Looking Like Ravens Football
Filed under: AFC North, NFL, following the locals, football, ravens review, sports
Desperation? Or just better execution? Call it what you want, but the Baltimore Ravens played something akin to what fans were expecting when the season began by beating the Denver Broncos 30-7 yesterday. First and foremost, this is the defense that fans expected to see from the beginning. A fast, dominating unit hitting anything and everything in sight, getting pressure on the quarterback (though only two sacks), and good pass defense. You could say that Denver played into the Ravens hands by not testing the secondary with the deep ball, and you’d be right. But the Broncos were unable to generate much offense regardless of what plays were called.
The tone of this game was set on the very first defensive snap. Jarret Johnson’s sack of Kyle Orton on the defense’s first play of the game let the Broncos know that they were going to be in for some in-your-face, welcome to the AFC North, type of football. And the Ravens kept up the pressure throughout the game. Speaking just for myself, it was great to see the team flying around on defense, making plays and allowing fans to breathe a sigh of relief that this was not going to be another hang on the edge of your seat type of game. But for one questionable pass interference call on Domonique Foxworth which helped to set up the Broncos lone score of the day, the Broncos may have been shut out in this game.
Actually, it was the offense who provided the early nervous moments, as two scoring chances deep in Bronco territory yielded only field goals. The first, coming after recovery of a fumble by Knowshon Moreno actually lost yardage on the three plays, but ended with a Steven Hauschka field goal. The second, which actually got inside the ten yard line, was torpedoed by a personal foul call on Michael Oher. When the drive stalled, Hauschka converted another field goal chance for a 6-0 lead, which was the halftime score. Fans surely had to be thinking that those chances, while getting points, should have been touchdowns instead of field goals. They had to be thinking that with Denver being unbeaten, and with their record to that point of second half dominance, they needed to get as many points as possible on the board. Yet in the second half, and throughout the game, the offense played mistake-free football with no turnovers. Joe Flacco only had five incomplete passes all game in yet another good performance. Ray Rice rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown, and it was nice to see LeRon McClain get some carries as well.
The biggest surprise was Lardarius Webb’s kickoff return for a TD and the special teams play overall. Ed Reed just barely missed getting a blocked punt in the first half, but the kickoff and punt coverage units did a phenomenal job containing Eddie Royal, who was coming off a game with both a kickoff return and a punt return for touchdowns. All in all, it was a fine game by the Ravens, as they performed well in all three phases of the game. Looks like the bye week did the Ravens some good, as it looked like the team got back to the basics of Ravens football, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
Now for the sky is falling portion of the post-it was a great game, but it was only one game. Next week brings the next challenge in the Ravens run to the playoffs; the rematch against the Cincinnati Bengals, this time in Cincy. No doubt the Ravens will remember how the first matchup got away from them as the defense caved under the pile of penalties on the last drive of the game. Certainly the team will need as good an effort or even better than the one they had today to beat the Bengals next week. It certainly will behoove the Ravens to keep their emotions in check as well; Oher and Derrick Mason need to rein in their anger when things don’t go the way they hope.
Nevertheless, for one week at least, this game was approaching something that looked like Ravens football like the fans were used to.
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MKRob’s Top Blog Reads Of The Week | MKRob's Sports Blog on
Fri, 6th Nov 2009 7:28 pm
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- Some Thoughts About The Bracket: Well, all the talking of strength of schedule, Top 25 wins, Top 50 wins, RPI, roa... http://bit.ly/dr2xJU
- @DemetriusHall from one of those u smashed, sorry for your luck. I thought u would run the table.
- @ms_sugakane same here. But it just feels even worse today for some reason LOL
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- @Inkognegro should've taken the whole week off to adjust.
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