Ravens Survive In Overtime

With a 46-yard field goal by Justin Tucker in overtime, the 4-5 Baltimore Ravens survived a scare against the 6-4 Cincinnati Bengals at home. The victory puts the Ravens 1.5 games behind the Bengals in the AFC North division with plenty of season left.

At halftime, the Ravens were up 17-0 despite only 94 total yards on offense — their two touchdowns were set up by a penalty and an interception. This is the 11th time under head coach John Harbaugh that the Ravens have had a first-half shutout. The team is now 10-1 when this happens. They are also now 10-0 under Harbaugh when they force three or more interceptions — which they did yesterday.

In the second half, the Ravens went into self-destruct mode as they scored no points and turned the ball over on their first two drives in the fourth quarter. The defense also allowed 17 points and failed to get off the field late in the game for the fourth straight time. With two seconds left in the game, the Bengals threw a 51-yard Hail Mary and scored when Ravens’ safety James Ihedigbo batted the ball straight up into the air.

Ihedigbo and the defense were able to regroup and stopped the Bengals on a fourth down in overtime, giving Flacco and the offense the ball with good field position. After a few first downs, Tucker was celebrating his fifth career game-winning field goal.

Joe Flacco
Other than engineering his 17th career game-winning drive, Flacco had a less than spectacular game turning the ball over three times and being generally inaccurate.

Throwing 36 times, Flacco completed 20 passes for 140 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, had a passer rating of 60.0 and lost a fumble.

Courtesy of ICON SMI

Usually a great deep-ball thrower, Flacco was off-target on all of his long passes. He under threw one to Jacoby Jones on a flea-flicker and overthrew Torrey Smith on three separate occasions. He also under threw a screen pass to Smith — which is quiet strange when you consider Flacco’s arm strength.

While he threw for two interceptions, he also had two others dropped. On the first interception, Flacco faced pressure on a third and ten and was trying to thrown the ball away when he was hit by a Bengals defender. The ball floated up and went right to a Bengals defender for an turnover. Running back Ray Rice completely whiffed on his block which allowed the initial pressure. On the other interception, Flacco tried throwing a seam pass to tight end Ed Dickson who was double covered. The Bengals disguised their coverage well and cleary confused Flacco — causing the interception. Moving to the dropped interceptions, Flacco threw a good pass but wide receiver Marlon Brown fell while making his cut on his route. The pass went right to the Bengals defender who was covering but the defender dropped it. The second dropped interception came the play before the second interception. Flacco didn’t see a linebacker dropping back into coverage and the linebacker dove and almost caught the pass.

Flacco’s other turnover came on a fumble late in game when his arm was hit as he threw and the Bengals recovered.

The best play of the game for Flacco came on the Ravens’ first touchdown — their first touchdown in the first quarter since week one. At the Bengals one-yard line for third and goal, the Ravens ran a play-action pass and Flacco nobody was open right away. Flacco did a good job rolling out to his right to buy time for his receivers. Just as he was about to run out-of-bounds, Flacco threw a bullet to tight end Dallas Clark who had gotten open in the back of the end zone. Initially, Clark had fallen over at the line-of-scrimmage, but he was able to recover and get open.

Running Backs
Yet again, the Ravens’ game struggled to get going, gaining only 85 yards on 30 carries — an average of 2.8 yards per carry.

Rice, the starter, was held to 30 yards on 18 carries for a putrid 1.8 yards per carry and had six catches for 26 yards. Backup Bernard Pierce had eight carries for 31 yards (3.9 yards per carry) and caught two passes for 12 yards.

In order to spark the run game, the Ravens ran a end around to backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor for a gain of 18 yards. This was double the longest run of the game by a Ravens’ running back (nine yards by Pierce).

Throughout the game, Pierce looked more explosive than Rice as you can see from the stats. The longest gain that Rice got on the ground was five yards. Rice also made a big mistake in pass blocking as detailed above.

At this point in the season, I think it is time to make a change at running back. Rice clearly has either lost a step this year or he is still suffering from a hip injury suffered early in the season. Pierce is fully healthy now and displayed this during the game when he added a spark to the ground game and was a physical presence on all 10 of his touches. Now, Rice and Pierce should still split carries, but Pierce has been much more effective this season and deserves to have more carries.

Torrey Smith
Continuing to be Flacco’s favorite target in the passing game, Smith saw a team high 14 targets — more than double the next highest of six to Rice. On these 14 targets, Smith caught five passes for 46 yards and hauled in his second touchdown of the season.

On his touchdown, the Ravens had a second and six from the Bengals’ seven-yard line. Smith ran a slant and made a leaping grab in the end zone. He was hit in the air but was able to retain the ball for a touchdown. Despite the numerous targets he receivers, this was only his second touchdown of the season.

Three of Smith’s four other catches went for first downs. Two of them were play-action crossing routes on first and 10 (gains of 18 and 11). The other one came on a quick pass on third and six.  He also drew two penalties for first downs — a pass interference for 14 yards on a third down and a holding penalty.

On the flip side, he was whistled for two penalties himself. The first was a false start on a third and six and the second was a personal foul. On the personal foul, he shoved Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict after the play was over. However, Smith only pushed Burfict after Burfict clearly pushed Jones after the whistle. Smith should know better though as the retaliator, not the initiator, usually gets flagged in the NFL.

Offensive Line
This week, the offensive line gave up five sacks and six quarterback hits — barely an improvement over last week —  but their run blocking was much better.

The main problem on the line continues to be communication as two more unblocked sacks were allowed this week. The first came on a second and 10 for a loss of 11 when a blitzed came between left guard A.Q. Shipley and center Gino Gradkowski. Shipley was occupied blocking someone else and Gradkowski wasn’t blocking anyone. He was looking to his right to give help to right guard Marshal Yanda help. Yanda didn’t need any help and Gradkowski missed the linebacker coming through the line next to him for a sack. The other unblocked sack came on third and 10 for a loss of seven. Left tackle Eugene Monroe down blocked to help Shipley and Rice came over to block one pass-rusher. However, there was one more blitzer and he went unaccounted for and brought down Flacco after an unimpeded path to him.

Right tackle Michael Oher gave up two sack — including the one that forced Flacco’s fumble. On the first sack, Flacco scrambled to his right after feeling pressure and Oher’s man came over for the sack. Oher had his man stopped initially, but Flacco scrambled towards him and Oher didn’t know where Flacco was. On the second sack, Oher got pushed back and the defensive lineman was able to hit Flacco’s arm as he was rearing back to pass.

Yanda gave up the hit on Flacco that caused the interception, but the fault goes to Rice who gave his guy a free shot at Flacco and made him move around in the pocket towards Yanda.

Shipley left with an injury mid-way through the third quarter and returned at the start of the fourth quarter. He was also called for a false start.

Defensive Line
Holding the Bengals to 3.9 yards per carry, the Ravens’ defensive line had a good day.

Starting defensive end Arthur Jones had four tackles and one sack. Two of his tackles were run stops and both of them were shared with someone else. The first was for a gain of three and was shared with cornerback Corey Graham and the second was for a gain of one and was shared with defensive end DeAngelo Tyson. On Jones’ sack, the ball was inside the Ravens’ red zone and it was second and six. Jones beat his man and tackles quarterback Andy Dalton for a loss of five. The following play, the Bengals threw an incomplete pass and were forced to settle for a field goal.

Nose tackle Haloti Ngata had five tackles and one pass defensed. One of his tackles was a run stop which went for a gain of one. His batted pass came on a first and 10 when the Bengals had the ball at their own six-yard line. When the Ravens’ offense went with a goal-line package in the first half, Ngata came in as a tight end and blocked both times. He was flagged for roughing the passer on a third and seven on a play where the defense got a stop. Even though he hit Dalton in the chest, a flag was thrown because Ngata lowed his helmet as he hit Dalton. Late in the first quarter, Ngata left the game with a left knee injury but returned in the second quarter. After this injury he played limited snaps.

At the other defensive end was Chris Canty who had a quiet day. He had only two tackles and one quarterback hit. On his quarterback hit, he forced Dalton to throw the ball away on a second and nine.

Tyson, who saw time because of rotation on the defensive line, had the best game of his short career against the Bengals. He had two tackles and one sack. He had one solo run stop, which went for a gain of two and he shared a run stop with Jones for a gain of one. On his sack, Tyson didn’t get pressure right away so he played a quarterback contain role. When Dalton stepped up to try and scramble, Tyson was there to take him down for a loss of four on the second and three play. This was Tyson’s first career sack.

Elvis Dumervil
On a day where Terrell Suggs was quiet, Dumervil stepped up and made his presence felt.

Bouncing back from last week where he didn’t record a single stat in the box score, he stuffed it this week with three tackles, 2.5 sacks, and one pass defensed.

Starting with his pass defensed, he batted a pass down at the line-of-scrimmage the play after Ngata batted one down.

Pass rushing, Dumervil was a handful for the Bengals offensive line. On a third and eight, his pressure forced Dalton to throw the ball away. The following play, the Bengals attempted a 42-yard field goal and missed. Moving to his sacks, the first came on a second and eight for a loss of five. He beat left tackle Andrew Whitworth and jumped on Dalton. His next sack was a half-sack with Pernell McPhee. All four of the Ravens’ pass rushers on the play got instant pressure and Dumervil and McPhee got to Dalton as he was engulfed by the Ravens pass rush. The last of Dumervil’s sacks came on the second to last play of the game. He beat Whitworth again on what was a second and eight. Beating Whitworth, Dumervil took Dalton down for a loss of seven and the game almost ended there. However, the Bengals were able to get back to the line for one last play with two seconds left where they were able to score.

The only negative from the game for Dumervil on a day where he dominated, was an offsides penalty.

Courtney Upshaw
With his best game of the season, Upshaw did a little bit of everything as usual.

A player described as the defense’s rock by Dumervil, Upshaw does the dirty work for the defense and doesn’t get the credit that he deserves.

This game, he recorded four tackles, two quarterback hits, a pass defensed and had two run stops. Both run stops were solo and they were for gains of three and one. One of his two quarterback hits forced a throw away. On the other one, Upshaw was unblocked on Dalton’s backside and was just a tad late at getting the him. When pass rushing, Upshaw batted a pass down at the line on a first and 10.

Dropping into coverage, he gave up one catch. This came on a second and 10 when he was covering Giovani Bernard, the Bengals’ electric rookie running back. Upshaw didn’t allow Bernard any yards after the catch as he made a sure tackle right after the catch.

Daryl Smith
As usual for the Ravens, Smith led the team in tackles (he tied with Ihedigbo this week) and was all over the field.

Since the start of the season, the Ravens have come to expect performances like this from Smith each week. He had nine tackles and two passes defensed.

Both of his pass breakups were great plays. The first came on a second and seven when Smith sprinted from his middle linebacker spot to the outside of the field and batted the pass down with one hand. The other came on a third and 10 in the end zone. Dalton threw the ball to rookie tight end Tyler Eifert and he had it for a second. Smith hit Eifert, forcing the ball loose for an incompletion. This forced the Bengals to kick a field goal.

Also in pass coverage, Smith gave up four catches including two for first downs. The first was a third and seven and Bernard gained seven yards and one inch to just get the first down. In overtime, Smith gave up a gain of six on third and five to Eifert when he took the ball from Smith.

James Ihedigbo
Ihedigbo had a performance against the Bengals that he won’t forget for a long time — for more than one reason.

Courtesy of ICON SMI

Starting with his stats, he had nine tackles, three passes defensed and one of his tackles was a solo run stop which went for a loss of one yard.

In pass coverage, he gave up one catch for a gain of 43 yards along with cornerback Jimmy Smith. On the play, Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green went deep and had Ihedigbo covering over the top and Smith was trailing behind by a few yards. Ihedigbo tipped the ball when going up for it and bounced to Green for the catch.

Also in pass coverage, Ihedigbo recored two interceptions. Not only was this his first two interception game of his career, these were his first two interceptions in his sixth NFL season.

On the first interception, Dalton badly overthrew a pass on third and 10 and the ball went to Ihedigbo. On the return, he gained 37 yards. That along with a penalty on Cincinnati put the ball on the Bengals’ 11-yard line for the Ravens’ offense. Two plays later, Torrey Smith scored his touchdown.

The second interception came at the two minute warning in the second half. It was a second and nine and Dalton again overthrew his receiver. This time, it hit Ravens’ safety Matt Elam in the hands and bounced to Ihedigbo. This time he returned the interception nine yards. At the time, it looked like this sealed the victory for the Ravens.

This assumption couldn’t have been more wrong.

With two seconds left in the game, the Bengals threw a Hail Mary. The throw was a few yards short and bounced off the shoulder of Bengals’ receiver Marvin Jones right to Ihedigbo. Trying to swat the ball to the ground, he accidentally hit the ball right into the air. The ball floated up and Green was there to make the easy touchdown catch to tie the game and sent it to overtime.

In overtime, Ihedigbo made a great play to end the Bengals’ drive. The Bengals went for it on fourth and two as it was just outside of field goal range. They ran a swing pass to Bernard and Ihedigbo snuffed it out right away. Bernard was able to escape from Ihedigbo, but by then, the rest of the Ravens’ defense was around and Bernard tried to reverse fields to no avail. Graham made the tackle and Ihedigbo was able to make it over help bring Bernard down.

Cornerbacks
In this game against the Bengals, the Ravens’ cornerbacks played their best game of the season, blanketing the Bengals’ receivers making it tough for Dalton to find an open one. This good coverage allowed defensive coordinator Dean Pees to dial up more blitzes and get pressure on Dalton.

Number one cornerback Lardarius Webb had been struggling coming into this game, but put that aside and had his best game of the season. With a game high six passes defensed, Webb was one point all game long. He gave up three catches, all for first downs for 59 yards. Two of these came on third down and the other went for 40 yards to Eifert.

Webb was also able to intercept a pass. On this play, Jones ran a curl route and Webb ripped the ball away from him when they were going to the ground. This was a great play by Webb as he had tight coverage and then was able to outmuscle Jones to get the ball. This interception gave the offense the ball at the Ravens’ 49-yard line but they went three-and-out.

In non-pass coverage things, Webb was able to record a quarterback hit on a blitz. This pressure forced Dalton to throw a check down pass that was short of the first down marker on third down. One of Webb’s five tackles was a solo run stop for a gain of one. Lastly, he was flagged for offsides when he ran up to get in press coverage and his momentum took him across the line-of-scrimmage.

Like Webb, Jimmy Smith had a great game at cornerback. Unless you count the deep pass to Green when Ihedigbo was also in coverage, I don’t have Smith down as allowing a catch. Smith had two passes defensed — both on third downs. The first was a third and 13 where Smith punched the ball out of the receivers hands as he was coming down with the pass. The other was on third and 11 an Smith jumped in front of the receiver and broke up the pass. He also stopped two running back swing passes for gains of two and negative two (the negative play was on third down).

Graham’s play was great as well as he only allowed one pass to be caught against him for a gain of nine on second and seven. He also got involved in the run game as he shared a run stop with Arthur Jones for a gain of three. In overtime, Graham made the tackle on Bernard on fourth and two for a loss of eleven. Graham pursued Bernard across the field and was able to make the tackle with the help of Ihedigbo.