The Baltimore Ravens entered their game tonight at 6-2 overall, the leader of the AFC North Division, with an idea of who they are as a football team. After 60 minutes of action against the Atlanta Falcons, I think Dennis Green would say, “The Ravens are who we thought they were.”

The Ravens are an organization that expects to win whenever they take the field. They believe they are capable of going anywhere and performing. They have a roster of talent that plays with pride. They also have some fairly self-evident flaws that could potentially eliminate their ability to reach their ultimate goals.

The Good:

1) Ray Rice ran hard and effectively, aided by strong run blocking from the offensive line. He made a number of important plays in the 4th Quarter based solely on second effort.

2) I liked seeing Boldin gather the offense and challenge them to perform after Flacco’s interception early in the 2nd-half. It was fitting that on the next offensive series that Boldin was the player that got the Ravens on the board.

3) Stallworth was able to contribute to the offense with a couple of run reverses. Obviously he has better pure speed than any of the other receivers.

4) I’m happy that playing time for Cody has increased these last two games.

5) Overall the pass-rush was still very limited, but on his own Suggs changed the game in the 2nd-half. The 2 sacks and pressure from him was great to see.

6) The Ravens took over on offense with 11:34 left in the game, down 20 to 7. With 5:42 on the clock the Baltimore offense punched in their drive to close the gap. They maintained their 3 timeouts and the 2 minute warning. They limited the Falcons to 1 first down and got the ball back with 3 minutes left. The Ravens quickly marched the field, and grabbed the lead. Down 13 points on the road to a quality team, Baltimore made the plays necessary to be in position to win.

6a) Flacco did not have the ability to step-up in the pocket like Ryan did tonight, and had a pretty miserable first 3 Quarters of this game. He forced throws, again had trouble over the middle, and missed wildly several times. You have to like that Flacco overcame his poor start, to make plays when it counted.

7) Ryan is talking in the post-game about how he believes the Ravens made good adjustments to the Falcons no-huddle offense at half-time.

8) The rush-defense was good, limiting Turner to 39 yards on 17 carries.

The Bad:

1) The 3rd down defense for the Ravens was abysmal and it starts with the lack of pass-rush. (Falcons 12 of 20 on 3rd) While Suggs picked-up his play in the 2nd-half, Ryan was able to step-up in the pocket way too often. When the Ravens blitzed, it got picked-up. When they dropped back into coverage, they got picked apart. The initial Atlanta scoring drive (14 plays for 91 yards and a TD) was excruciating to watch because the Ravens were unable to get the Falcons off the field.

2) I did not like hearing that Atlanta entered tonight with a game-plan they thought would tire out the Front 7 of the Ravens defense. I think the Ravens are going to have reevaluate whom is on their weekly inactive list, and make it more of a priority to rotate bodies on the defensive line.

3) Even before Webb fumbled, I did not like seeing him setting-up for the punt return. He is the Raven’s best cover corner and I do not like increasing his risk for injury. Do the Ravens need to be reminded of the leg-injury Webb suffered just last year?

3a) If I disliked seeing Webb back to return a punts, I absolutely despised seeing Reed do the same.

4) The Ravens were facing a team tonight with a pass-rush as feeble as their own. So, it was pretty disappointing that Flacco regularly had the Falcons D-line in his face. Oher was beaten too often.

5) I was not expecting the Ravens to score with 20 seconds left, but David Reed’s decision to come out of the endzone was poor.

6) These two teams entered the game both in the Top 5 league wide in time of possession. Atlanta dominated the ball, holding possession for over 35 minutes.

The Ugly:

1) It would have been somewhat livable if the Falcons had kicked a FG to win this game. Allowing Atlanta to march 80 yards in 45 seconds was hard to watch.

1a) Single coverage on White with the game on the line?

Up-Next:

The now 6-3 Baltimore Ravens are off until Sunday the 21st when they head to Carolina to face the Panthers.
With 10 days to prepare, you would expect a win over an over-matched Panthers team. Nothing will mean more than getting the W, but it will be important to see what adjustments the Coaching staff makes for the stretch-run.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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