Ravens lose to Bengals; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Coming off an emotional win Monday night, the enormous expectations for this Baltimore Ravens were only increased. I think today was a reminder that Lombardi Trophy’s are not awarded in September.

The first-half could not have been any worse for the Ravens offensively. The primary accomplishment of the team, was going to locker-room down just 6 points.

The effort seemed to improve after half-time, but the results did not. Flacco’s first NFL game was against the Bengals, today he looked like a guy making such a debut.

The Good:

1) The Ravens first-offensive series of the 2nd-half was a testament to adjustments. Credit has to go to Harbaugh, Cameron, and Flacco for making the necessary changes to get back into the game.

2) For all of the miss-steps of the 1st-half, the Ravens held Cincinnati to 6 points in the first 30 minutes of action.

3) I do not think the Ravens want to see Ngata making tackles in the Secondary, but his tackle was quite an example of his athleticism.

4) The fumble was a concern, but Parmele continues to look to run north/south on kick-returns which is good to see.

5) That was a tremendous effort from the defense to keep the Ravens in this game. They dealt with turnovers from their offense, dealt with poor field position several times – and they did not fold. Some times we take for granted how great this defense has been. They always play hard, even when things do not go as planned. The defense was not pointing fingers at their offense today, they were cheering them on, and continuing to make their own plays.

5a) Will the story about the Ravens secondary being such a weakness now end? If Palmer and ‘Batman & Robin,’ can not expose the Ravens in their own building – that says something. Was great to Lardarius Webb back on the field.

The Bad:

1) A couple of missed opportunities from the Safeties Landry, and Zbikowski as they both missed interceptions they should have had.

2) This Ravens team will not meet their potential without the return, and significant contribution from Gaither. The Bengals might have only had 1 sack, but they were regularly in the face of Flacco.

3) Even if you do not blame Flacco for the tipped ball and that interception, he still had 3 other picks. Several of them were again over the middle, and showed a lack of field recognition.

4) Housmandzadeh has 1 catch for 27 yards so far as a Raven. Mark Clayton had 10 receptions for 119 yards last week. The Ravens talk a lot about making sure they do not have a player a year too long. It will be interesting to see if they added a player a year too late.

5) Ray Rice averaged 5.4 yards a carry today for 87 yards. Why did he only receive 16 carries?

6) It is amazing the Ravens played as effective as they did today against Palmer, without any semblance of a pass-rush. Baltimore has traded Barnes. Obviously we know about Kindle. The team is going to have to commit to getting Kruger active on game-days, and giving him a chance opposite of Suggs.

7) The 3rd quarter drive which reached the Bengals 19 yard-line, needed to result in a TD.

The Ugly:

1) The Ravens defense held the Bengals to 5 Field Goals, and lost. The Ravens held Carson Palmer to 167 yards passing, and lost. The defense held Cedric Benson under 100 yards rushing, and the duo of Ochocinco and Owens to 101 yards and lost.

It was one thing to be limited offensively against the Jets in Week 1. To be limited to 10 points again in Week 2 against a Divisional opponent is poor.

Up-Next:

The Ravens host Cleveland at-home next Sunday, and it is going to be an awful day to be a fan of the Browns. The Ravens will be motivated to show improvement from today, and make plays in-front of the home crowd. Look for Baltimore to recommit to the running game, and pour it on against the Browns.