Limiting The Denver Broncos to 200 total yards, The Baltimore Ravens ended a 3-game losing-streak winning 30-7.
The Ravens dominated this game from the beginning, and gave the Broncos their first loss of the year.
With the win, Baltimore moves to 4-3, and can climb even with the Bengals if they win in Cincinnati next Sunday.
The Good:
1) As we expected, Baltimore’s defensive-line used the extra-week of rest to take full-advantage of the Denver offensive-line. Denver was limited to 200 yards, including just 66 on the ground. The Broncos were not able to use Brandon Marshall’s size-advantage to their benefit, because Orton was dealing with a pass-rush. Baltimore made an immediate statement about today, with Jarret Johnson’s 5th sack of the 2009 season.
2) Flacco finished 20 for 25, and I believe had 14 completions in a row to end the game. 6 different Raven receivers caught passes, and 5 different receivers caught at-least 3 passes. When Denver had closed the game to 13-7, Flacco took over with 9:27 left in the 3rd Quarter. Flacco led the Ravens from their-own 23 yard-line, to the Denver 13 yard-line. True, the Ravens had to settle for a FG, but putting points right back on the board, halted any Bronco momentum. The TD to Mason was a thing of beauty.
3) You want your Kick Return game to put the offense in good field-position; Lardarius Webb putting points on the board is just a bonus. If Webb can build off of today, and consistently put the Ravens in good-position, that will be huge.
4) After missing the game-winning kick in Minnesota, Hauschka responded by hitting all three of his attempts today.
5) Gaither returned to the line-up today, despite reports at the end of this week which made it sound unlikely he would be able to go. This is just a different team with Gaither in at LT, and Oher allowed to go back to RT. ROLB Elvis Dumervil came into today’s game with 10 sacks, and sacks in 4 of the Broncos first 6 games. Against Gaither, he could do nothing. There was a play in the 1st Quarter, where Rice caught a screen and darted down the side-line. Gaither was blocking out the sun, and clearing day-light for Rice.
6) Heap was limited to 3 receptions for 16 yards, but showed great 2nd effort with his 1st catch of the game today. Washington had 4 more receptions today, again moving the chains. Those 4 receptions give Williams 24 through 7 games. Just amazing production for a guy that had 20 receptions combined the previous 3 years.
7) Marshall had 4 receptions for 24 yards. Gaffney led Denver with 43 yards. Credit the Ravens Secondary for their play today, but having a more consistent pass-rush, is what allowed Baltimore to step-up.
8) Denver came into today with the NFL’s 2nd-ranked Defense, and the Ravens were able to score 23 offensive-points. Baltimore was also 10 for 18 on 3rd-down, and was able to win the time of possession battle, holding the ball for 33mts, and 37 seconds.
9) Ed Reed’s crushing hit and forced fumble on Moreno.
10) The last Raven TD drive did not mean anything, but it featured several carries from McClain, including a 20 yard-run. If provided with the opportunity, McClain will produce.
The Bad:
1) I continue to be amazed how many times Hauschka kicks-off, and opposing kick-returners are running up to the 10 yard-line to get the kick. I would like to see him find the end-zone, and get few more touch-backs in the coming weeks.
2) Mason was right to be irritated about the non-call on Alphonso Smith, but the penalty he picked-up with poor. Luckily it did not cost the Ravens, but it is unacceptable to cost your team 15 yards due to side-line antics.
3) In the 1st-Quarter after Moreno fumbled, Baltimore took over on the Denver 23 yard-line. I thought the play-calling that whole series was poor, and the the 3rd and 10 screen to Clayton left me scratching my head. It did not wind-up mattering, but when you take over the ball in opposition territory, the focus has to be putting a TD on the board. The Ravens seemed content to leave with a FG before they called their first offensive-play of the series.
4) Chris Carr had back-to-back Punt Returns in the 1st-Quarter, where he called for a Fair Catch, where he seemingly had room to run. Those were the plays of player that just wanted to make the catch, not a player thinking about making a play. To his credit, he did have a sack today, and made another solid tackle.
5) Another game, and again nothing from LJ Smith and Demetrius Williams. I had hoped that coming off his 1 catch in Minnesota, and the bye; that Williams might have had the chance to make a play today. I had also hoped that coming off the bye, Smith would have been healthy and more comfortable with the play-book. Is it completely on these players alone, why they are not be giving any opportunity?
6) When Baltimore took over possession with 7:04 left in the 4th Quarter, up 16 points; why were Flacco, Rice, etc still in the game? Seemed like a great opportunity to give some playing-time to not only players like LJ Smith, and D. Williams; but Troy Smith and McGahee. McGahee had two rushing attempts today, and 1 reception. For those counting at-home, that is 22 rushing attempts in 5 weeks for McGahee. This is just a puzzling use of the roster.
The Ugly:
1) The ugly was listening to the National commentators this morning talk about they expected Denver to win today in Baltimore. If you look at the Broncos roster, and you compare it to the Ravens roster, and you expected the Broncos to leave Baltimore with a win; you should not have a job providing analysis on football.
Chris Carter, and Tom Jackson – I am looking at you.
2) The only other item I can think of here was the injury to Ngata. It sounded like he could have, and would have been able to return if the game was in-doubt. Hopefully he will be ready to go next-week. As skilled as Ngata is, if he has problems during the week – they should just give him the week off. The Ravens should be able to get through a week (even against Benson) with Gregg, McKinney, Bannan, and Talavou at DT.
Up-Next:
The Ravens go to Cincinnati with a chance to avenge the loss to the Bengals at-home. Like today, it is an opportunity to make a statement, and effectively a must-win game to get back to the playoffs.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.