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Tale of two halves.
Offensively, it wasn’t going to be as easy as last year appeared to go now that they are without Marshal Yanda. To Eric DeCosta’s credit they did draft two guards this year in Tyre Phillips and Ben Bredeson. It’s disappointing that Bredeson is nowhere to be seen given he was a four-year starter at Michigan. Big Ten is a O-line, employ a punishing run game, corn fed tough guy kind of conference. Yanda, by the way, an Iowa alum if you need more proof.
Pile onto that, Phillips goes on IR, Ronnie Stanley’s season is over. You’re trying to move pieces around with DJ Fluker and figure out if he can play guard, tackle? If Orlando Brown can play left tackle or should stay on the right side? Plug Patrick Mekari in there and see what he’s got.
But two guys that haven’t had to move looked absolutely dreadful today in Matt Skura and Bradley Bozeman. Bozeman was blocking air on some plays, didn’t appear in the right spots sometimes. Skura had trouble snapping to ball, though it was noted during the broadcast he was dealing with a cut on his hand. Doesn’t everyone in the trenches have cuts on their hands?
It led to the Ravens totaling just 55 first half yards. They were nearly quadrupled up by their counterparts who ran up 201 yards on just ten more first half plays. They seemed awfully lucky to be trailing just 10-7 at the half, thanks to a defensive scoop and score by Chuck Clark. But games are 60 minutes and after the dreadful first 30, they came out and outpaced Indy 158 yards to 1 in the third quarter.
The second half was much improved which I’ll get to later. It started with three quick passes, a little no huddle, to try to adjust and they moved into scoring range rather quickly. But Gus Edwards coughs it up near the goal line ending the scoring threat. That is at least the third time this year they failed to hang onto the ball near the goal line which leads to my next point.
The team appears to lack of discipline. Who is to blame?
The Ravens have been drawing a lot of penalty flags of late. 12 last week, a few questionable. Drew another five to start the game today, none of them questionable and all mostly preventable. Last week we saw Matt Judon get ejected, and Marcus Peters could have been as a small scrum broke out, and he came out on the field form the bench while the offense was out there. A huge no-no.
The offense was way out of sync early on with what looked like missed assignments. Mark Andrews and Marquise “Soulja” Brown dropped passes. It was a mess early on.
Pernell McPhee not only jumped offsides, but committed a roughing the passer on 3rd down, with the Colts pinned deep. A stop would have given the Ravens good field position and about four minutes to score before the half. Instead, free first down, Indy marches down the field and essentially ends the half with a field goal.
Despite all of this, the Ravens somehow only trailed 10-7 at the half, and then led this game 14-10 with 5:43 to go in the 3rd quarter and never looked back.
Another key injury, this time Calais Campbell.
Stanley, Marlon Humphrey on the COVID list, add another All-Pro to the injury list with Calais Campbell going down with a calf injury on the first drive of the game. He didn’t return, so we’ll see what the diagnosis is. One thing is for sure. The depth on this team has been challenged and it likely isn’t going to let up anytime soon is this current environment. We’ve seen a number of guys promoted for the practice squad getting real reps. Terrell Bonds, Kristian Welch, Justin Ellis, Khalil Dorsey.
This team has heart. They play ugly at times. But they don’t give up and they don’t crumble when things go a little sideways. Next man up, at least on defense, has been keeping the Ravens season going in the right direction.
We’ll await the Campbell diagnosis and hope it isn’t serious.
A grind it out kind of game that they needed.
Big plays were not to be found here. The Ravens took control of the game in the second half by getting the running game going in a big way on their third drive of the second half. It was a 14-play drive that lasted four minutes into the fourth quarter where the Ravens ran the rock 11 times versus just three passes. Holes were opening up and they took advantage. The run game was so efficient that on 3rd and inches near the Colts ten, the Colts defense took the bait thinking that it was going to be an HB Dive, but the Lamar Jackson fake took him uncontested on the outside to the endzone as the defense didn’t contain. An absolute must if you want to slow down Jackson’s running ability. Greg Roman’s best play call of the game.
At one point in the second half the Ravens had run 32 plays to the Colts 4 as they took a 21-10 lead. The Ravens flipped the script so much that the Colts were almost out of their element, making one poor decision after another trying to get back in the game. The icing on the cake was the 4th and inches stand where the Colts could have settled for a field goal to make it a one score game. Don Martindale sent the pass rush that Rivers couldn’t elude, and the play blew up in Rivers face, sealing the Ravens victory. A game that at halftime the stats made it look like they were lucky to even be in the game.
I mentioned after the Eagles game that we need to see the Ravens play a full 60 minutes. They had the luxury of being up by a ton at times and being able to lift off the gas in the final quarter. After allowing 22 points in the 4th quarter of the Eagles game which they were leading handily, they needed a reminder how long game are. Today, they delivered on the message. Not only did they never give up, they overcame obstacles, adjusted, and the better team prevailed. They needed a game like this let them know that it’s not over until it’s over. Whether you are up by 24, or if you couldn’t move the ball for 35 minutes. It’s not over until it’s over.
10 straight road wins for the Ravens now.
Look ahead to week 10, @ New England for Sunday Night Football
The 2-5 Patriots had today off, and it will be absolutely hilarious if they enter this matchup 2-6 given that they play the 0-8 Jets tomorrow night.
You would figure “Cheatin” Bill Belicheck and “Scam” Newton would be like two peas in a pod when it comes to gaining whatever advantage would be necessary to prevail. But Newton has thrown only two touchdown passes on the year. Though he’s run for six of them.
It is very apparent who carried who in the Brady/Belicheck dynasty. The Patriots are a shell of their former selves, and the Ravens should have nothing to worry about except themselves. I guarantee if the Patriots make this a game it will be because the Ravens shot themselves in the foot too often like last week against the Steelers. Not because the Patriots bring the fight to them.
No team in the NFL can take another team lightly. But I can.
Ravens Analyst
Mike was born on the Eastern Shore, raised in Finksburg, and currently resides in Parkville. In 2009, Mike graduated from the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland. Mike became a Baltimore City Fire Fighter in late 2010. Mike has appeared as a guest on Q1370, and FOX45. Now a Sr. Ravens Analyst for BSL, he can be reached at mike.randall@baltimoresportsandlife.com.