Ravens beat Browns; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

After the first-play of the 4th Quarter, the Baltimore Ravens found themselves trailing the Cleveland Browns. The Ravens rebounded to score the last 10 points of the game, and win their home-opener against their divisional opponent Cleveland Browns.

While much of the game itself will be critiqued, the result is Baltimore moves to 2-1.

The Good:

1) The best news of the day is probably the information Coach Harbaugh provided to the media about Ray Rice. No apparent ligament damage, though an MRI will be scheduled.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/blog/2010/09/rice_sprains_knee.html

2) Flacco looked horrible last week in Cincinnati, but the criticism he faced this week from some was ridiculous. Flacco was able to tune all of that noise out, and respond by completing 71% of his passes.

3) 3 of Flacco’s completed passes were to Anquan Boldin who dominated the action in his Ravens’ home-debut. 8 catches, 142 yards (17.8 yards per reception) is elite-level production.

4) Todd Heap had a solid day with 4 catches, for 46 yards. It continues to look to me that he is enjoying more single coverage, and running routes a bit deeper than the past two-seasons.

5) When Rice was given the ball, he responded. 15 carries, for 80 yards equals 5.3 yards per carry.

6) Parmele had another good day as a kick-returner.

7) Give credit to the offensive-line for not allowing a sack today. Cleveland has very little in their front-seven, but what matters is that Flacco did not spend his day picking himself up off the ground.

8) After missing a 51 yard-attempt, Cundiff came back and nailed his 2nd attempt (49 yards).

9) Joshua Cribbs is one of the best Kick Returners in the game. He got his yards (averaged 23.5 yards on his two returns), but the Ravens Special Teams did not allow him to break something long.

10) I wrote a week or so ago that it would have been dumb to trade McGahee. The potential injury to Rice reminded how quickly things can change in the NFL. McGahee had a nice 4th Quarter, finishing the game with 7 carries for 29 yards.

11) The Ravens entered the 4th quarter losing the time-of-possession battle by roughly 8 minutes. When the game ended, the Ravens finished with a slight advantage. Baltimore did not just score the last 10 points of the game, they effectively managed the clock.

The Bad:

1) Terrence Cody was deactivated for today’s game even though he expected to play. Were the Ravens unconvinced of his health, or are they not seeing enough in practice? Either way, you have to think his bulk could have helped against the Browns rushing-attack.

2) Peyton Hillis got the start for Cleveland today, due to an injury to Jerome Harrison. In his rookie season in 2008, Hillis had 343 yards including a 22 carry 129 yard effort against the Jets. In 2009, Hillis had 13 rushing attempts for the season for 54 yards. Today, Hillis consistently ran downhill on the Ravens, plowing through the line of attack. He finished the day going for a 144 yards on the ground (6.5 yards per carry), and another 36 yards as a receiver.

Hillis gets credit for running hard north and south. The left-side of Cleveland line gets credit for opening up some holes. The Ravens front-seven has to take some blame for not slowing Hillis down.

2a) Hillis’ 48 yard run near the end of the 3rd Quarter was compounded by a pathetic penalty from Tom Zbikowski.

3) Despite the sacks by Suggs, and Landry to start the 3rd Quarter, the Ravens were never able to generate much of a pass-rush.

3a) Do the Ravens need to put the picture of Trevor Pryce on some milk-cartons?

3b) The Ravens have to commit to getting Paul Kruger active and on the field each week. He was drafted as a pass-rusher, and you have zero existing pass-rush. Activate him, and send him after the QB.

4) The Ravens had their first-possession of the 2nd quarter start with just under 12 minutes on the clock. Baltimore had already scored their first touchdown of the day on their previous possession. The Ravens quickly moved from their own 7 yard-line to the Cleveland 44 yard-line. Moving the ball at-will, the Ravens elected to go with a gadget play on 1st and 10. The result was a 6 yard loss, that helped put the Ravens in a 3rd down and 9 yards to go scenario at the Cleveland 43. Flacco responded with a 27 yard strike to Boldin for a 1st down. The Ravens eventually scored put the ball in the end-zone on this drive, but that is not the point. The gimmick play was unnecessary and could have cost the Ravens points.

5) The penalties that Mason, and Oher received should have been avoided.

6) Another week, and again no production from Houshmandzadeh. (1 catch, 4 yards. For the year 2 catches, for 31 yards). As I write this, Clayton has 2 receptions for 25 yards against the Redskins. This gives Clayton 14 catches, 168 yards, and 2 TD’s so far on the year. The Ravens added Houshmandzadeh for a reason, they have to get him incorporated into the offense.

7) Zero receptions for Dickson and Pitta. Combined they have 2 catches for 18 yards. Jermaine Gresham (Bengals) has 13 for 99 yards. Rob Gronkowski (Patriots) has 5 for 48. Aaron Hernandez (Patriots) has 13 for 211. The Ravens need to find a way to get these two the ball.

The Ugly:

1) I predicted the Ravens to win 38-3 today, and the final score was 24-17. I predicted a game where the Ravens would dominate both sides of the ball, and never be pressured. Cleveland held a 4th Quarter lead. For this, I nominate my own prediction as ugly.

I understand that Cleveland was playing with some pride today, and divisional games always tend to be a fight. Still, if you look at that Cleveland roster – particularly their Defensive Line, and Linebackers; they are severely lacking. Even without Gaither, the Ravens Offensive-Line should have been able to maul that group.

Combine that with the Ravens own troubles with stopping the run, and you have plenty of things to wince about today.

Up-Next:

2-1 Baltimore heads north to face the rival (and 3-0) Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh had 4 sacks today, and allowed none in their 38-13 beating of the Buccaneers in Tampa. Charlie Batch is not going to scare anyone at QB, but the long-time veteran is very comfortable in the Steelers offense. The Ravens had trouble stopping the straight-ahead rushing of Peyton Hillis today. With that in-mind, you can expect the Steelers to try and use a similar game-plan with their power RB Rashard Mendenhall (19 carries, for 143 yards today).

I thought Pittsburgh was a dangerous semi-forgotten team going into this season. Their 3-0 start without Roethlisberger shows they have focused and rallied around each other. Having already lost at Cincinnati, this is a game the Ravens really need to win if Baltimore ultimately wants to win the AFC North title.