Ravens lose, season over; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Baltimore Ravens saw their season end tonight, with a 20-3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

While there is no shame losing to Peyton Manning, and the Colts – especially on the Indianapolis home-field – there has to be a sense of ‘what if’, from the perspective of the Ravens.

Ultimately wondering about what if accomplishes little though. While this game could have been different, the result is the result. All that is left, is to remember the lessons from this year, and begin the preparations for the 2010 season.

The Good:

1) You might not have liked watching the Ravens play a bend but not break defense, but it was effective enough to hold the Colts offense to 20 points on their home-field. If you hold Indianapolis to 20 points, you should expect to be in the game.

2) Flacco was sacked 1 time in his 35 pass-attempts. I am not going to try and tell you that Gaither played great (he clearly had his troubles), but he was able to again team with Oher to severely limit the pass-rush of Freeney, and Mathis.

3) Ray Rice’s fumble ended any chance of the Ravens getting back into the game, but Rice was just attempting to make a play. As his 127 all-purpose yards illustrated, he was essentially the only Raven player showing the ability to do so.

4) Immediately prior to Reed’s interception, I said aloud that the defense had to make a play. Reed answered that call with the pick and the return. I see some people killing him for his fumble, but he had the ball secured, and a player he could not see made a hustle play on him. The offense was doing nothing, and he was trying to take it to the house. That is what makes Reed special.

5) The initial drive was exactly what the Ravens needed. A long possession that moved the chains, and kept Manning on the bench.

The Bad:

1) Parmele should have had a big kickoff return to start the Ravens first offensive series, but there was a costly penalty.

2) After forcing an Indianapolis punt, the Ravens received the ball to start the 2nd Quarter. Facing 3rd and 2 yards to go on their own 17 yard-line, Baltimore had Flacco drop back to pass, instead of trying to pound the ball for the 1st.

2a) Baltimore immediately forces another Colts punt, only to again go 3 and out.

3) The Colts had a 8 minute drive for their first touchdown. The Ravens received the kickoff with 2 minutes left in the half. Flacco passes incomplete on 2nd, and 3rd down; giving the ball right back to Manning. The Colts march right down and score another TD to end the half. To me, this was the most devastating sequence of the game.

You might have trouble with the penalties Baltimore picked-up on that drive, but Manning never should have got the ball back with so much time on the clock.

3a) The penalty on Lewis is hard to understand. The receiver went low, and Lewis went low in return. Their helmets collided, but essentially you are asking Lewis to be able to stop in mid-air as he is about to make the play.

4) The timeouts usage of the Ravens in the 2nd-half could have hurt the Ravens if a come-back had started to take place.

The Ugly:

1) Down 17-3 in the 3rd quarter, Baltimore elected to go for 1st down, as they faced 4th and 3 on the Colts 45 with 6:01 on the clock. The Ravens did not pick-up the first, and allowed Manning to again start on a short-field. More disturbing than that, is that if the Ravens knew they were in ‘4 down territory’, why did they pass the ball on 3rd down? On 4th down, knowing you need to pick up the 1st, you attempt to hit Demetrius Williams? To ask Williams to make a critical play, when you have been unwilling to extensively use him all season, seems odd.

2) That was a crushing penalty on Corey Ivy.

3) In the 4th Quarter down 3 scores, the Ravens offensive players were still walking to the line. It did not prove to be the difference, but the tempo should have been better.

4) I liked the idea of throwing against a 8 man box, but I thought that attack would have involved more plays down the field. I also thought the Ravens would have attempted to use their power-formations when the action on the field dictated it.

Up-Next:

Plenty of time for reflection. You take one last look at this season, before moving to the next. The Ravens deserve credit for making the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, and for winning 3 playoff games on the road these last two years.

If the Ravens want to take the next-step towards winning another Lombardi Trophy, the focus has to move to taking care of business during the regular-season. You want to position yourselves to potentially earn a bye, or at-least have playoff games at-home.

In the immediate aftermath of a tough loss, you have a lot of questions. (Ex. Reed already talking to the press about possible retirement).

I outlined a number of questions facing the team in the previous-post linked below:

http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-if-ravens-season-ends-tomorrow.html

My biggest immediate questions are:

Summary / Key Priorities / Questions:

1) The resigning of Gaither.
2) Does Reed want to return?
3) The extending of Ngata.
4) The extending of Rice.
5) The resigning of McClain.
5a) Does the team eat McGahee’s contract?
6) Does Mason want to return? Is he willing to sign a 1 year deal?
6a) Clayton, Williams, Washington? Will Baltimore pursue a FA WR?
7) What happens at RG?
8) Do the Ravens attempt to resign Edwards?