SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 22, BALTIMORE RAVENS 17

NOVEMBER 13, 2011

What in the world do you make of the Baltimore Ravens?  In a virtual replay of a week-seven  loss to the lousy Jacksonville Jaguars the Ravens did it again. Once again they let down their guard after an emotional win to drop a game to another lousy team – the Seattle Seahawks, 22-17.

Same problems, same ugly result. 

They got beat by a bad offensive team because they started slowly on offense themselves, coughed up turnovers, three of them, surrendered field position, and then allowed long field goals—five of them by a field goal kicker the Ravens once kicked to the curb, Steven Hauschka.

If you had to scripthow to lose a game to a Seahawk club that had come into the contest with just two wins, this was it.  Fall behind early, 10-0 in the first quarter, and allow the notoriously loud Seahawk fans disrupt your offensive flow.   They dug a hole so deep that not even the 13 Seahawk penalties were enough to override the advantage surrendered by the visitors.

If you’re looking for the losing formula in this sort of contest, head coach John Harbaugh revealed another key ingredient before the game even started.  He warned his team that they couldn’t let Marshawn Lynch beat them.  Lynch, the one weapon the Seahawks possess on offense, did just that. 

The Seahawks accumulated 327 yards of total offense, and Lynch was responsible for about half of it.  He ran the ball 32 times for 109 yards, and his team’s only touchdown, and he added 58 more yards through five catches out of the backfield.

With the clock ticking down late, and the Ravens offense pacing on the sidelines, Lynch was practically a one-man band running the ball down the throats of an apparently weary Ravens defense that had traveled across the country only to get sent home with their tail between their legs. 

In fact, with the ever-present threat of Lynch out of the backfield all game long, the Ravens vaunted defense was never able to effectively pressure quarterback Tavaris Jackson, making him look a lot better than he had any right to look.

There is really little else to say. The Ravens seem to be a team that plays up, or down, to their level of competition.  And this let down proved it again.

Quarterback: C-

In his first three years in the league, Joe Flacco was held back because he couldn’t make the throw over the middle.  It’s now come to pass that this is the only throw he seems to make at times.  Again and again he threw perfect strikes to his two tight ends, to move the chains.  Otherwise, he stunk. 

He was a quarterback who looked tremendous on a couple second half drives working the ball to his tight ends between the hashes.   Take away that one area of the field, however, and it was a total failure of a day for Flacco. He missed badly on timing throws to his wide outs, with balls thrown well out of reach or behind his receivers.  He also threw one pick, forcing the ball into the flat, and should have had a second pick on a ball he forced late to Torrey Smith in the end zone.  The fact that Ray Rice threw the lone touchdown in the first half seemed to be an indication of how badly Flacco was off his game, with a QB rating of 66.

Running Backs: C

Ray Rice struggles trying to cut back his runs against a four-man front, and it showed again this week.  Ricky Williams was frankly more effective running down hill against this scheme but he was only given three carries to Rice’s five.  Williams also made two nice grabs out of the backfield in the hurry-up offense. I

It was comical, but effective, to see the left-handed, 5’6” Rice heave a touchdown pass to a wide open Ed Dickson in the red zone. Rice finally got something going late with a couple of excellent runs after catching dump offs.  While you appreciate Rice’s 58 yards through the air to help move the chains, you have to be concerned about just 8 carries for 35 yards for the two backs.  Vonta Leach got his money’s worth on a block when allowed to line up as an H-back.

Wide Receivers: D

With Seattle’s defensive ends pinching in on the Ravens inside runs, the Ravens smartly countered with two consecutive end-around calls to Torrey Smith and David Reed for 16 yards apiece on the opening drive.  It was the last we saw of the call and the last we wish we saw of Reed. More on that later. 

Drops continue to be an issue, as Smith and Boldin each dropped easy catches.  Boldin had trouble shaking off one-on-one coverage outside the hashes.  The two of them were targeted 17 times and came away with just five catches.  Part of that is on Flacco. A lot is on them.

Tight Ends: A

Is there any team in the league more reliant on their tight ends right now?  Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta were the lone bright spots on offense for the Ravens.  Dickson was way too much for Seattle’s linebackers as he made acrobatic catches in the middle of the field, including two touchdowns.  

The taller Pitta was a first down machine, cleanly snatching hard spirals out of the air and turning up field for the conversion.  Together, they accounted for 14 catches compared to five for the wide outs, and 128 yards and two TDs compared to 50 yards and no scoring from Smith and Boldin.

Tackles: B-

The pass protection on the edges was very good.   Bryant McKinnie and Michael Oher showed much improved footwork.  Oher did get backed into Flacco’s face by defensive end Anthony Hargrove to force a throw-away, but that was one of his lone blemishes. McKinnie continues to show a lazy habit of allowing the backside end to run down the backs.  He allowed Alan Branch to catch Ricky from behind on a run to the right.

Interior Line:  C+

It’s time to admit this unit and their new zone blocking scheme are no match for a four man front.  They got no push up the middle and had trouble getting to Seattle’s smaller, quicker linebackers. Ben Grubbs and Marshall Yanda look great in space on screens and pulling technique to the outside. But that talent was mostly wasted in the scant runs that were called. Grubbs was beaten once on a blown protection call to allow an easy sack. Otherwise the protection in the middle was good. Seattle was able to time Matt Birk’s shotgun snap at times, an issue that has plagued him in the past on the road.  Although it did result in a few offsides calls as the Seahawks defensive front got a little greedy at times.

Cornerbacks:  B

Lardarius Webb and Cary Williams continue to show tremendous talent, even after getting beat, breaking on the ball to swat down would-be catches.  They both show great technique working around the receiver’s body.  And even when they don’t have great technique, they have size and speed, as Williams showed by recovering on a long, late toss to a wide open Sidney Rice in the end zone, which Williams managed to literally defend with his head.    Both corners continue to tackle well.

Chris Carr made a great play to break up a bubble screen for a loss, but was late finding receivers in his zone further down field and allowed Seattle to get out of the shadow of their end zone with a long completion to Golden Tate, which ultimately erased any hope of a Ravens comeback.

Safeties: C

Bernard Pollard and Ed Reed were often not on the same page trying to cover the middle of the field.  It didn’t appear the Seahawks did anything exotic to fool them, they just put themselves in poor position to make plays.   That included a fifty-yard reception by rookie Dough Baldwin when he split the zone coverage between the safeties.  Polllard showed his temper again and could have easily been flagged when he took a swing at a Seahawk after the whistle. 

Linebackers: B-

Jameel McClain was very active attacking the Seahawks running game in the middle of their line and behind the line of scrimmage.  He and Ray Lewis accounted for 17 tackles, nine for McClain.   But on the final drive, the duo seemed to disappear to allow Lynch to grind the clock out.  Jarret Johnson also had a critical whiff on Lynch short of a first down that the back converted to seal the win.  Brendon Ayanbadejo was very good in coverage.

Defensive Line:  C+

Haloti Ngata, despite missing time after he jammed his left hand, turned in a nice performance with a team-high 11 tackles.  Cory Redding also had a very nice game against his former team, and was too much for right tackle James Carpenter on many snaps.  The nose guard spot was a problem, however.  Terrence Cody was knocked around a lot, and gave snaps early and often to Brandon McKinney, who looked absolutely gassed at the end of the game as Lynch ran past him.   Pernell McPhee and Paul Kruger, in more limited action, were decent penetrators, but were a step late getting to the quarterback.  Terrell Suggs added two more tackles for a loss out of his seven total, but was surprisingly quiet all night.

Special Teams: F

Ugh.  David Reed may have played himself off the roster with two fumbles on kick returns, and a personal foul to surrender more field position.  While he is the best north-south returner on the team, he simply ran out of control carrying the ball.  Even the reliable Sam Koch botched a 28-yard punt from his own 14, which led to one of five Hauschka field goals.   Special teams blunders directly led to four Seattle field goals, and easily ended up being the difference in the game. 

Koch did manage to boot a fantastic 57-yard punt that McClain downed at the three with a nifty play on the ball.   And Chavis Williams looked very good covering kicks.

But Billy Cundiff undercut a 52 yard field goal try, and even when he finally came through with an effective field goal, Arthur Jones was flagged for a personal foul to contribute to the bad day for the Ravens special teams unit.

Coaching: C-

The staff will need to burn the midnight oil coming up with a game plan to beat the 4-3 defense, with a better example of it in the Cincinnati Bengals coming to town next.   

The Ravens also wasted a couple of valuable timeouts. Once when they couldn’t get their third down package onto the field on offense. And once on a terrible challenge of a first down by Harbaugh.

Like it or not, the staff also has to take responsibility for not having the team ready to play a lesser opponent after an emotional win.

Officiating:  C

Scott Green’s crew got some right and got some wrong.  They showed pretty good discretion on the pass interference and defensive holding calls, including a good no call when rookie Richard Sherman grabbed Boldin on an uncatchable throw in the end zone. 

The good judgment ended thereafter, as they allowed an obvious Earl Thomas grab of Anquan Boldin go un-penalized.   However, the Ravens benefited from the proverbial “make up call” on the next snap when Boldin ran straight into the DB, who was wrongly flagged for defensive holding to help move the sticks.

The crew was a bit too tolerant when allowing offensive holding to go unnoticed, including Russel Okung tackling Suggs on his way to the quarterback.

The call on David Reed for taunting was a poor one, after he dropped the ball and walked away without malice, but the ball landed on the tackler.  That’s questionable since Alan Branch was allowed to stand over Ricky Williams and taunt the running back after knocking him to the ground.

The crew made an easy, correct call for hitting defenseless receiver on Kam Chancellor. It was a textbook example of launching up into Boldin face and making initial contact with the helmet.

Broadcast: C

Dan Dierdorf made it through a Ravens telecast without mentioning his idol, Ben Roethlisberger.  Kudos to Dan.  However, he was so chatty at the end of plays that he talked through a lot of on field action on the next snap without providing any basic insights. For instance, as he marveled at a Vonta Leach block, there was never an explanation as to the penalty that caused a five yard run for the Ravens to result in first and fifteen.   (It was an illegal substitution when Jah Reid was the 12^th man in the huddle for the Ravens.)  Dierdorf and Greg Gumble were also slow to explain Reed’s personal foul, and they were a bit sloppy in identifying players correctly.