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

The Baltimore Ravens moved to 8-6 with a convincing 31-7 victory over the Chicago Bears. However, with the news of Lardarius Webb likely being out for the season with an ACL injury, it is difficult to feel good about the 24 point win.

The Good:

1) The Ravens forced 6 turnovers, including 3 interceptions of Jay Cutler. While it is true that Cutler had to deal with playing without Devin Hester; he was held to a ridiculously low 94 passing yards. Amazingly, 30 of those 94 passing yards came on the initial Bear play of the game.

2) I was looking forward to seeing a lot of McGahee, and McClain today, but the Ravens took advantage of limitations in the Chicago secondary, and made plays in the passing game.

2a) It seems pretty clear that Flacco continues to have some difficulty planting off his back-leg, but he again played through that pain, and had his most productive game in weeks. With his 4 TD’s today, he now has 19 TD’s vs 11 picks for the season.

2b) Todd Heap obviously had a big day, with 5 receptions and 2 TD’s.

2c) Demetrius Williams got some playing-time, and responded with 4 catches for 71 yards, and a score. His TD reception against double-coverage (while he was pass-interfered with) makes you question why he was glued to the bench most of this season. Even more perplexing when Cam Cameron is quoted in the Baltimore Sun this week saying Williams has worked hard in practice all-season.

2d) I thought Derrick Mason ran some great routes today, as he caught 6 balls, including a TD. I shudder to think where this team would have been this year had he stayed retired.

3) Matt Forte had 20 carries, and was held to 69 yards. He initially had some success up the middle, but the Ravens adjusted and took him out of the game.

4) Dominique Foxworth deserves credit for his 2 picks today, but I am more impressed by the story the Baltimore Sun had today about him hosting additional meetings / film-study at his house for the Secondary. That is a player with pride, motivated to improve. Foxworth is not big enough to be a true-elite CB, but he is far better than most in Baltimore gave him credit for earlier this season. He runs very well, and I think has strong corner skills. He simply is going to get beat at-times against bigger wideouts, and not really help in controlling the run. It is not a coincidence that the pass-rush has been more consistent, and his play has looked improved in the Secondary.

5) Ray Rice was simply exploding on some of his 16 carries. That burst, combined with his elusiveness, pass-catching abilities, and willingness to run north/south is making him a star. The o-line was opening up holes for him, but Rice gets credit for making plays.

6) I liked that Troy Smith got on the field some today with the ‘Suggs’ package.

7) Ngata not only stripped the ball, and forced a fumble – he recovered the ball. Just a very athletic play for Ngata.

8) On-cue from the positive comments from Billick, Jarret Johnson made a tremendous play for his interception.

The Bad:

1) I like the idea of some plays being run with both Smith, and Flacco on the field. It seems like it would make more sense to have Smith be the ‘WR’ with the option to throw, vs. splitting Flacco wide.

2) The Ravens and Flacco were having success in the passing-game, so I can not negatively critique the team for sticking with what was working. Still, I do think this was a game to establish an identity; and believe finding more than 7 combined carries for McGahee, and McClain would have beneficial.

3) The poor long-snap from Katula is something that can not happen. Combining that with the porous Kick and Punt coverage, and it was not a banner day for Special Teams.

The Ugly:

1) The injury to Webb is pretty crippling to this team. If his injury is an ACL Sprain, and not an ACL Tear, I believe there would be limited hope he could return for the playoffs if the Ravens were to advance. The chances of his returning at any-point this season seem remote, and it really limits what the Ravens can do.

1a) Once Webb replaced Washington in the Secondary, I think there was a reasonable argument to make that Webb should not have been in on Special Teams.

2) Why was Joe Flacco in the game for the first two-series of the 4th Quarter? The 24 point-lead was an opportunity to bench Flacco and the other starters. Seeing Flacco take a hard-sack in that 4th Quarter made little sense.

Up-next:

If Webb had not been injured today, you would feel good about where the Ravens are. Jacksonville, Miami, the Jets, and Denver all lost this week. The Ravens control their own destiny. Win the next two-weeks, and they make the playoffs.

For the Ravens to win these next two-weeks, they will have to beat their divisional-rival (and defending Super Bowl Champion) Pittsburgh Steelers in their home-stadium. Roethlisberger ended the Steelers game today, perfectly orchestrating a 2 minute drive for the TD, and the win as time expired.

With their win, the Steelers are now 7-7, and again have a playoff pulse. If Pittsburgh can beat the Ravens this coming-week, the Steelers will pull even with Baltimore.

*EDIT, what I am now reading seems to indicate that if the Ravens and Pittsburgh were tied at 9-7 at the end of the regular-season (and the sole AFC teams with this distinction) Baltimore would advance to the playoffs based on division record. I am sure there will be more on this tomorrow.*

A game against a fierce division-rival in their stadium was always going to be difficult. Playing Pittsburgh, when the Steelers have something to play for, will make the hitting even more fierce. Roethlisberger threw for 503 yards today against a good Green Bay pass-defense. Roethlisberger will like his chances for success against a Baltimore pass-defense missing Webb. Roethlisberger is at his best when he scrambles from the pocket, avoids the pass-rush, and makes plays down the field. If the Ravens do not collapse the pocket, and get Big Ben to the turf, it will very difficult for Baltimore to win.

The Ravens can not ask for anything more really. Baltimore will get the opportunity to go into Pittsburgh, with the ability to extend their season, while effectively ending the Super Bowl reign of the Steelers.