they are to have a chance at the playoffs.
Talk about this post on the Message Board.
Five Points to Ponder:
- Certainly the Ravens have no one to blame but themselves after getting whipped badly by their AFC North rivals on national television. The offense now can’t seem to hold on to the football or properly diagnose blitz coverage. Meanwhile the defense continually was shredded by Ben Roethlisberger on the way to another six touchdown performance in consecutive weeks. Two stats stand out in particular that must get fixed ASAP. First, a season-worst 10 penalties for 108 yards underscored the lack of composure exhibited by the team. There were even three penalties committed by the Ravens on one play in the Steelers’ first touchdown drive. This behavior carried over from the week before where Eugene Monroe’s unsportsmanlike cost the Ravens precious field position in their loss to Cincinnati. Coach Harbaugh must get his squad refocused and ready to the stretch run, a win over Tennesse and some much needed rest can help mend the perception that the team is starting to crack under adversity. Second, Roethlisberger threw five touchdowns against four or fewer pass-rushers Sunday, matching the most in a game in ESPN Stats & Information’s data set. There’s no doubt in my mind that the connection between defensive pressure and being able to cover pro receivers is forever linked. Just watch the first quarter and you saw a Ravens defense that was able to generate problems on Pittsburgh’s first three series. After that Dean Pees decided to drop seven most of the game and the result was a vet having a huge day. We know that the secondary is the weakest link on the team (no Jimmy Smith too) and with that in mind Pees must get more creative in blitz packages.
- A lot has been made about Terrell Suggs and his low hit on Steelers back LeGarrette Blount. There’s no question that Suggs will be a bit lighter in the wallet next week as I’m sure he’ll be fined for the play. The NFL has attempted to help protect “defenseless” players and the way he went about trying to make the tackle was dangerous. However one could make the argument that the whistle hadn’t blown yet and that Blount was still trying to progress forward. Either way the play simply didn’t look good and couple that with several other poor unsportsmanlike penalties from the guys in purple the team only made a bad situation worse by reacting so poorly.
- Joe Flacco has slowly started to regress again. After hitting Torrey Smith, yes the Torrey Smith in stride for a first quarter touchdown things went downhill quickly. He was blitzed on more than half his snaps and while poor blocking did him no favors his interception was horrendous. It looked as if he was trying to throw the ball away since no Raven player was even twenty yards near the pass. Instead he threw a floater that was easily plucked and added further fuel to a nightmare second quarter. Flacco has been the league’s most blitzed quarterback this season and I wouldn’t expect that to change Sunday as the Titans are an aggressive defense, ranking 11th in the NFL with 109 total blitzes. Coach Kubiak must scheme more screens, Flacco must find his “hot” route, blockers must protect and win their individual battles. This needs to be a collective effort to get Flacco comfortable and productive again.
- There are times when I scratch my head after reading the transactions page and here is yet another of those times. Terrence Cody is active for this Sunday after the team let go of Tight End Phillip Supernaw. Cody is back after his second hip surgery and has slimmed down to help carry his weight. The fact is the Ravens don’t need him right now. Their biggest strength is up front right now with Brandon Williams leading the way. Chris Canty returned with a strong game, Pernell McPhee has found his role, and rookie Timmy Jernigan will be a starter one day not to mention Haloti Ngata’s resurgence, so where does Cody fit in? A more pressing need would be to find a competent member of the secondary. On that front rookie Tremain Jacobs is next man up while Chykie Brown was released.
- One point for this weekend’s game is that I hope that the Ravens blitz rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger back to the stone age. I’ve made the point already but I won’t hold my breath. The Ravens send five or more rushers at the quarterback roughly 20 percent of the time. No doubt Pees is scared of giving up the big play. but they already do that anyway in zone due to poor tackling and coverage.
Matt has lived in Maryland his entire life and is a graduate of Calvert Hall and Towson University. has always been an avid Baltimore sports fan. Since 2007, he has been writing and talking about Baltimore sports, especially the Ravens. His work has appeared on Ravens Gab, Russell Street Report, and he currently co-hosts a podcast “The Blitz- A Ravens podcast” with Brent Harris.