Ravens Recap Week 4 (@ Cleveland)
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At Cleveland Browns Stadium on Sunday, an emerging trend reared its ugly head again and could turn into a perennial problem for Brian Billick’s offense. No sense of urgency, a huge lack of intensity, an all-too conservative offensive game plan, and ineptitude in the red zone are ruining an otherwise productive offense.
The fact that this offense can move the football efficiently, throw the ball on first down, and move into scoring range consistently is something to be excited about if you’re a Ravens fan. All but one of the Raven’s offensive possessions of Sunday’s game ended in Browns territory, but the red-zone offense has been just abysmal, despite having the 10 th best ranking in total offense and consistently dominating time of possession. Whether it’s player execution or play-calling, only the guys at One Winning Drive know who’s to blame.
The fact is, something needs to change in a hurry, or the Ravens could be on the outside looking in come playoff time. Personally, I think the Ravens need to run the ball more in the red zone. Willis McGahee rushed for 104 yards on only 14 carries. He seems to find holes in the defense that nobody else can see. He’s been running hard, breaking tackles and getting five yards when you expect him to get two. When you’re facing a team like the Browns, who have the 31 st -ranked rushing defense giving up over 175 yards per game on the ground, you would figure that’s something the Ravens would look to exploit, especially in the red zone. Instead, Billick relied on the arm and injured legs of Steve McNair.
McNair seemed to be favoring his injured groin rather heavily, especially in the second half. He insists he wasn’t injured, but he looked a lot worse than he did last week when Billick replaced him because of his injury. He wasn’t stepping into his throws or following through all the way. There were several passes that he sailed over the heads of open receivers because he could not get up on his toes and work through all the intricacies of his delivery. I would have liked to see what Kyle Boller could have done in that situation. There’s no need to throw the injury-prone McNair out on the field when he’s already hurt and down three scores. In fact, it’s totally illogical and goes against everything the Ravens coaching staff said after week three.
Perhaps McNair’s injury was the reason that there was no sense of urgency or intensity in the Raven’s offensive huddle. In the fourth quarter, down three scores, the Ravens executed an excruciatingly long six minute drive that ended in a meaningless touchdown. McNair was dinking and dunking, as usual, but that just cannot happen when the team is down by three scores in the fourth quarter. They were playing like they had a 10 point lead when they were down by 21. The Ravens didn’t enter their hurry-up offense until the following possession, and by that time it was too late. It looked as though the Ravens knew they were getting beat and were already thinking about San Francisco next week. They cannot play like that against the 49ers and expect to return to the east coast with a winning record.
Are these major concerns? Of course, they would be major concerns for any team. To go along with the aforementioned problems, the Ravens are still having surprising trouble on the defensive side of the ball. Ok, so Chris McAlister gave up a 78 yard touchdown reception, but that should be expected from time to time with Rex Ryan’s aggressive scheme. When you take chances like the Ravens do, you leave yourself vulnerable to the big play, especially if you cannot get pressure on the quarterback, which the Ravens have been unable to do consistently without Trevor Pryce and Adalius Thomas. Unfortunately, unlike Pryce, Adalius Thomas won’t be in a Ravens uniform this season, so Bart Scott and Terrell Suggs need to compensate for that loss.
The run defense is top notch, but if the Ravens don’t start getting pressure on the quarterback, the cornerstone of Rex Ryan’s defensive scheme, it’s going to be a long year for Ravens fans. Remember, this was supposed to be the cupcake part of their schedule and they’re entering week 5 a 2-2 football team and 0-2 in the division, which could cause problems if they encounter a tie-breaker situation. But, with games coming up against the 49ers, Rams, and Bills, it’s not unreasonable to think that the Ravens can enter their bye week at 5-2.
The bottom line is the Ravens were simply outplayed and the Cleveland Browns were the better team that day. To Browns fans and some of the team members (I like to call the Browns “Baltimore Ravens West”), that was their Super Bowl. They soundly beat a talented team in all facets of the game that was taken from their city. It would be like the Ravens beating the Colts in the AFC Divisional round of the playoffs in Baltimore to advance to the AFC Championship game…oops.
Baltimore Ravens (2-2) down, banged up and can't stop em like the used to Carolina Panthers (2-2) down, if Delhomme is Cleveland Browns (2-2) up, can actually score now Denver Broncos (2-2) down, D shaky Houston Texans (2-2) down, struggling lately Kansas City Chiefs (2-2) up, can actually score now and solid D New York Giants (2-2) up, loads of talent but will D continue?
San Francisco 49ers (2-2)