Ravens Fall In Overtime
For the second game in a row, the Baltimore Ravens had to play into overtime. This week, they lost 23-20 to the Chicago Bears on a 38-yard field goal. The loss drops the Ravens to 4-6 and the Bears improve to 6-4.
Five hours and 16 minutes after the opening kickoff, the game ended. The reason for the length of the game was a delay that lasted one hour and 53 minutes due to lightning in the first quarter.
When the delay started, the Ravens were up 10-0. Once the game resumed, the Ravens were outscored 23-10 and the Ravens needed a 21-yard field goal with seven second left in regulation to send it to overtime. With less than a minute left in the game, the Ravens had first and goal from the Bears’ five-yard line but they couldn’t convert on two runs and a pass.
After the stoppage, the Ravens didn’t look like the same team — on offense and defense.
Coming into the game, the Ravens had yet to win a game at a NFC North stadium and this loss drops them to 0-8 in these stadiums.
Joe Flacco
Playing in tough weather conditions, Flacco struggled to get the passing game going for the Ravens.
Completing only 55 percent of his passes, Flacco went 17-of-31 for 162 yards, one touchdown and had two interceptions.
On the first interception, he made a horrible read on a play. The play called for Flacco to throw a quick flare route to fullback Vonta Leach who was coming out of the backfield. Running back Ray Rice was supposed to block David Bass, the defensive end on the play-side, but failed to do so. Even though Rice missed his block, the interception is still Flacco’s fault. He wasn’t under any pressure and he threw the ball right at Bass. Flacco needs to see that Rice missed on his block and either not throw the ball to Leach because the passing lane is filled, or adjust and make a better pass. He did neither and it cost the Ravens seven points as Bass returned the interception for a touchdown which tied the game at 10.
His second interception came late in the second quarter. It was third and 16 and Flacco was trying to hit tight end Dallas Clark on a seam route to pick up the first down. Clark had three defenders in the vicinity and Flacco kept the ball away from two of them — but put the ball right on the other. Bears’ linebacker Jon Bostic had great coverage on Clark and was able to intercept the pass.
With these two interceptions, Flacco now has 13 on the season which is a new career-high. His previous high was 12 has occurred three times: 2008, 2009 and 2011. Having only played 10 games this season, Flacco has already thrown his most interceptions in a season — and there are six games left. If he keeps the pace up, he will finish with 21 interceptions (it is actually 20.8 but considering you can’t throw and eighth of an interception, I rounded to the nearest whole number).
Recently, he has had success scrambling and running for yardage and this continued against the Bears. On four carries (all scrambles) he ran for 20 yards and picked up two first downs. On a third and seven, he was able to scramble for 11 yards and on a second and three he gained four yards. Importantly, he knows how to slide. On each of his runs, Flacco slid to avoid contact. This is a positive as many quarterbacks don’t know how to slide and protect themselves, but he does.
His best pass of the game came on his touchdown pass to Torrey Smith in the second quarter. Smith ran a quick slant and Flacco had to thread the needle between two Bears’ defenders to complete the pass.
Courtesy of ICON SMI
For the first time all season, the Ravens’ run game was effective as they rushed for a season-high 174 yards.
After a dreadful performance against the Bengals last week where Rice rushed for 30 yards on 18 carries and look awful, he bounced back and showed his explosiveness that had been missing all season.
Also for the first time this season, he topped 100 yards rushing as he had 131 yards on 25 carries and added a touchdown. On his first rush of the game, he broke lose for a gain of 47 yards — the longest rush of the season for the Ravens. Previously, backup running back Bernard Pierce had the high at 28 yards and Rice’s high was half of that at 14 yards.
Four of Rice’s run went for first downs: the 47-yard run on second and one, a gain of two on third and one, a 13 yard gain on first and 10 and a second and six run for nine yards in overtime.
His touchdown was set up by his 47-yard run on the Ravens’ first drive of the game. The score came on third and goal from the one and he ran to the right side and ran untouched into the end zone. This score marks the first time the Ravens have scored a touchdown on their opening drive this season.
Catching the ball, Rice was targeted five times, hauling in three of them for 17 yards. His long came on a third and nine where he was able to pickup 12 yards on a check down.
On Flacco’s interception that was returned for a touchdown, Rice was supposed to block the defensive end. Rice tried to cut block the defender, but he failed, allowing the defender to be right in the passing lane. This is the only damper on Rice’s best performance of the season.
Torrey Smith
While Smith didn’t lead the Ravens in receiving yards for the only the second time this season (the other game was against the Green Bay Packers), he did lead the team in receptions.
On a team-high eight targets, he caught five passes for 32 yards and one touchdown. The Bears’ secondary did a good job shutting Smith down despite being without starting cornerback Charles Tillman. (An assist goest to the weather as well.)
Smith’s touchdown has already been discussed a little, but still some more to it. The play came on a second and three from the Bears’ five-yard line. He ran a quick slant from the near side and was between two defenders when Flacco threw the ball. Flacco’s pass came within inches of the outstretched hands of these two defenders. Also, the cornerback who was covering Smith was called for pass interference on this play. It took great concentration from Smith to catch the ball with those two defenders there and while getting interfered with.
Other than his touchdown catch, Smith had one catch go for a first down. This came on a first and 10 when he picked up 13 yards on a crossing route. He also drew a pass interference on another slant.
Dallas Clark
Catching only two passes yesterday, Clark didn’t put up major stats, but both of these catches were important.
The first of his two catches came on a third and two in the second quarter. Clark gained 17 yards on the play to keep the Ravens’ drive alive. A couple plays later, the Ravens kicked a field goal to take a 10-0 lead. With this catch, Clark hit 500 receptions for his career — ninth all-time for a tight end. After the play, you could see Clark send the ball to the sidelines to keep.
His second catch had a much bigger impact on the game. With time winding down, the Ravens had a fourth and four from the Bears’ 44-yard line. Running a short crossing route, Clark created little separation, but Flacco threw it anyways. Using one hand, Clark was able to reel in the pass and gain 14 yards. This kept the Ravens’ drive alive late in the game; without this play, the game is over and there is no overtime.
Offensive Line
Finally, the Ravens’ run game had a break out game — albeit against the second worst run defense in the league — and the offensive line was a big part of this.
On Rice’s 47-yard run, all of the lineman had good blocks on the play. It was an outside run to the left side and the line provided Rice with a big hole to run through.
A few plays later on his touchdown, the line had outstanding blocking again as he scored untouched. Left guard A.Q. Shipley combined with Leach to push a Bears’ defender about three yards backwards right in the hole.
In pass protection, the line gave up three sacks and two of them can be credited to the line. The one sack that isn’t the fault of the line is Flacco’s fault as all of the linemen had their guys blocked, but Flacco then started to run around in the pocket which freed up the pass rush.
One potential reason for why the line did a decent job in pass protection this week is that the Bears are not a blitzing team. The Ravens’ offensive line has had the most trouble picking up blitzes and the Bears did very little of that throughout the game.
Right guard Marshal Yanda was called for two flags: a holding and a false start.
Center Gino Gradkowski rolled the the snap to Flacco on the Ravens’ third and goal attempt from the Bears’ three-yard line with less than a minute left in the game. This awful snap made it impossible for Flacco to make a play to try and win the game. Smith was open in the back of the end zone, but Flacco wasn’t able to throw it to him because of the snap. By the time, Flacco could throw Smith the ball, it was too late as Smith was covered better and Flacco had to throw the pass out of the end zone.
Allowing the two sacks on the offensive line was left tackle Eugene Monroe. The first sack occurred on a second and 16. Julius Peppers beat Monroe outside with a speed move and he wasn’t able to recover as Peppers sacked Flacco for a loss of eight. The second sack came on a fourth and eight (the Ravens went for it due to the swirling winds making for a tough field goal attempt). On this play, Monroe down blocked, but didn’t realize that a defender was coming around him on the outside. By the time that Monroe realized this, it was too late and Flacco was sacked and fumbled the ball. (The Ravens recovered but it didn’t really matter as it was a turnover on downs.)
Defensive Line
Allowing 104 rushing yards (on four yards per carry) and providing little pass rush, the Ravens’ defensive line struggled yesterday.
Starting nose tackle Haloti Ngata (the best player on the line) was inactive due to a knee injury. This forced Terrence Cody to start and he split time with rookie Brandon Williams. The Bears ran the ball to the outside more than the inside though.
At one defensive end in the Ravens’ 3-4 alignment was Arthur Jones who had two tackles which were both run stops. His two run stops were for a gain of one and he shared a run stop for a gain of two with Daryl Smith. Jones failed to make a big impact in the game.
The other starting defensive end, Chris Canty, had a much better game with four tackles. Tackles are a very bad indicator of performance though as there are many other things to look at. Canty recorded three run stops — including two in overtime. In regulation, he had a run stop for a gain of three. In overtime, he had a run stop for a gain of one on the Bears’ first play and he pushed the Bears back four yards later in their drive. Also, Canty recorded a quarterback hit on a third and seven which forced Bears’ quarterback Josh McCown to check down for a gain of one.
Rotating in on the defensive line was DeAngelo Tyson who recorded his second career sack and his second in as many games. On the play, McCown was trying to scramble and Tyson was able to take him down for a loss of one on first down. Also, Tyson had a run stop for a gain of two. Over the last two games, Tyson has seen his most playing time of the season and has made the most of it.
Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil
With a combined 17.5 sacks coming into the game, Suggs and Dumervil are the Ravens’ two best pass rushers.
Leaving the game, they still had 17.5 sacks between them. In fact, they only had one tackle in the game (Suggs). Despite favorable match ups with the Bears’ offensive tackles, Suggs and Dumervil were held to zero sacks for the first time this season.
Helping the Bears’ offensive tackles neutralize Suggs and Dumervil was the weather. When play was resumed after the delay, the field was very wet and muddy — not good conditions for pass rushers. With the field being all chopped up, neither of them could get foot footing and they failed to get after McCown. There were multiple instances where they slipped and fell down while pass rushing.
On the second play of the game, McCown handed off to running back Matt Forte for a gain of 15 yards. Suggs missed a tackle on this run which would have stopped it for little or no gain. The Bears ran two successful end arounds in the game and both times they went to Suggs’ side. As an outside linebacker, he is responsible for contain on these plays and he failed both times. On the one occasion he was able to get pressure on McCown, he threw a bad pass for an incompletion.
The only thing that Dumervil accomplished this game was getting flagged for a roughing the passer penalty. While the call was questionable, he should know better than to give the quarterback a two-handed shove after he has thrown the ball. This penalty occurred on a third and nine when the Ravens stopped the play for a one, but the penalty extended the drive. However, the Bears failed to score.
Daryl Smith
Continuing to be all over the field for the Ravens this year, Smith had another day where he did a little bit of everything.
Making six tackles, he was tied for second most on the team. Two of these tackles were run stops. One was for a gain of two which he shared with Jones and the other was for a loss of one when the Bears tried a reverse for the third time in the game.
Also in his stat line is a forced fumble. This came on a pass play in the fourth quarter where he came over to help bring receiver Alshon Jeffery down. Smith was able to rip the ball out, but Jeffery recovered.
In pass coverage, Smith allowed one catch to be completed against him, and this went for a gain of 13 on first down.
His worst play came on Forte’s 14-yard touchdown catch on a screen pass. Smith missed a tackle near the line-of-scrimmage on this play. This missed tackle, along with a few others, sprung Forte for a touchdown that gave the Bears a 20-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.
A good blitzer, Smith didn’t blitz much (if at all) yesterday. Last week, defensive coordinator Dean Pees called for many blitzes, but this week he was much more conservative. Maybe the weather had something to do with this, but McCown was able to sit back and complete passes with the Ravens in zone coverage and not blitzing.
Cornerbacks
When the Ravens played man coverage in the secondary, their cornerbacks had a lot more success than when they were in zone.
Courtesy of ICON SMI
Lardarius Webb only allowed one catch to be completed against him as the Bears were content to target Jimmy Smith. However, this one completion was an important one. In overtime, Webb allowed a 43-yard pass to tight end Martellus Bennett on a seam route. On the play, Webb had about as good of coverage as possible, but with Bennett being 6’6” and Webb being 5’10”, it was a tough assignment. McCown put the ball high into the air where only Bennett could catch it with his eight inch advantage over Webb.
Other than this play, Webb had a good game recording two run stops for gains of three and had one pass defensed. Webb has always been stout in run defense — something most cornerbacks aren’t. He was also whistled for a horse collar tackle though.
Despite being targeted often, Smith held his own in coverage for the second straight game. Allowing three catches for 24 yards, he had a tough assignment going up against Brandon Marshall, but Smith more than held his own. On the first play of the game, the Bears ran a quick screen to Marshall as Smith was in off coverage, but he came up and stopped the play for no gain. The only first down that he allowed was a 16 yard catch to Marshall. This was just a great catch by Marshall as he made a tough sideline catch and was able to get both feet down in-bounds.
When the Bears had the ball inside the Ravens’ ten-yard line early in the game, they went after Smith and he held his own. On third and goal, he was called for holding which gave the Bears a new life. However, on the ensuing first and third and goal plays, he broke up a slant and pushed Marshall out-of-bounds while catching a fade route, forcing and incompletion. On both of these plays he was in press, man coverage withe Marshall and Smith won both times. Smith is at his best in these situations.
Playing for the Bears for five seasons before coming to Baltimore, Corey Graham led the Ravens with nine tackles in his return to Soldier Field. He allowed three catches to be completed against him for a total of 26 yards and one first down. Like Smith, he broke up a pass in the end zone. This play was a fade to Jeffery and Graham was able to get a hand on it.
Like Daryl Smith, Graham missed a tackle on Forte’s touchdown catch.
Early in the game — the Bears’ third offensive play — he recorded his first sack of his career. On the play, McCown expected his receiver to be there for a screen, but he wasn’t as he blocked like a run play. Because of this, McCown tucked the ball and tried to run. Graham saw this and was able to come in and tackle McCown for no gain. Even though there was no loss on the play, Graham was credited with a sack.
Justin Tucker
In just his second season, Tucker has quickly become one of the NFL’s premier kickers and this was on display yesterday in Chicago.
With rain coming down and the wind swirling, he kicked a 52-yard field goal with 4:51 left in the first quarter. Kicks from this length are tough enough in good weather, yet alone this weather, but he was able to get it through the uprights. With this kick, he is now 7-of-7 from 50+ yards on the road. This was the last play before the delay.
After the Ravens failed to score a touchdown from the Bears’ five-yard line with a minute left in the game, he had to kick a 21-yard field goal in the same weather, but the field was all muddy and torn up now as well. The weather conditions were not enough to stop him as his field goal went right down the middle of the uprights.
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