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Ravens Release LB Brendon Ayanbadejo

April 4, 2013 in Free Agency, News

Last night, the Ravens made their first roster move in a few days. They decided to part ways with soon to 37-year old LB Brendon Ayanbadejo.

The Ravens have released backup LB Brendon Ayanbadejo.

With this move, the Ravens will save $807,000 in salary cap room. Just last offseason, the Ravens signed Ayanbadejo to a 3-year contract worth $3.22 million.

Ayanbadejo played backup linebacker and was a key special teamer during the Ravens Super Bowl run this year. He has been with the Ravens for the last five seasons after playing in Miami and then Chicago.

In 16 regular season games, last season, Ayanbadejo had 43 tackles and 1 sack. In the postseason, he only had 2 tackles. More importantly though, he had a key block on Jacoby Jones's 108-yard kickoff return touchdown in Super Bowl XLVII.

It seems like Ayanbadejo was cut for his age and declining age, not for his cap hit of $1.073 million this season. It is tough to play football at the age of 37, it is even tougher when you only play defense as a pass defending linebacker and play special teams. You have to be athletic and fast to be a good pass defending linebacker and teams can always find young players who can play special teams for cheap.

As of right now, it is unknown if Ayanbadejo will try and continue his football career, or if he will retire.

Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Free Agency, Jacoby Jones Comments Off

by Matt Pearce

Jacoby Jones Shines In Hometown

February 11, 2013 in Super Bowl XLVII

During the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLVII, lots of people, including me, were talking about Ravens S Ed Reed returning to his hometown of New Orleans for the Super Bowl. Well, Ravens WR Jacoby Jones is from New Orleans as well, and he had an amazing game.

Reed did have a good game, recording an interception but, Jones had an even better one. He set the Super Bowl record for all-purpose yards with 290. Of these 290 yards, 56 were receiving yards and 234 were return yards.

Ravens WR Jacoby Jones celebrates his kickoff return for a touchdown.

Most of his 234 return yards came on an 108 yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half. This was originally ruled to be a return of 109 yards but it was changed after further review of the play. The play (seen here) was still a Super Bowl record return though. After scoring the touchdown, Jones gave a little tribute to retiring LB Ray Lewis by doing Lewis's introduction dance. Earlier in the year, week 6 against the Dallas Cowboys, Jones also had an 108 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. This return was his third kickoff return for a touchdown and fourth total as he had one punt return touchdown.

Returning a kickoff for a touchdown was not all Jones did though. With 1:45 left in the first half, Jones scored on a 56 yard touchdown catch. On the play, Jones ran a deep route. While catching the ball, Jones fell to the ground and wasn't touched by San Francisco 49ers CB Chris Culliver. Jones realized this and got up right away, he then was able to outrun the two 49ers defenders in the area for a touchdown. This was the only catch that Jones had on two targets but he made it count

When asked about this play, Jones said "Football is a chess match sometimes. We watched film. It was a play we dialed up and we knew they’d play coverage a certain way. [Chris Culliver and Donte Whitner] both bit and Joe threw a perfect ball."

After the game, there was some talk that Jones should have won the MVP award. He did set the Super Bowl record with 290 all-purpose yards but, only 56 were receiving yards. When you factor in the great game that QB Joe Flacco had, then the award should have gone to Flacco. The runner-up for this award was definitely Jones though.

Jones doesn't believe that he deserved the award either. When asked, Jones said "No. I just played my role, I did my job that I was supposed to do. When they call your name, you have to show up and play your role. I played my role. Joe Flacco deserves it because if you see what he did in that postseason, he threw 11 touchdowns and no picks."

Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Chris Culliver, Dallas Cowboys, Donte Whitner, Ed Reed, Jacoby Jones, Joe Flacco, Ray Lewis, San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowl, Super Bowl MVP, Super Bowl XLVII Comments Off

by Matt Pearce

Super Bowl XLVII Recap

February 11, 2013 in Observations, Super Bowl XLVII

Exactly one week ago, the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII. Since it has been one week, it is time to look at some important things that occurred. The play of Joe Flacco has already been looked at here.

Ravens Coaching
The Baltimore Ravens coaching staff did a good job preparing for this game. The team came out strong and was able to execute what we can assume was the gameplan. Two key moments for the coaching staff stick out from this game.

First, was the power outage during the game. For 34 minutes, the lights on half of the stadium went out. This allowed the 49ers to recuperate and come out attacking. Before the power outage, the Ravens led 28-6. After the power outage, the 49ers outscored the Ravens 25-6. The coaching staff obviously didn't do enough to keep the players ready to play. The 49ers were able to get their players ready to play. Maybe the players were thinking that this game was already decided due to the big lead, I don't. But what I do now is that the team wasn't the same after this stoppage of play.

In my opinion, the best decision by the coaching staff was to take a safety with about ten seconds left in the game. The Ravens were up by five points and had the ball on their own 8-yard line on a 4th and 7. Instead of just punting the ball away, P Sam Koch took the ball and ran around in the endzone. He was able to run off eight seconds before the 49ers figured out what was going on and pushed Koch out-of-bounds. This made the Ravens have to do a free kick and the coverage unit was able to stop the return as time expired.

So, instead of allowing a possible blocked punt or a punt return for a touchdown on a short field, the Ravens played it safe. It is easier to defend a return when the returner is fielding the ball from farther away from the endzone. More importantly, it ran off eight seconds which guaranteed that the return would be the last play of the game. If the 49ers had any return, they would have been able to throw a hail mary pass or, if they got a good return, would have been able to run a regular play. By taking the safety, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh played the odds perfectly and set up the Ravens victory.

Bernard Pollard
One the first play of the game, Pollard re-broke six ribs. According to the Ravens website, Pollard broke initially broke these six ribs one multiple occasions in the season. The first three were broken when OLB Courtney Upshaw hit him during the week 2 game against Philadelphia. Two more broke when CB Chykie Brown hit him in practice in November. Lastly, Pollard broke the sixth when S Ed Reed hit him on the first play of the game in week 14 against Washington.

Pollard was able to play through the pain but he wasn't his normal self. He looked weaker in pass coverage all game long. Obviously, the injury isn't serious and he will be ready for next season with plenty of time to spare.

Haloti Ngata
Just like Pollard, Ngata got injured in the game. However, Ngata's injury was more serious and, had a bigger impact on the game. Ngata left the game with a knee injury and never returned. It has been confirmed that Ngata only sprained his knee, so there will be no effect on his play next season.

In game, this effected the Ravens big time. As soon as he went out with the injury, the 49ers were able to run the ball more effectively. This is one of the reasons why the 49ers had much more success in the second half on offense then they did in the first. If Ngata, hadn't got injured the 49ers wouldn't have been able to run as well since Ngata is one of the top run stuffers in the NFL, let alone the Ravens best.

Underrated Play Of The Game
Certain plays like the touchdowns and the defensive stop at the end of the game get all the publicity but, there are still great plays that go unmentioned. In this game, the underrated play of the game was a 3rd and 1 pass by the Ravens.

More specifically, it was a 3rd and 1 pass to WR Anquan Boldin with under nine minutes left. Originally, the Ravens called for a run play but, Flacco audibled once he saw how the 49ers lined up on defense. He called for a back shoulder fade to Boldin, who was in one-on-one coverage. On the route, Boldin was covered very well and it was a tough throw to make. However, Flacco placed the ball perfectly and Boldin was able to hold on for the catch.

This play put the ball on the 49ers 40-yard line and one play later, the Ravens were in field goal range. This field goal, by K Justin Tucker, put the Ravens up by five points with under five minutes left in the game. If this pass is dropped or falls incomplete, the 49ers would only have been down two points, which means instead of having to score a touchdown at the end of the game, they would have only needed a field goal.

Underrated Player Of The Game
This goes to LG Kelechi Osemele. I said, if the Ravens stop 49ers DE Justin Smith, they will win the trenches on offense. Osemele did just that for the Ravens. He was able to single team Smith which allowed more blockers to go to other pass rushers which neutralized the 49ers defensive front.

Player Of The Game
Last, is my player of the game award. I think that the voters got this right when the gave it to Flacco. He played an excellent game going 22-of-33 for 287 yards and threw 3 TDs. Without Flacco's performance they wouldn't have won this game. Coming into the game, the only real threat I saw to Flacco winning the award (if the Ravens won the game) was LB Ray Lewis. If Lewis had a big impact on the game (i.e. forcing a big turnover), the voters might have given him the award because this was his last game in the NFL.
Runner Up: WR/KR Jacoby Jones

Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco throws a pass.

Tags: Anquan Boldin, Baltimore Ravens, Bernard Pollard, Chykie Brown, Courtney Upshaw, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata, Jacoby Jones, Joe Flacco, John Harbaugh, Justin Smith, Justin Tucker, Kelechi Osemele, Ray Lewis, Sam Koch, San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowl, Super Bowl MVP, Super Bowl XLVII Comments Off

by Matt Pearce

Ravens Advance To Super Bowl XLVII

January 22, 2013 in Observations

In a rematch of last years AFC Championship Game, the Baltimore Ravens outlasted the New England Patriots by a score of 28-13. At halftime the score was 13-7 to the Patriots. Once the second half started the Ravens had a new offensive scheme, pass the ball. This worked as it led to 21 second half points. The defense rose to the occasion and shut the Patriots out in the second half. In the first half, the Ravens were out played but, in the second half, the Ravens outplayed the Patriots. Before this game, the Patriots had won 71 games in a row under head coach Bill Belichick when leading at half, including a 67-0 record when the quarterback is Tom Brady. Now the Ravens will head to New Orleans to play in Super Bowl XLVII. They will have the San Francisco 49ers who are coached by the brother of Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh. The game will take place on February 3rd and kickoff is at 6:29 pm Eastern time.

The Red Zone
The Ravens play in the red zone, on offense and defense, is what won them this game. On offense, they made it to the red zone four times and, scored four touchdowns. This offensive efficiency can make an offense almost unstoppable, as long as they can actually get to the red zone. On defense, they allowed the Patriots to make it in to the red zone four times but, they only scored one touchdown. The Patriots also got to the Ravens 24 and 22-yard line but, the Ravens were able to force interceptions both times. This red zone defense describes this years Ravens defense. They are not the best in the league anymore however, once the other team makes it to the red zone, they dig in and stop the offense. It is very hard to lose a game when you have these two stats on your side.

Joe Flacco
For Flacco, it was almost like two different games. In the first half, he went 6-of-12 for 81 yards with 0 TDs or INTs. This isn't bad quarterbacking but, it also isn't how an elite one plays. In the second half though, he went 15-of-24 for 159 yards with 3 TDs and 0 INTs. For the game, he went 21-of-36 for 240 yards with 3 TDs and 0 INTs. His QBR was 80.2 and his QB rating was 106.2 compared to Tom Brady's QBR of 45.1 and QB rating of 62.3. Brady also threw 2 INTs. So, for the third time in as many games, Flacco has outplayed Tom Brady and, two of these games have been the AFC Championship.

As stated above, the Ravens offensive strategy in the second half changed. In the first half they had been doing a lot of run plays, especially on first down. The offense just looked really conservative in the first half. At halftime, there were some changes as the Ravens came out throwing in the second half. In fact, Flacco accounted for 70% of the Ravens offense in the second half. With this change, the offense started to move the ball. Soon they had taken a 14-13 lead and they never looked back after that.

On to more game specific things, Flacco never really got the deep ball going as his longest completion of the game went for 26 yards to Anquan Boldin. The lack of a deep passing game can be attributed to the weather as it was very windy on the field with the wind at around 20 mph if I remember correctly. All of Flacco's touchdown passes were good but the one that stood out to me was the first to Anquan Boldin. The first was a play action jump ball. After the fake, Flacco threw the ball up where only Boldin could get it. Flacco also had one rush attempt where he scrambled and picked up 14 yards and a first down.

Ravens QB Joe Flacco celebrates throwing one of his three touchdown passes against the Patriots.

Ray Rice
Starting with his performance in the passing game, Rice had 3 catches for 22 yards on 4 targets. Of these three catches, two of them went for first downs. The most memorable was a 15 yard screen pass. The Patriots originally had the screen covered but, Rice got away and Flacco threw it. Rice broke three tackles on his way to the first down. Now to the run game. While Rice had 19 rushes, he only ran for 48 yards which is an average of 2.5 yards per carry. Three of these rushes went for first downs. One was a 5 yard run that put the ball on the Patriots 2-yard line after he ran for eight yards the play before. Another of his first downs was a short run on a 2nd and 2 which put the ball on the Patriots 3-yard line. The last of his first downs was a 3rd and 1 run with five minutes left in the game which helped run more time off the clock. Along with his 48 rush yards, Rice also had a rushing touchdown. He only went for two yards but, he broke two tackles on the way. The play called for Rice to run up the middle but, like most of the game, there wasn't running room in the middle. So, Rice bounced the run outside to the left and scored. The only negative from Rice is he had a false start on a 3rd an 8 from the Ravens own 29-yard line. This was early in the game so it can probably be accounted to nerves.

Bernard Pierce
While couldn't get much going on the ground, Pierce had much more success. On 9 carries he had 52 yards. Three of these carries went for first downs. One of them was a 2nd and 5 run for nine yards which put the ball on the Patriots 22-yard line and another was a 3rd and 2 draw that he was able to bounce outside for a gain of eleven, the longest rush by any running back in the game. Pierce also had 1 catch for 8 yards. This also went for a first down; it was a 2nd and 8 swing pass that just barely was enough for the first.

Torrey Smith
Unlike the Denver game, Smith wasn't able to catch a deep pass but, he still had an impact on the game. Most of his catches were in the intermediate range due to the wind. He had 4 catches for 69 yards on 9 targets. He had three of these go for first downs. The first was a 25 yard catch on play action on a 2nd and 6 which put the Ravens on the Patriots 15-yard line. The second was a 2nd and 14 conversion that went for 23 yards. Lastly, he had a 16 yard catch on a first down.

Anquan Boldin
This was another record setting game for Boldin. With his two touchdown catches, Boldin became the Ravens all-time postseason receiving touchdown leader. He had 5 catches for 60 yards with 2 TDs on 8 targets. All of these catches came in the second half and only one wasn't a first down or touchdown. One of these first down catches was a 3rd and 9 for 26 yards and the other was on 2nd and 10 that put the ball on the Patriots 10-yard line. Boldin's first touchdown was on the first play of the fourth quarter. The other touchdown (the first was discussed with Flacco), was on a 2nd and 4 and was for 12 yards. Boldin lined up in the slot and ran a seam route, Flacco threw it up and Boldin caught it for another touchdown.

Ravens WR Anquan Boldin celebrates a touchdown with WRs Torrey Smith (left) and Jacoby Jones (right) nearby.

Dennis Pitta
For the second game in a row, Pitta had 55 receiving yards. This week he did it on 5 catches with 7 targets. Three of these catches went for first downs, one for a touchdown, and the other was in the red zone. Starting with his first down catches, Pitta had a 3rd and 4 catch from deep in Ravens territory, a 2nd and 10 catch for a gain of over 20 yards, and a 2nd and 4 catch that put the ball on the Patriots 13-yard line. His touchdown was on 2nd and goal from the 5-yard line and was a quick pass. Lastly, his other catch occurred on the play before his touchdown. It was first and goal from the ten and he went over the middle. Pitta caught the ball and took a big hit but still was able to hold on to the ball. On the negative side, Pitta had a diving catch go right through his hands on a 3rd and 8.

Offensive Line
Yet again, the offensive line performed great. They only gave up two sacks for a combined loss of five yards which is nothing in terms of sack yardage. The first sack was given up by LT Bryant McKinnie on a 3rd and 6 from inside the Ravens own 10-yard line. The other sack was more of a coverage sack and Flacco was starting to scramble so it wasn't really the fault of the offensive line. It only went for a loss of one so it was basically a failed run play. None of the offensive linemen were called for a penalty which is very impressive. In the run game, they got some movement but for the most past, there never were any big holes to run through. Of the offensive line can protect Flacco like this for one more game, they could be tough to beat in the Super Bowl.

Haloti Ngata
Ngata may have only had four tackles but, for a defensive lineman in a 3-4 defense, that is good. One of these tackles was a run stop for no gain. The part of the game that Ngata was the best at yesterday was rushing the passer. Ngata finished with three of the Ravens seven QB hits (they didn't record a sack but seemed to have a fair amount of pressure). On a 4th and 4 play from the Ravens 19-yard line, Ngata had pressure with Terrell Suggs which caused Brady to throw the ball away. Once the Ravens made this stop, it seemed like the Ravens were going to win and make it to the Super Bowl. This play is an attribute to Ngata's speed as Brady had an open field in front of him but didn't run because he probably wouldn't have made it. Ngata also had pressure on another play which caused a throw away. The last play where Ngata caused a throw away was with two minutes left. Ngata had pressure which caused Brady to throw the ball away.

Pernell McPhee
So how does a defensive lineman without a tackle make it here? Simple, deflect two passes (including one that leads to a touchdown) and say that you have discovered Tom Brady's flaw. First, McPhee batted away a pass in the fourth quarter that Dannell Ellerbe was able to intercept. After this interception, with seven minutes left in the game, it seemed like the game really was over as the Patriots never got the ball back until there were two minutes left. The other pass deflection came with under two minutes left in game. On to him discovering Brady's flaw, McPhee says "He throws all of his balls low." When asked about how Brady has been so successful despite this McPhee said "He just throws it fast and he always gets good pockets. But I tried to stay in front of him after watching film and knowing where he likes to go and how he likes to do it. So that was my best advantage, just get my hands up." This strategy clearly worked for McPhee as he had his two pass deflections at the line.

Ravens DE Pernell McPhee batted down two passes at the line-of-scrimmage.

Ray Lewis
As usual, Lewis recorded double digit tackles with 14 but, according to Pro Football Focus, only two of those were defensive stops (runs for little or no gain). Lewis was flagged for a helmet-to-helmet hit which was the right call even though it was pretty obvious that he didn't mean to do it. Lastly, after the game, Lewis fell to the ground and started saying "Hallelujah."

Dannell Ellerbe
Starting with pass coverage, Ellerbe gave up three catches for one first down. With about seven minutes left in the game, Ellerbe intercepted Brady off of McPhee's tip. This came the next play after Wes Welker caught a 56 yard pass. The last positive for Ellerbe was a pressure on Brady which caused a bad deep pass that ended up going out-of-bounds. Also on this play, Ellerbe was able to take down Brady. On the negative side Ellerbe was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty after slapping a Patriots offensive lineman when a play was over. Ellerbe was retaliating to a late block but, you can't do that in the NFL and he was flagged, even if his slap barely was anything.

Terrell Suggs
While Suggs is though of as a pass rusher, he is actually quite a good run defender and this was on full display yesterday. Suggs had two run stops for no gain including one on a 2nd and 1. In the pass rush department he wasn't able to record a sack (like all of the Ravens) but, still had at least two pressures. The first was on the 4th and 4 with Haloti Ngata as already discussed. The other was with under two minutes left where he hit Brady as he threw causing an incompletion.

Walking off the field, Suggs was overheard saying "Tell them to have fun at the Pro Bowl. Arrogant f—ers" and "These are the most arrogant pricks in the world starting with Belichick on down." He also said "That's funny, ever since SpyGate they haven't been able to win" though I don't know if he said this one to reporters or if he was overheard like the other two. He did respond to reporters saying "All BS aside they are a hell of a ball club … They have the right to be arrogant." While he may believe this, there is no reason to say this but, on the positive side, he didn't come out and say it to the media, he was just overheard. Either way, the Ravens don't need publicity like this, especially after these two controversial things about the Patriots.

Bernard Pollard
It seemed like Pollard was all over the field going full speed all night. He finished with 9 tackles, 1 pass deflection, and 1 forced fumble. In the run game, Pollard had a run stop for a gain of two yards. In pass coverage, he only gave up one pass. On a blitz he was able to bat down a pass at the line-of-scrimmage. This batted pass came on 1st and goal from the Ravens two-yard line. On a 3rd and 4 from the Ravens 19-yard line, he had great coverage and forced an incompletion. Pollard had a big hit on a receiver but was called for a helmet-to-helmet hit. However, he led with his shoulder on the play and his shoulder hit the receiver on his head so I am going to call this one a bad call.

Lastly is the play we all remember, his hit and forced fumble on Patriots RB Stevan Ridley. Pollard hit Ridley hard and they both lowered their heads on the play so it was a helmet-to-helmet hit but since it was a running back it isn't a penalty. Ridley was unconscious before he hit the ground and on his way down, the ball came out of his hands and was recovered by DT Arthur Jones. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said "That [Pollard's hit] was the turning point of the game. A tremendous hit, football at its finest." This play goes in line with Pollard's history with the Patriots. In 2008, it was Pollard that hit Brady when he tore his ACL. In 2009, it was Pollard that Welker was trying to avoid when he tore his ACL. In 2012, it was Pollard that injured Rob Gronkowski ankle which limited him in the Super Bowl.

Ravens S Bernard Pollard goes in for a tackle.

Cary Williams
Williams had a solid performance last night only giving up four completions and one first down. He also had a deflection on a 3rd and 2 that went right to Paul Kruger but, since the deflection took a weird bounce off of Williams, Kruger dropped it because he wasn't expecting the ball to come to him. Lastly, Williams intercepted Brady in the end zone with 1:06 left in the game. After this interception the Ravens just took a two knees and the game was over.

Corey Graham
Like Williams, Graham gave up four completions, however, three of his went for first downs and the other was for the Patriots only touchdown of the game. The touchdown was on a 3rd and goal from the one. After the play, Graham and Chykie Brown were upset because they didn't communicate well after the Patriots motioned a receiver over. This led to Welker being open for the touchdown. Graham was also beaten on the first drive on a 3rd and 2 but Welker dropped the pass. On a pass that Welker didn't drop, Graham was beat deep for 56 yards. He bit badly on the double move leaving Welker wide open. Ending on a positive note, Graham had a run stop for a loss of one on a 3rd and 2 which forced a field goal by the Patriots.

Jimmy Smith
This game was the first time in a while that Smith received substantial playing time. Brown started as the nickel corner and then Smith took it over. By the end of the game it seemed like they were being rotated. This could have been part of the game plan to put Graham on Welker instead of Brown doing that. This would mean that Graham would be in the slot. Since Smith is better on the outside than Brown, he would come in when in nickel. This is just a speculation so it will be interesting to see who is the nickel corner in the Super Bowl.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh celebrates the Ravens win in the locker room.

Tags: AFC Championship Game, Anquan Boldin, Arthur Jones, Baltimore Ravens, Bernard Pierce, Bernard Pollard, Bill Belichick, Bryant McKinnie, Cary Williams, Chykie Brown, Corey Graham, Dannell Ellerbe, Dennis Pitta, Haloti Ngata, Jacoby Jones, Jim Harbaugh, Jimmy Smith, Joe Flacco, John Harbaugh, New England Patriots, Offensive Line, Paul Kruger, Pernell McPhee, Ray Lewis, Ray Rice, Red Zone, Rob Gronkowski, San Francisco 49ers, Stevan Ridley, Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLVII, Terrell Suggs, Tom Brady, Torrey Smith, Wes Welker 4 Comments »

by Matt Pearce

Ravens Stun Broncos in Double OT

January 13, 2013 in Observations

In the first double overtime game since the 2003 divisional playoffs, the 4th seed Baltimore Ravens beat the 1st seed Denver Broncos 38-35 in the 4th longest game in NFL history. The 35 points given up by the Ravens are the most in franchise playoff history. On the offensive side, the Ravens had an amazing 479 yards of offense. Coming into the game, almost nobody gave the Ravens a chance to win but, they came together as a team to win this one. The Ravens will play in the AFC Championship game on Sunday at 6:30 ET on the road against the winner of the Patriots Texans game today.

Coverage Units
If the Ravens lost this game, most of the blame would have gone to the punt and kickoff coverage units. On the first punt of the game, they allowed Broncos returner Trindon Holliday to go 90 yards for a touchdown. On the return, there was one Ravens player on the far side of the field (from a TV perspective), other that P Sam Koch. Holliday just took the punt down the far side of the field and scored. Brendon Ayanbadejo missed a tackle and Holliday was gone. Giving up a punt return for a touchdown is one thing but, having about nine players on the wring side of the field is another. Some of them should be their for contain but not nine of them.

They weren't done after allowing that punt return either. To start second half, the Ravens kicked off. Holliday took the ball out of his endzone and ran it 104 yards for a touchdown. On this play, Holliday just found a hole and made the most of it. He touched but, there wasn't a good tackle attempt on the return. With these two plays, Holliday had the longest punt and kick return touchdowns in NFL postseason history. After these two plays, Holliday never really had a good opportunity to return a punt or kick because the Ravens did the right thing and kicked away from him.

Referees
I just want to make a quick note about the referees. Throughout the game there were questionable calls that went against both teams. They also took a long time to make some decisions and what to call.

Joe Flacco
In the regular season matchup against the Broncos, Flacco had a QBR of 0.4. This week, Flacco led a late comeback to tie the game in regulation and then played good in overtime. With this win, he now has five playoff road wins and will play in his 3rd AFC Championship game in only five seasons. Starting with the stats, he went 18-of-34 for 331 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 fumble, a QBR of 65.3, and a QB rating of 116.2. Throughout the game, Flacco's snap count was good as he was able to get the Broncos to jump offsides at least three times. He was also aware enough to snap the ball when the Broncos had twelve men on the field. Part of the Ravens gameplan was to throw the ball downfield and Flacco was able to do this. He was able to accomplish this by averaging 18.4 yards per completion. Early in the game he had a perfect deep pass to Torrey Smith for a 59 yard touchdown. A little bit later, Flacco overthrew Smith who had a few steps on his man again. This also would have been a touchdown. In overtime, he had a great pass to Dennis Pitta on 3rd and 13 for a first down. On the negative side, he fumbled a snap at midfield and the Broncos were able to recover it. With four minutes left in OT, he had an interception dropped near midfield.

The play that impressed me the most was the 70 yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones with 31 seconds left in regulation. Not only did this tie the game up, Flacco did a great job on this play. It was a 3rd and 3 and as soon as the ball was snapped, Flacco was under pressure from the outside. Due to this pressure, Flacco stepped up in the pocket and threw it about 55 yards in the air. This was a great play because Flacco rarely steps up into the pocket and makes a pass. This is the sign of an elite quarterback. If you watch Peyton Manning, you will notice that he steps up in the pocket most of the time when he feels pressure. This is a great thing to be able to do as a quarterback.

Overall, Flacco's performance is the sign of an elite quarterback. He was able to led his team on a game tying drive with about one minute left, on the road, against the number two defense in the NFL, in the playoffs. He was also able to outperform one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, Peyton Manning, who finished with 2 interceptions and 1 fumble.

Ravens QB Joe Flacco celebrates his game tying touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones.

Ray Rice
After fumbling twice last week, Rice turned in a great performance. On 30 carries, Rice was able to gain 131 yards and 1 touchdown. It seemed like most of his carries came in the second half and overtime. At one point in overtime, almost every first down play was a run to Rice. Of his 30 rushes, 3 of them went for first downs (by my count). The first of these was the Ravens first 3rd down conversion in the game. The second of these was a 32 yard run that put the Ravens inside the Broncos 5-yard line. On the ensuing 3rd and goal, Rice was able to run for the touchdown from one yard out. This touchdown gave Rice his five career postseason touchdowns which is a Ravens team record.

Anquan Boldin
Boldin continues to be a first down machine for the Ravens offense. He had 6 catches for 71 yards on 11 targets. Of his 6 catches, 5 went for first downs. One of these first downs was on the final drive in the 1st half. Another first down was on the first drive of overtime. Every time the Ravens needed a first down, Flacco would look for Boldin.

Torrey Smith
While Boldin is a first down machine, Smith is the big play receiver. He had 3 catches for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns on 6 targets. Each of his catches was for a touchdown or a first down. The first touchdown was for 59 yards on 2nd and 2. Smith went deep and just ran right past Broncos star CB Champ Bailey. This touchdown was needed because the Broncos had just returned a punt for a touchdown. This touchdown is the 2nd longest passing play in Ravens postseason history. The second touchdown was with 36 seconds left in the 1st half. Smith went deep on Bailey again and again scored on him. Flacco threw the ball a little behind to try and give Smith a better opportunity. Smith was able to stop his momentum and catch the ball while Bailey couldn't. With his second touchdown, Smith became the first Ravens player to have two receiving touchdowns in a playoff game. In overtime, Smith was able to draw a pass interference on a 3rd and 5 play on the Ravens first drive. This drive didn't result in points but it helped in the field position battle. Throughout the game, Smith was beating one of the best cornerbacks in the game, Champ Bailey, on the deep passes.

Jacoby Jones
Before his 70 yard touchdown catch, Jones wasn't having a good game. On a kickoff, he wasn't able to catch it properly and after he got the ball, he was only able to get the ball to about the 6-yard line. Even worse than this, was his drop on 3rd and 5 with 3 minutes left. Flacco put the pass right in hands and Jones dropped it. After the Ravens couldn't convert the 4th down play, it looked like the game was over. However, Jones more than made up for his drop with his 70 yard touchdown catch with 31 seconds left. Before this play happened, the Broncos had a 97.2% chance of winning according to ESPN Stats and Information. On the play, Jones was able to run past the cornerback and the safety took a bad angle and run under the pass. Once Jones caught it he had a free run to the endzone. Other than that play, he had 1 catch for 7 yards on 4 targets.

Ravens WR Jacoby Jones catches his game tying touchdown.

Tight Ends
In the first meeting between these two teams, backup TE Ed Dickson was injured and didn't play. This meant the Ravens couldn't run many two TE sets. These week he was healthy and the Ravens ran many two TE sets. Dickson had 3 catches for 29 yards on 4 targets. Two of these catches went for first downs. Starter Dennis Pitta had 3 catches for 55 yards on 5 targets. He had three first downs including one on the final drive in the 1st half and a 3rd and 13 from their own 3-yard line in overtime.

Offensive Line
There aren't enough good things that I can say about the offensive line after that game. The biggest key on offense was the offensive line. The line stood up to the challenge and gave Flacco lots of time to throw all game long. They allowed 1 sack but that was a coverage sack as Flacco just couldn't find anyone to pass to. In the running game, they opened up holes all game long. While the longest run was only 32 yards, there were lots of runs for about 5 yards. The line was only called for one penalty and that was a false start on LG Kelechi Osemele. The other guard, Marshal Yanda, was very impressive because of two plays. The first was Rice's touchdown run. Yanda pulled and took out his guy, pushing him down into the endzone. This block allowed Rice to score. The other play was the last play of the first OT. Rice ran the ball and was being held up but, Yanda came over and pushed the pile for about 2 yards which was enough to get the first down and, more importantly, put the Ravens in field goal range to win the game.

Pernell McPhee
McPhee's name was only called once yesterday but it was for a great play. On a 3rd and 11, McPhee, as well as a few others, was able to get pressure on Peyton Manning. McPhee was able to hit the ball out of Manning's hand. The Ravens recovered this fumble at the Broncos 37-yard line. McPhee finished with 2 tackles but, this play was huge for the Ravens as they hadn't been getting any pressure on Manning. In fact, in the 1st half, the Ravens didn't get any pressure on 22 passes but, in the 2nd half, they had 10 pressures on 24 passes.

Terrell Suggs
Let's continue with the Ravens who had sacks. Suggs had the Ravens other two sacks. The first was a complicated sack of Manning. On the play, Manning fumbled and it looked like the Ravens recovered. However, it looked like Manning's knee was down on the replays that were shown. This didn't even end up mattering because both Suggs and Cary Williams were called for illegal use of hands to the face. The call on Suggs was ticky tack and there never was a replay to show what Williams did. Despite all this, Suggs still got credit for a sack and a forced fumble. This was the first time that Suggs ever sacked Manning. The second sack came on a 3rd and 4 on the Broncos drive after Rice scored his touchdown. Suggs pushed his lineman back right into Manning. In pass coverage, Suggs gave up one completion. Suggs was able to finish with 10 tackles and his two sacks were the first for him since week 12 against the Chargers.

Ravens LB Terrell Suggs celebrates one of his two sacks against the Broncos with teammate DE Pernell McPhee.

Paul Kruger
While Kruger didn't get a sack yesterday, he still had pressure and recorded 2 QB hits. One of these was on the Broncos first offensive play in overtime and the other was on the play were Manning threw his last interception, which set up the Ravens to win the game. This second pressure was very important. Kruger forced Manning to scramble out of the pocket and Manning then tried to throw across his body but, it was intercepted. On McPhee's sack, Kruger had some pressure and was able to recover the fumble. In the run game, Kruger had a run stop for a loss of one. In the passing game, he gave up one completion and was able to blow up a WR screen. He forced Manning to just throw the ball into the ground on this play because Kruger was right in the way.

Dannell Ellerbe
Like the last few weeks, this was another solid game for Ellerbe. He allowed 4 catches for 1 touchdown. The touchdown came when he had to lineup at cornerback because of the Broncos formation. Therefore, you can't exactly blame Ellerbe for this as he never has to play out there. He was able to breakup a 2nd and 5 slant route which would have been a first down. In run defense, Ellerbe stopped a 2nd and 1 run play for no gain with 2 minutes left in overtime. Earlier in the game, he was called for a facemask on a play where his hand just grazed the helmet of the ball carrier. Ellerbe finished with 9 tackles and 1 pass defense.

Ray Lewis
When you look at the box score, one stat that sticks out is the 17 tackles that Lewis had. This is an amazing total, especially for a 37 year old linebacker. Lewis is giving it his all to make it back to the Super Bowl for one last time. When in pass coverage, Lewis gave up 3 completions for 1 first down. He was also called for a pass interference call. However, the pass interference probably was better than what would have happened if the receiver caught the ball as there was an open field behind Lewis. Lewis made one great play in run defense. He broke through the line and stopped the running back for a loss of 3 yards after Courtney Upshaw slowed him down a little. Most importantly, Lewis was able to get the defense to stop the Broncos and not let them run the clock out at the end of the 4th quarter. Even though they gave up a first down almost right away, they didn't give up another and gave the offense about one minute to score.

Corey Graham
If you had to pick a defensive MVP for this game, it would be Graham. This is because of his two interception. First though, lets talk about the other things he did. He allowed 3 completions for 1 touchdown. The touchdown was just a great pass by Manning and there really wasn't much that Graham could have done. Graham blitzed a few times and on one of them, he was able force Manning to throw the ball away. Now on to the interception. The first came on a 3rd and 7 and was Manning's second pass of the game. Chykie Brown had good coverage on the play and was able to deflect the ball right to Graham who then went untouched for a 39 yard touchdown. This gave the Ravens a 14-7 lead only 5 minutes into the game. His interception for a touchdown is the fifth in Ravens playoff history. The second interception was just as important as the first. There was 51 seconds left in the first overtime. Kruger's pressure forced Manning out of the pocket and Graham was able to step in front of Manning's pass. Since there was no return, the ball was at the Broncos 45-yard line. With the second interception, Graham became the 6th player to have a two interception game in the past five postseasons. Interestingly, he becomes the 3rd Raven to do this in the same span along with Ed Reed and Lardarius Webb.

Ravens CB Corey Graham intercepts a pass and this sets the Ravens up at the Broncos 45-yard line with 51 seconds left in the first overtime.

Cary Williams
All four of the passes that Williams allowed went for first downs. He also had two penalties that gave first downs to the Broncos. The first was an illegal hand to the face and the other was a holding call. The holding was on a 3rd and 3 and negated a good pass breakup by himself. A positive for Williams was a nice hit that broke up a pass.

Chykie Brown
As said above, Brown had great coverage on Graham's interception return for a touchdown. In pass coverage, Brown allowed 2 catches for 1 first down. The only other thing of note was that he was called for a helmet-to-helmet hit when his helmet hit the receiver in the facemask.

Ed Reed
All throughout the game, Reed's name wasn't called much. However, that was actually a good thing for the Ravens, and not because Reed isn't good. The reason is that Manning wasn't passing it downfield very much. Almost all of the Broncos passes were either in the short or intermediate range. Manning obviously didn't want to test Reed in such an important game. Other than this, Reed was late coming over on Knowshon Moreno's touchdown run and missed an tackle on Demaryius Thomas's touchdown catch.

Justin Tucker
Now Tucker has his first game winning kick in the playoffs. He kicked a 47 yard field goal in the second overtime to win the game for the Ravens. This was the 4th longest overtime field goal in playoff history and was the longest kicked by a rookie. Tucker said that in warmups, he made a 67 yard field goal. During the break between the first and second overtime, Tucker went out to take a few practice kicks because the Ravens were close to getting a field goal. I have never seen this happen before and according Mike Pereira, there is no penalty for this but, referees are told to not allow this to happen. These practice kicks were important to Tucker because they helped him gauge the wind in the stadium. After the game, when asked about the game, Tucker said "Nobody wavered, we were all confident in each other." The decision to keep Tucker over veteran Billy Cundiff looks even better now. Nobody knows what Cundiff would have done in the same situation but, his miss in the AFC Championship game last year would have had to be in the back of his head.

Ravens K Justin Tucker celebrates his game winning 47 yard field goal.

Tags: AFC Championship Game, Anquan Boldin, Baltimore Ravens, Billy Cundiff, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Cary Williams, Champ Bailey, Chykie Brown, comeback, Corey Graham, Courtney Upshaw, Dannell Ellerbe, Dennis Pitta, Denver Broncos, divisional playoffs, Ed Dickson, Ed Reed, ESPN, Game winning drive, Houston Texans, Jacoby Jones, Joe Flacco, Justin Tucker, Kelechi Osemele, Lardarius Webb, Marshal Yanda, New England Patriots, Offensive Line, Paul Kruger, Pernell McPhee, Peyton Manning, Playoffs, postseason, Ray Lewis, Ray Rice, Referees, Sam Koch, San Diego Chargers, special teams, team record, Terrell Suggs, Torrey Smith, Trindon Holliday 3 Comments »

by Matt Pearce

Anquan Boldin Questionable

December 29, 2012 in Injury Reports

Baltimore Homepage

Ravens

Ravens starting WR Anquan Boldin is questionable after leaving last week's game with a shoulder injury.

Questionable
WR Anquan Boldin (shoulder)
G Marshal Yanda (shoulder)
DE Arthur Jones (thigh)
WR Tandon Doss (ankle)
DE Haloti Ngata (knee)
FB Vonta Leach (ankle)
LB Albert McClellan (shoulder)

Probable
LB Dannell Ellerbe (ankle)
DE Pernell McPhee (thigh)
S Bernard Pollard (chest)
WR Jacoby Jones (ankle)
S Ed Reed (shoulder)
TE Dennis Pitta (knee)
CB Jimmy Smith (abdomen)
LB Terrell Suggs (biceps)

Bengals

Out
K Mike Nugent (calf)

Questionable
CB Jason Allen (hamstring)
CB Terence Newman (groin)

Probable
S Reggie Nelson (shoulder)
RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis (illness)
CB Adam Jones (hamstring)

Tags: Adam Jones, Albert McClellan, Anquan Boldin, Arthur Jones, Baltimore Ravens, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Bernard Pollard, Cincinnati Bengals, Dannell Ellerbe, Dennis Pitta, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata, Injury Report, Jacoby Jones, Jason Allen, Jimmy Smith, Marshal Yanda, Mike Nugent, Pernell McPhee, Reggie Nelson, Tandon Doss, Terence Newman, Terrell Suggs, Vonta Leach, Week 17 Comments Off

by Matt Pearce

Ravens Clinch Second Straight AFC North Title

December 24, 2012 in Observations

Baltimore Homepage

The 10-5 Baltimore Ravens beat the 8-7 New York Giants 33-14 in a game that never seemed in doubt. In fact the defense held the Giants to 186 total yards which is a season best for the defense. This was the regular season home finale and the win makes 10 straight wins for the Ravens in these games, the NFL's longest active streak. Another home win streak that continued was the Ravens record against NFC teams where the Ravens have won their last 13 including all 10 under head coach John Harbaugh. Over the course of the season, the Ravens set a record for most points scored at home with 254, which averages out to 31.8 points per game. Most importantly, the Ravens clinched the AFC North title with this win. This marks their second straight title and their fourth all-time (2003 and 2006). Next week the Ravens will head to Cincinnati to face the 9-6 Bengals.

Referees
Ever since the replacement referee fiasco ended, there hasn't been much to talk about concerning the referees in Ravens games, until now. I think CBS's Jason La Canfora said it best with this "The officiating in this Ravens/Giants game has been laughable." There were multiple bad calls in this game and some times when they got the call right, it was originally called wrong. Lets start with the worst call, when they overturned a touchdown catch by Jacoby Jones. Jones caught a pass and then turned and extended the ball across the goal line. When he hit the ground, the ball came lose. The explanation given was that Jones didn't perform "a second act." As Fox does on most reviews, they brought in Mike Pereira, who is the former vice president of officiating. He believed it was a touchdown catch and had this to say, "On this play, since Jones reached the ball out to break the plane before he hit the ground, he is deemed to perform an act common to the game — or as officials call it, a second act. This should have remained a touchdown and not have been overturned. There was clearly not indisputable evidence to overturn the ruling." You can watch the play here and decide for yourself. There was more than just this play though.

Both teams had phantom holding calls go against them. The funniest call of the game came when Ravens LT Michael Oher was called for a false start. This doesn't sound like much but if you watched the play, you could clearly see that three New York Giants jumped across the line and Oher was just reacting to them. It was this play that prompted La Canfora's tweet. A call that could have gone either way was when Ravens OLB Paul Kruger hit Giants QB Eli Manning and the ball came lose. It was ruled an incomplete pass but it looked like a possible fumble. Going against the Giants, was a pass interference on CB Corey Webster, who had a very rough day. The pass looked uncatchable but the referees called pass interference anyways. In a call that you don't see often, Ravens WR Torrey Smith was called for a blindside block when he hit the defender in the shoulder which is completely legal. This took away a first down pas to TE Ed Dickson. Last, is the helmet-to-helemt hit on Ravens S Ed Reed. Reed clearly led with his shoulder which hit Giants WR Victor Cruz. At no point does Reed hit Cruz with helmet on the play. This play is very important to the Ravens as the NFL could suspend Reed for another "helmet-to-helmet" hit. However, reports are saying Reed won't be suspended.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh wasn't happy with some calls in the win against the Giants.

Joe Flacco
After recording an awful QBR of 0.4 last week, Flacco had a QBR of 94.4 which is his second best of the season. In the game, he also set a career high, a team record, and tied a team record. He set a career high in pass yards in a season. He currently has 3,783 yards and his old record was 3,622 which came in 2010. The team record that he set was for completions of more than 25 yards. Flacco currently has 40 of these completions and will probably add to this next week. Lastly, the team's record he tied is for most 300 yard passing games in one season. Vinny Testaverde is who Flacco is now tied with. They have 5 games with over 300 passing yards. Testaverde achieved this in the Ravens inaugural season back in1996. Odds are Flacco won't break the record next week as in his four career games at Cincinnati, he has averaged 190 yards per game. In their game earlier in the season, he threw for 299 yards though.

One of the main reasons Flacco was successful yesterday was the Ravens running a hurry-up offense and he was moving around more. What I mean is there were more rollouts called for Flacco. The offense line has been inconsistent this year allowing lots of pressure. These rollouts allow Flacco to get outside of the pocket which gives Flacco more time to find the open receiver. Even more unexpected was an option play on 3rd and 1. While Flacco never looked to run and pitched it back to Ray Rice right away, it adds variety to the offense and causes defenses to prepare for something other than a run up the middle in a short yardage situation. In Flacco's rookie year, the Ravens ran a little bit of the option because despite being 6'6" he is a good runner. Expect a lot more of the rollouts in the playoffs as it worked very well yesterday. We can finally see the influence of Jim Caldwell after this game because of the rollouts and hurry-up offense. The hurry-up was expected but the rollouts were a little unexpected. If Caldwell can get Flacco to play like this he will keep his offensive coordinator job and probably will become a head coaching candidate.

In the game, Flacco showed some good awareness. During the first drive, he was able to make the Giants call a timeout with his pace in the hurry-up offense. On his touchdown pass to Torrey Smith, Flacco correctly read the Giants blitz and threw a quick slant to Smith. It was man coverage on all the receivers and Smith was in the slot. In situations like these, the slot receiver is the hot read and Flacco went right to him. Since it was man coverage, all Smith needed was step on the defender to be open, and he was. Flacco also showed great touch on deep passes and overall, showed that when he has time to throw, he can be a dangerous quarterback.

Bernard Pierce
You know the Ravens are having a good game if Rice doesn't lead the team in rush yards, and that was the case yesterday. Pierce ran 14 times for 123 yards. Two plays standout for Pierce from this game. The first was an 18 yard run down the sideline for a first down. The second was his 78 yard rush in the 4th quarter. Pierce ran behind the right side of the offensive line. The key block that sprung him was by FB Vonta Leach. This cleared the hole and allowed Pierce to get into the second level of the defense. He then was able to accelerate away from the defenders but was caught at the one yardline. This run was the longest run of the season for the Ravens. It also gave Pierce his first career 100 yard rushing game.

Ravens RB Bernard Pierce runs away from the Giants defenders.

Ray Rice
There is not going to be any complaining about Rice's touches this week. He had 24 rushes for 107 yards and had 6 catches for 51 yards with a TD on 7 targets. This means he had 30 touches for 158 yards which is an average of 5.27 yards per touch. This is the kind of stat line that you want for your star running back. With this 107 yard rushing game, Rice now has 17 career 100 yard rushing games. On his touchdown catch, Rice started out of the backfield. He then ran an angle route, starting to the outside and then cutting to the middle. Flacco hit him in stride and Rice stayed on the line from the route to the endzone. On the way, two people dived and missed, meaning Rice went untouched into the endzone.

Anquan Boldin
Boldin was automatic all game long. He was targeted on 7 passes and caught all 7 of them for 93 yards. Six of theses 7 catches went for first downs. The two most impressive of these were a 39 yard catch on 3rd and 18 and a diving catch for a first down inside the Giants 20. On this play he injured his shoulder and never returned. Since the game was already won, there was no reason to put him in the game. There have been no updates on his injury. He was called for a holding penalty but it didn't look like much. This penalty took away a 10 yard run by Pierce.

Dennis Pitta
Another solid game from Pitta, as he had 4 catches for 56 yards on 5 targets. Of these 4 catches, 2 of them went for first downs including one great play. It was a 3rd and 20 and Pitta ran deep. Flacco was able to thread the needle between two defenders and Pitta made the diving catch. Catches like these have become common for Pitta this season.

Torrey Smith
Fun fact of the day: all 8 of Smith's touchdown catches this year have come in Ravens victories. He caught 5 passes for 88 yards and 1 TD. However, he was targeted 11 times. Of his 5 catches, 3 went for first downs and he was able to draw a pass interference call for another. I talked about his touchdown catch above but, that wasn't his only good play of the day. He made a leaping catch for a 43 yard gain which put the Ravens on the Giants 1 yardline. He also had a leaping one handed catch on a back shoulder fade for 21 yards. It wasn't all good as he had a drop on a play where he went for a one handed catch when he could have used both hands. He was also called for a blindside block, as talked about above.

Ravens WR Torrey Smith celebrates his touchdown catch.

Offensive Line
Last week, the offensive line was absolutely atrocious. This week, they were amazing. They allowed 0 sacks and only 2 QB hits. Last week, they allowed about 3 sacks and 10 hits. Overall, the line gave Flacco plenty of time to throw the ball and opened good holes for the running backs. Individually, the only player with a penalty called on them was LT Michael Oher, who had three, on the same drive. The first was the false start talked about earlier. The second was a holding call and the third was a chop block. Oher now is second on the Ravens with 9 penalties this year, only Boldin has more.

Haloti Ngata
This has been an underwhelming season for Ngata but he played good against the Giants. The statline reads 4 tackles and 1 sack. The sack came on a first down play after the Giants seemed to be getting on the right page. Ngata sacked Eli Manning for a loss of 15 and this stalled the drive for the Giants. In the run game, Ngata was responsible for a few run stops and got good penetration on a few plays.

Brendon Ayanbadejo
Starting ILB Dannell Ellerbe returned this week so Ayanbadejo didn't play as much, but when he did, he made the most of it. He finished with 4 tackles and 1 sack. The sack was for a loss of 7 yards on a first down. This stopped the Giants from accomplishing anything on their final drive before halftime. On a 3rd down play, he was able to pressure Manning into throwing the ball away. On the negative side he was called for an illegal block in the back on a punt return though.

Cornerbacks
The cornerbacks played great all game long for the Ravens. They held Manning to 14 completions and not all of the completions were on cornerbacks. Cary Williams gave up 2 passes for 1 first down. The first down was a 43 yard pass which set up the Giants first touchdown. He tipped 2 passes including one that Reed almost intercepted. The only other corner that gave up more than one completion by my count was nickel back Chykie Brown. He gave up 2 passes and they were for 1 first down and 1 touchdown. He played nickel back over Jimmy Smith for a reason that is unknown. In his place Brown played great as he had 4 pass deflections, a tackle for a loss, and drew an offensive pass interference. The most important thing that the cornerbacks did was contain Giants WRs Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks. Cruz had 3 catches for 21 yards on 5 targets and Nicks had 0 catches on 3 targets.

Safeties
Three safeties were able to impact the game for the Ravens. Starting SS Bernard Pollard didn't play due to injury which let James Ihedigbo play in his place. He had a pressure on Manning on a 3rd and 13 which caused a bad throw. In pass coverage he gave up 1 catch for a first down. On special teams he was called for a holding while blocking on a punt. Ihedigbo finished with 4 tackles. Star S Ed Reed finished with 3 tackles and 3 pass deflections but he almost intercepted 2 of those deflections. The first one went right through his hands but Reed probably didn't expect the ball to get to him. The other was much tougher as Williams tipped it up and Reed got his left hand on it. Reed had too much momentum to be able to intercept the ball. Lastly, backup Omar Brown had a sack on a 3rd and 10 where he was unblocked. This went for a loss of 9 yards and Manning almost lost the ball on the play. I was very high on Brown in the preseason and it is good to see him make an impact in a regular season game and get is first career sack.

Ravens S Omar Brown recorded his first career sack.

Tags: AFC North, Anquan Boldin, Baltimore Ravens, Bernard Pierce, Brendon Ayenbadejo, Cary Williams, Chykie Brown, Corey Webster, Dennis Pitta, Division Champions, Ed Dickson, Ed Reed, Eli Manning, Hakeem Nicks, Haloti Ngata, Jacoby Jones, James Ihedigbo, Jason La Canfora, Jim Caldwell, Jimmy Smith, Joe Flacco, John Harbaugh, Michael Oher, Mike Pereira, New York Giants, Offensive Line, Omar Brown, Paul Kruger, Ray Rice, Referees, Torrey Smith, Victor Cruz, Vinny Testaverde, Vonta Leach, Week 16 4 Comments »

by Matt Pearce

Ravens Clinch Playoff Berth Despite Loss

December 18, 2012 in Observations

Baltimore Homepage

The 9-5 Baltimore Ravens lost their third straight game to the 11-3 Denver Broncos by a score of 34-17. This loss marked the most lopsided home loss for the Ravens under head coach John Harbaugh and is their first 3 game losing streak since October of 2009. It also makes 9 straight games that QB Peyton Manning has beaten the Ravens (including playoffs). However, they were able to clinch a playoff berth since the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Dallas Cowboys.

Joe Flacco
Flacco made history yesterday against the Broncos but not in the right way. His QBR from the game was 0.4, the only performance that has been worse this season was his week 7 game against the Houston Texans. He also became the first QB to have two games in a season with a QBR under 1 since Jets QB Mark Sanchez, who did this in 2009. Since this is Flacco's contract year, he needs to be playing his best game, not a record setting bad performance. If you want a big, new contract, then you don't need your name to come up with Mark Sanchez's in terms of stats. There were two plays that were absolutely atrocious. The first came on the Ravens first drive. It was a 3rd and 1 and Flacco ran a QB sneak. He had the first down but, on his way to the ground he fumbled the ball and the Broncos recovered. This not only allowed the Broncos to set the tone defensively, but Flacco gave Peyton Manning the ball at midfield. Even if the Ravens had all their defensive players healthy, it wouldn't be good, let alone when 4 of your top 5 tackles are out and your top CB is out. The second play occurred when the Ravens were inside the Broncos 5 yardline. Flacco tried to throw a quick out route to WR Anquan Boldin but Broncos CB Chris Harris jumped the route and returned the ball for a touchdown. This happened with 15 seconds left in the half and the Ravens were about to go into half with the momentum after a good drive. They had the possibility to go in down 10-7 but instead went to half down 17-0. A 14 point swing is never good, but it is even worse when you are about to go into halftime and your team will get the ball to start the second half. The only real credit that Flacco deserves for this game is he was able to chase down Harris on his return. Flacco dove and tripped Harris up but, Harris was able to dive into the endzone. For a playoff team, this is not what you need your QB's best play to be.

Ravens QB Joe Flacco on the field after giving up a pick 6. It basically sums up the Ravens day.

Ray Rice
While some people may say that new offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell called an awful game because Rice only carried the ball 12 times, consider this. On those 12 carries, Rice only averaged 3.2 yards and when you factor in his 3 catches for 3 yards, he averaged 2.7 yards per touch. You can't blame Caldwell for trying something else. In my opinion there was nothing wrong with Caldwell's play calling. There was, however, a massive problem with execution of these plays. The offensive line couldn't block anyone and Flacco was, well Joe Flacco this season. One of Rice's catches did go for a first down but that was his only real impact on the game because the Broncos were able to contain him very well, so credit them.

Bernard Pierce
The Broncos were able to contain Pierce as well as Rice but, Pierce was able to do a little more damage with his few touches. He had 5 rushes for 20 yards with a long of 14. This 14 yard run was the Ravens first, first down of the game. This may not sound like much but, when you consider that it came with 8 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, then it matters. As I said earlier, there was a massive execution problem and this is why it took so long to get a first down. Even then, on the next play, Pierce had a similar run but it was taken away by a holding penalty. Pierce left the game with a concussion and never returned.

Dennis Pitta
If there was one positive on offense, then it was Pitta. Even he had his faults though, as he uncharacteristically dropped 2 passes including 1 that would have been a first. The other would have been 16 yards short of a first with defenders around him so it wouldn't have mattered. To give him credit both were semi-difficult catches but, he got both hands on the ball each time. On one play he had a diving catch but came up 1 yard short on this 3rd and 10. Of his 7 catches, only 1 went for a first down but, he had 1 touchdowns. The first touchdown was a diving catch on a seam route on a 2nd and 25. The other was a 5 yard out route which was wide open. The impressive part of this play was that Pitta broke 3 tackles, including one with a spin move, while running down the sideline for the touchdown. By far, this was the play of the day for the Ravens. In the end, he finished with 7 catches for 125 yards with 2 TDs, on 10 targets.

Ravens TE Dennis Pitta runs after catching a pass.

Jacoby Jones
His impact was felt more in the return game than on offense. He returned 4 kickoffs for 112 yards and had a long of 50 yards. This set the Ravens up with good field position multiple times. His main offensive play was a 43 yard leaping catch which put the Ravens in Broncos territory on the first play after the 2 minute warning in the first half. Flacco would throw his interception a few plays later but Jones gave the offense hope. In the late 3rd quarter, he left with an injury but came back after missing 2 plays.

Tandon Doss
Due to a concussion to Torrey Smith, Doss was able to get lots of playing time. Doss had 2 catches for 28 yards on 4 targets. Both of these catches went for first downs and he was overthrown on a comeback route where he was open which would have been another first down. Lastly, he had one punt return and made the most of it as he returned it for 40 yards which led to Pitta's first touchdown catch. Over the last few games, Doss has been going back for returns near the Ravens endzone. This is probably because the Ravens trust him to catch it more than Jones. The Ravens have previously done this with S Ed Reed and CB Lardarius Webb.

Offensive Line
Your offense starts in the trenches and, if they don't play well, the offense as a whole won't play well. On almost every pass play, they gave up pressure. At the end of the 3rd quarter, the had given up 15 QB hurries, 8 knockdowns on 33 pass plays. Based on my count, they finished with 18 hurries, 10 knockdowns, 3 sacks (not counted as knockdowns), and 1 roughing the passer for a hit to the head. These stats are completely unacceptable. If you want Flacco to succeed, then he needs to be protected as he needs to worry about finding the open receiver, not thinking about where the pass rushers will be breaking through this time. In the running game, the line wasn't much better. They couldn't get any holes for Rice and Pierce. They were either getting no push, or they were missing blocks. Individually, C Matt Birk had 1 holding call and it took back a 15 yard run by Pierce which stalled the drive. Left guard Jah Reid gave up 1 sack. Veteran RG Bobbie Williams played for the injured Marshal Yanda and allowed 1 sack and had a holding in Denver territory which stalled that drive. Overall, their play was downright awful and needs to improve by next week.

The Ravens offensive line was very disappointing yesterday.

Albert McClellan
If Pitta was the bright spot on offense, then McClellan was the bright spot on defense and special teams. When he was in punt coverage, he had a hard hit which forced a fumble but the returner was down first. On the Ravens first kickoff in the 2nd half, he forced fumble but, like last week, the ball went out-of-bounds before anyone could recover it. On defense, he had one of the Ravens two sacks of Manning. McClellan's sack came on 1st down and went for a loss of 10 yards. This stopped the Broncos drive after they had gotten multiple first downs already. He finished with 6 tackles and was playing through a hamstring injury.

Josh Bynes
Making his first start, Bynes played how I expected him to. He led all defensive players with 13 tackles and has had a QB hit and a pass deflection. Most of his tackles came more than 5 yards downfield though. This was predictable as he barely has any experience at the NFL level. On Broncos RB Knowshon Moreno's TD run, Bynes got blocked to the ground. His best play came on the Broncos first drive of the game. The Broncos had a 3rd and 11 and Manning threw an underneath pass to a RB. Bynes was able to stay with the receiver and stopped him 4 yards short of the first down. If he doesn't make the tackle, the Broncos would have gotten the first down and more. Overall, Bynes showed some potential but also showed why he started the season on the practice squad.

Ed Reed
In what was supposed to be a big matchup, Reed was burned by Manning multiple times. I don't have the number of how many times he was beat but it was enough to know that Manning wasn't afraid to go after him like a lot of quarterbacks are. On Eric Decker's 51 yard TD catch, Reed came up like he was expecting an out route. After the play he was visibly upset and threw his helmet. It is unknown if he was upset at himself or at CB Cary Williams who was covering on the play and seemed to give up. Reed also didn't have a good game in run support as Moreno hurdled him despite Reed being almost vertical. Reed later had this to say about that play, “I was not expecting him to jump, honestly. I couldn’t react because I was just dealing with a lot of sickness early in the game. I just wasn’t all the way into it, honestly. I was dealing with flu symptoms and everything. I just kind of watched him jump over me. I wasn’t expecting that at all.”

Cary Williams
Like most of the Ravens, Williams had an underwhelming performance. He allowed 6 catches and 3 of these were for first downs and 1 was for a touchdown. As stated above, on the touchdown, he seemed to give up once the ball was in the air. This is not acceptable, especially when you are in your contract year and trying to prove that you are worth a lot of money. He did have 2 nice pass breakups including one in the endzone. Williams was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty for a late hit. This was also unacceptable as the receiver was way out-of-bounds. In run defense, Williams was able to make a tackle for a loss though.

Ravens CB Cary Williams (purple) is beat by Broncos WR Eric Decker for a touchdown.

Tags: Albert McClellan, Anquan Boldin, Baltimore Ravens, Bernard Pierce, Bobbie Williams, Cary Williams, Chris Harris, Dennis Pitta, Denver Broncos, Ed Reed, Eric Decker, Jacoby Jones, Jah Reid, Jim Caldwell, Joe Flacco, John Harbaugh, Josh Bynes, Knowshon Moreno, Lardarius Webb, Mark Sanchez, Marshal Yanda, Matt Birk, Peyton Manning, Playoff Berth, Playoffs, Ray Rice, Tandon Doss, Torrey Smith, Week 15 2 Comments »

by Matt Pearce

Bernard Pollard Questionable

December 15, 2012 in Injury Reports

Baltimore Homepage

Ravens

Ravens S Bernard Pollard is questionable with a chest injury and hasn't practiced all week.

Out
LB Jameel McClain (neck)

Doubtful
TE Ed Dickson (knee)

Questionable
S Bernard Pollard (chest)
DE Arthur Jones (shoulder)
OLB Terrell Suggs (bicep)
DE Pernell McPhee (thigh)
FB Vonta Leach (ankle)
G Marshal Yanda (ankle)
CB Jimmy Smith (abdomen)
LB Dannell Ellerbe (ankle)

Probable
WR LaQuan Williams (thigh)
WR Jacoby Jones (ankle)
CB Chykie Brown (knee)
RB Bernard Pierce (back)
WR Deonte Thompson (thigh)
S Ed Reed (shoulder)
RB Ray Rice (hip)

Broncos

Questionable
G Chris Kuper (ankle)
LB Wesley Woodyard (ankle)

Probable
WR Matt Willis (knee)
WR Trindon Holliday (knee)
WR Demaryius Thomas (shoulder)

Remember to check out our SPORTS Trivia Nights in Baltimore at Plug Ugly's on Monday nights @ 7 p.m.! See you this Mon

Tags: Arthur Jones, Baltimore Ravens, Bernard Pierce, Bernard Pollard, Chris Kuper, Chykie Brown, Dannell Ellerbe, Demaryius Thomas, Denver Broncos, Deonte Thompson, Ed Dickson, Ed Reed, Injury Report, Jacoby Jones, Jameel McClain, Jimmy Smith, LaQuan Williams, Marshal Yanda, Matt Willis, Pernell McPhee, Ray Rice, Terrell Suggs, Trindon Holliday, Vonta Leach, Week 15, Wesley Woodyard Comments Off

by Matt Pearce

Ravens Blow Late Lead

December 11, 2012 in Observations

The 9-4 Baltimore Ravens lost 31-28 in OT to the 7-6 Washington Redskins on a 34 yard field goal by Kai Forbath. For the second time in two weeks, the Ravens blew a late lead. This time it was an 8 point lead with 4:47 left in the game.

Coaching
While the offensive play calling was good this game, there were two situations where I disagree with what the Ravens coaching staff decided. The first was after the Ravens scored their last touchdown with 4:47 left in the game, they kicked the extra point. This put the Ravens up by 8 points. The Redskins had to go down and score a touchdown and score a two-point conversion to tie the game. If the Ravens went for a two-point conversion and made it, they would have been up by 9 points which is a two possession game. Even if they didn't get the two-point conversion, the worst that would happen would be overtime as the Redskins would kick the extra point if they scored. The other two situations were at the end of each half. At the end of the first half, the Ravens had the ball with about 45 seconds left. While the ball was on their own 13 yardline, they only needed about 40 yards to get into range for a 63 yard field goal. With 45 seconds left, this should be very feasible but instead the Ravens ran it twice and threw 2 short passes and gained a total of 18 yards on 4 plays. At the end of regulation the Ravens had the ball at their own 20 with about 30 seconds left. They just took a knee and went into overtime. This is more understandable as the offense hadn't done good over the last few drives. These two decisions are rumored to be one of the reasons for offensive coordinator Cam Cameron's firing.

Defense
Just a few general things about the defense before we go player-by-player. Overall the tackling was atrocious. You can definitely give some credit to the Redskins ballcarries but you also have to blame the Ravens as there rarely was a play where the Redskins went down on first contact. Most of the 15 completed passes against the Ravens came when they were in zone defense. More specifically, they came in-between the linebackers and the safeties. This is always a weakness in zone defenses but linebackers can usually get deep enough before a receiver gets there. The Redskins were able to exploit this with play-action passes. These plays completely confused the linebackers sometimes creating big holes in the middle of the defense. Even when it wasn't play-action, the linebackers were looking for run more than pass and they were taking a few steps towards the line-of-scrimmage. This needs to be fixed for next week as Broncos QB Peyton Manning excels at play-action passes.

Ravens CB Cary Williams (29) tries to tackle Redskins WR Pierre Garcon (88).

Joe Flacco
It was almost like Flacco played two different games against the Redskins. The first half was almost perfect for Flacco as he threw for 3 touchdowns and each pass was great. On the first, Anquan Boldin ran an out-and-up. Flacco pump faked the out and then threw a perfect pass to Boldin in the endzone. The next one was also to Boldin but was an even better play. After looking at the Redskins defensive alignment, Flacco audibled to a different play. On the play, Flacco looked left and pump faked to WR Torrey Smith on a slant. He then looked right and threw a great pass to Boldin for the touchdown. The last touchdown pass was an out route to TE Dennis Pitta in the endzone where Flacco placed the ball where only Pitta could get it. Against the blitz, Flacco really struggled. Both of his turnovers came against the blitz and he seemed to not recognize some of the blitzes. His fumble wasn't really his fault but the interception was his fault. The Redskins had 6 rushers and the Ravens only had 5 blockers. He either has to bring a blocker into the backfield or get rid of the ball right away. He finished 16-of-21 for 182 yards with 3 TDs and 1 INT. His QB rating was 121.4 and QBR was 54.2.

Running Backs
Both Ray Rice and backup Bernard Pierce had outstanding games. Rice had 121 yards on 20 rushes with a TD. He also had his longest run this season, 46 yards. Rice was able to average 6.1 yards per carry and Pierce had 6.8 on 8 carries for 53 yards. Due to this success in the run game, Flacco only attempted 2 passes in the whole 3rd quarter. This was also the quarter where Flacco had his two turnovers so the Ravens didn't get any points. Both Rice and Pierce had an impact in the passing game. Rice had 3 catches for 15 yards on 4 targets and Pierce had 2 catches for 11 yards on 2 targets.

Dennis Pitta
As I have said before, an easy way to tell if the Ravens offense is doing good is look at Pitta's stat line. He finished with 5 catches for 46 yards and 1 TD on 6 targets. What is most revealing to me is he had no first down catches. Pitta is usually a first down machine. His touchdown was on a 3rd and 10 though so you can give him a small break.

Anquan Boldin
Despite the Ravens only completing 16 passes, Boldin had a great game. He caught the ball every time he was targeted and had 3 catches for 78 yards and 2 TDs. Both of his TD catches were described above and his first one put him over 10,000 career receiving yards. His other catch was on a 3rd and 4. He caught it 8 yards downfield and then carried CB DeAngelo Hall for 20 more yards and was finally tackled at the 7 yardline. On the next play, Ray Rice scored on a 7 yard run. So he scored 2 TDs and set up another. The only negative for Boldin was he got called for a holdin penalty which negated a 4 yard run.

Anquan Boldin (81) and Jacoby Jones (12)

Ravens WR Anquan Boldin (81) celebrates one of his two touchdowns with WR Jacoby Jones.

Offensive Line
One Rice's long run, the offensive line dominated the Redskins defenders. They blocked down and pushed the Redskins defensive line way away from the play. On the touchdown pass to Pitta, Flacco had all day to find a receiver. They also had great blocks on Rice's TD run. Now for player specific notes. Jah Reid had another false start. Kelechi Osemele had a false start on a 1st and 10 inside the Ravens own 20 which really set back the drive. Michael Oher had the worst game of all lineman. He allowed a QB hit on Flacco inside the Redskins 20. If he had given Flacco an extra second he would have hit WR Jacoby Jones for a TD. Oher also gave up the strip sack of Flacco which occurred around midfield which is huge in field position terms.

Arthur Jones
Jones continued a trend of making his impact plays in bunches. Two of his three impact plays came back-to-back and all 3 came at key situations. After a good Sam Koch punt was downed at the Redskins 14, Jones went to work. On first down, he stopped a run for a loss of 3 yards. The next play he came in and sacked Redskins QB Robert Griffin III. This was the first time that Griffin was visibly injured. He stayed down for a moment but then got back up. These two plays helped the Ravens get the ball back at the Washington 47. However, the offense went 3 and out. The last impact play made by Jones was a half sack with Paul Kruger. This sack came on the Redskins final drive in regulation. On 1st and 10 from the Washington 36, Jones and Kruger sacked Griffin for a loss of 9. This was the play before Griffin had to come out injured. With this performance, Jones now has 4.5 sacks in the last 3 games.

Paul Kruger
Just like Jones, Kruger extended his his sack streak to 5 games and now has 6.5 sacks in that period. Kruger's sack came on a 1st down. Griffin was slowed down by DE Haloti Ngata on the play and Kruger was able to finish him off for a loss of 8. This sack stalled the Redskins drive There were also other QB pressures from Kruger throughout the game. As stated above, his sack that was split with Jones came on the last drive of regulation. He also was in the right place at the right time as he recovered a fumble for a gain of 9 yards. This put the Ravens at the Redskins 14 yardline and then three plays later, Dennis Pitta scored his touchdown.

Ed Reed
Unlike normally, Reed could be credited for 2 touchdowns against him. He also made no impact plays. The first touchdown came when the Ravens were in zone coverage. Reed seemed to know the ball was going to WR Joshua Morgan as he followed him all the way across the endzone but wasn't able to stop the pass. The second touchdown could be credited to either Reed or CB Chris Johnson. It looked like they were in zone again on this play. The receiver on the play, Pierre Garcon, ran a corner route and split the zone. Reed was over the top and Johnson was underneath. The throw was just over Johnson's outstretched arms and Reed couldn't close the distance in time. Reed will need to be on his game next week against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos as the last time the Ravens won against Manning was in December of 2001.

Ravens star S Ed Reed had an underwhelming game against the Redskins.

Tags: Anquan Boldin, Baltimore Ravens, Bernard Pierce, Cam Cameron, Cary Williams, Chris Johnson, DeAngelo Hall, Dennis Pitta, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata, Jacoby Jones, Jah Reid, Joe Flacco, John Harbaugh, Joshua Morgan, Kai Forbath, Kelechi Osemele, Michael Oher, Paul Kruger, Peyton Manning, Pierre Garcon, Ravens Coaching Staff, Ray Rice, Redskins, Robert Griffin III, Sam Koch, Torrey Smith, Washington Redskins, Week 14 Comments Off

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