Baltimore Sun photo by Kim HairstonThe talent level on defense isn't great and isn't going to get any better during the season, so it's up to defensive coordinator Dean Pees to patch up his busted defense. Ravens fans could relate to defensive coordinator Dean Pees when he said Thursday that the play of his defense in October made him sick. Three days later, during a 43-13 loss to the Houston Texans, the defense probably made them all want to chug a few bottles of Pepto Bismol again. The Ravens allowed more than 400 total yards again (420 to be exact), but at least they didn't allow more than 200 rushing yards for a third straight game (those slackers from Houston could only muster 181). For the first time since Week 3, the Ravens didn't force a turnover. The Texans picked up first downs on eight of their 15 third-down conversions and scored touchdowns on three of five trips inside the red zone. As linebacker Terrell Suggs put it, "When you step into the shower, you're going to get wet -- and it rained tonight." I'm not 100 percent sure about that analogy, but there is no doubt the Texans poured it on Sunday. "I was like, 'Damn, 40 points,' but this is going to happen," Suggs, who played well, said after the game. "We went down to San Diego last year and it was raining touchdowns. ... We've been here before, but after seven games, and you think of everything this team has been through to come out 5-2 going into the bye, we'll take that. We'll take that every day. We're going to go to work tomorrow. We're going to go to work during this bye, and we're going to come back. You all know what we do down the stretch." Sorry, Sizzle, but this is not the same Baltimore defense. Linebacker Ray Lewis, who is likely out for the year with a torn triceps, and safety Ed Reed have looked like guys who are in their mid-30s. Reliable run defenders in Jarret Johnson and Cory Redding are playing elsewhere. And by focusing on overhauling their offense in recent drafts -- 24 of their 38 picks from 2007 to 2011 went to the offense -- they appear to have left the cupboard bare defensively. They have only spent one first-round draft pick (cornerback Jimmy Smith) on defense since 2006, and three of their second-round picks have disappointed. Nose tackle Terrence Cody and outside linebacker Paul Kruger haven't secured starting spots, and outside linebacker Sergio Kindle, who was cut Saturday to make room for Suggs, was unfortunately unable to come remotely close to reaching his potential after fracturing his skull before his first training camp. On Thursday, Pees was adamant that he has enough talent for the defense to succeed, even with the loss of both Lewis and standout cornerback Lardarius Webb. And safety Bernard Pollard defended Pees passionately, interrupting a reporter at the podium to say that the players, not the coaches, are to blame for the collapse of the defense. They are the ones blowing assignments. They are the ones missing tackles. And they are the ones getting pushed around at the line of scrimmage. But it's up to the coordinator to put the talent he has in a position to succeed, and Pees hasn't done that. Some of it is correctable, and Pees and his staff will get two weeks to build this defense back up with the bricks and mortar that were given to him. There are calls from the vocal, over-reactionary sector of the fan base that would like to see Pees shipped out of Baltimore for good -- maybe to Ann Arbor, Mich. to spend some time with Greg Mattison? -- but the Ravens organization isn't the type to panic. They believed in him enough to hire him after his divorce from the New England Patriots and they had enough faith in him, and in how his players would respond to him, to promote him to defensive coordinator when Chuck Pagano left to become the coach of the Indianapolis Colts. The Ravens have been rocked by injuries, but Pees isn't going to back down from the challenge of fixing this flawed Baltimore defense. But until he actually does it, you might want to keep the Pepto Bismol within arm's reach on game day.
Getty ImagesIf the Ravens want to win the Super Bowl this year, they are either going to have to get a first-round bye or pull a complete 180 when it comes to their play on the road. As Ed Reed walked off the field after the most lopsided loss in John Harbaugh's tenure as coach, the free safety, who is sometimes prone to off-the-wall comments, perfectly summed up the most frustrating aspect of his team. "We can't be two different teams at home and on the road," Reed told a Comcast reporter before ducking down the tunnel. But they are, and they have been the past two years. Their struggles away from M&T Bank Stadium, where they haven't lost a football game since the 2010 season, have become so predictable that road games are like the movie "Groundhog Day," except Bill Murray isn't around to provide comic relief. The offense gets off to a slow start (in their past 12 road games, the Ravens have scored 46 first-quarter points). The defense starts to get fatigued in a hurry (the Ravens had five three-and-outs in the first half). The Ravens forget about running back Ray Rice (he had a season-low nine carries). And quarterback Joe Flacco eventually comes unglued (he averaged just 3.4 yards per attempt on his 43 throws). The scoreboard usually doesn't reflect how poorly they performed, but whether they win or lose, the mood at the team's facility the next day is always equally as gloomy. "I'm concerned about everything," Harbaugh said after Sunday's 43-13 loss. "You can talk about pretty much everything today. What aren't you concerned about? The good thing and the thing we talked about is that it's the NFL. It's one loss. ... We've got to coach better and we've got to play better to accomplish what we want to accomplish. It's a good time to have a bye week to work those things out." It's crazy to think that after the Ravens won four road playoff games from 2008 to 2010, they are a team that, if things don't change soon, probably won't be able to string together a couple of road wins in the playoffs. They would need to play at least one postseason game at M&T Bank Stadium if they want to make it to the Super Bowl. And with Sunday's ugly loss, they failed to secure the inside track to New Orleans. They can't even feel good about the 30-point loss counting as only one loss because it was a critical one for a Ravens team that doesn't want to come anywhere near a stewardess or a baggage claim once the playoffs roll around. The Ravens now trail the AFC-leading Houston Texans by a game in the standings, and Sunday's win gives the Texans the tiebreaker, if necessary. But the Ravens are still in good shape in the AFC North, and they are still ahead of the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos in the race for the second of two first-round byes. The fact that the playoffs are three months away could be a good thing or a bad thing for the Ravens. There is still plenty of time for one of their AFC North rivals to overtake them or for the Ravens to lose their grip on one of those byes. But they also have time -- and five more road games -- to figure out why they are such a completely different team on the road. Losses on the road are to be expected, but your identity is not supposed to radically change.
Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton FerronTerrell Suggs said back in June that he would "shock a lot of people" by returning early this season. He left out the part about how well he would perform in his return. Back in June, a month after he underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon his right leg, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs sounded like a guy who had taken a few too many painkillers. In an interview with my colleague Mike Preston, Suggs vowed to "shock a lot of people" by returning to the football field way ahead of schedule. It sounded like crazy talk -- the ramblings of a highly confident or highly medicated man -- when Suggs said that he would return, at the latest, in late November, which was approximately seven months after he partially tore the tendon while working out in Arizona. That would represent a remarkable comeback from an injury that takes mere mortals about one year to overcome. But in a stunning turn of events, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year returned to practice this week, was activated to the 53-man roster Saturday and started in Sunday's 43-13 loss to the Houston Texans. His return came about five and a half months after he underwent surgery. And despite Suggs, Ravens coach John Harbaugh and some of his teammates cautioning us to not expect too much too soon from the star pass rusher and edge setter, Suggs was the team's best player Sunday, making a major impact even though he was on the field for only about half of the Texans' many offensive snaps. The Texans ran right at him on their first two plays of the game. He appeared to trip up Texans running back Arian Foster on the first one and held the edge firmly on the second, too. Later in the first quarter, Suggs didn't bite on a play-action fake and barreled into Texans quarterback Matt Schaub for a sack (he is now tied for fourth on the team in that category). By the time the game was mercifully over for the Ravens, Suggs had recorded four tackles and that sack, hit Schaub twice and knocked down a pass that he could have snatched for an interception. His sparkling return doesn't come close to putting a shine on yet another ugly performance by the reeling Ravens defense, but it was the silver lining nonetheless. I love it when athletes say they are going to shock the world -- and I'm not saying that Suggs ever said that publicly -- as if a young woman in Rwanda or some middle-aged ice fisherman in Northern Siberia is frantically checking their mobile phones to see if the wild prediction came true. But consider the football world -- and maybe the medical community -- sufficiently shocked by what Suggs was able to do. It wasn't just that he played so soon; it was that he played so well. It seemed like the best-case scenario for the Ravens would be that Suggs would be a shadow of himself by the time the playoffs rolled around. But based on how Suggs played against a good Texans offensive line, and on how hard the 30-year-old linebacker is now willing to work to become a truly great player, the NFL better make sure his name is printed on the Pro Bowl ballots. That may sound like crazy talk, too, but Suggs, barring a setback, will get nine more games to build his resume.
Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton FerronIt is efficient and effective when the Ravens get in a groove, but for the overall good of the football team, it may be time to make the no-huddle offense a part-time thing. We gasped as the no-huddle, full-throttle Ravens offense put up a franchise-record 121 points in the first four weeks of the 2012 season. After hitting a speed bump in their Week 5 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Ravens were back in cruise control in their 31-29 win over the Dallas Cowboys last weekend. But then the entire power train dropped out of the car in Sunday's 43-13 loss to the Houston Texans. The Ravens mustered just 176 yards on 59 plays -- an atrocious average of 3.0 yards per play -- and the offense was technically worth four points after giving the Texans nine first-half points on a safety and an interception returned for a touchdown. The Ravens had more three-and-outs (five) than points (three) in the first half, quarterback Joe Flacco threw two interceptions for the first time since last December, and running back Ray Rice got a season-low nine carries. The Ravens nearly had more passes batted down (11) than first downs (12). And the offensive line allowed four sacks on the long, sloppy afternoon. "I thought we opened up pretty good. We had a good first drive. And hey, we went up against a good defense today," said Flacco, who completed 21 of 43 attempts for a touchdown and two interceptions. "We all could have done things better, starting with myself. But I don't really have an answer for you." But the most troubling offensive stat for the team as a whole was the time of possession. The Texans hogged the ball for more than 38 minutes Sunday, a week after the Cowboys held it for more than 40. On the season, the Ravens are losing the time of possession battle by nearly eight minutes, and it has clearly started to take its toll on a defense that has been ravaged by key injuries and a few costly defections in the offseason. Their average time of possession (26:06) is a little misleading, as they are usually taking less time between plays than their opponents and the clock stops whenever one of Flacco's passes hits the ground. But on the season, opponents have run 86 more plays than the Ravens. I know many of you guys will hate that I'm going to do this, especially after a game like Sunday's, but credit should go to offensive coordinator Cam Cameron for turning the Ravens into an offense that will likely finish in the top 10 in points scored. It took some time for the pieces to come together and for Flacco to learn how to shift gears, but the Ravens are now capable of quickly erasing big leads, even if they weren't able to do it Sunday. But there are a couple of major problems with the tempo they are playing at, and maybe the Ravens should consider slowing things down after this well-timed bye week. First, the Ravens are limiting the effectiveness of their best offensive player -- Rice -- and putting the pressure on the team's weakest link: the defense. Sunday was one of those infamous "Cam under fire" games that infuriate the fan base. The Ravens ran the ball well on their first drive, which stalled when Flacco threw three straight passes inside Texans territory, forcing them to kick a field goal. On the next drive, Flacco threw three more passes, and then the Ravens punted. Rice was not a factor on their third drive, either. Soon, the AFC showdown got out of hand, and Rice got just six carries the rest of the way. With the Ravens unable to sustain drives, the Texans quickly wore down the Ravens defense, which couldn't stop the running game in the second half even though everyone in Reliant Stadium knew it was coming. And with the Ravens trailing by three or four scores, Rice had a season-low 54 yards from scrimmage. Second, and I don't think I need to elaborate too much on this one, their no-huddle offense clearly is not the same on the road. The Ravens have said that crowd noise in their own stadium bothers them, and when their passes start hitting the turf and opposing fans start screaming louder before the snap, the offense starts to spiral out of control. It's hard to establish your offensive identity as a hurry-up, shotgun, spread-the-ball-around offense when you can only do it eight of the 16 dates on your schedule. The Ravens have put a lot of time, energy and elbow grease into making this offense go, but based on how the team has performed the past three weeks, especially the defense, it might be best to scrap the no-huddle as their everyday mode of transportation for the time being. Instead, they should keep it in the garage for when it is really needed -- or at least until the defense can get a much-needed tune-up.
Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton FerronOffensive tackle Bryant McKinnie needs to be unchained from the doghouse. For about a quarter Sunday, many vocal Ravens fans got what they had been asking for, though the circumstances weren't ideal. During the second quarter of the 43-13 loss to the Houston Texans, rookie right tackle Kelechi Osemele, one of the team's two second-round picks in April, was sprawled out on the field. His ankle was throbbing, but the pain showed on his face. When the cart came to haul him away like an old sofa, it looked like he would be lost for a while. But the Ravens caught a break because the injury wasn't, well, a break, and the rookie proved his toughness by returning in the second half. In Osemele's absence, though, veteran offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie lumbered out on the field and assumed his old spot at left tackle. Michael Oher, the scapegoat for the struggles of the entire line, shifted over to right tackle. The on-the-fly changes on the offensive line couldn't cease the team's string of three-and-outs, punts and interceptions. But we have seen enough over the past few weeks to know that changes need to be made on the offensive line, and a good start would be putting McKinnie back on Joe Flacco's blind side. It's fair to wonder why McKinnie is still playing professional football. His dedication to the game was questioned when he was in Minnesota, and the questions now dog him in Baltimore, especially after he was unable to get his weight and his conditioning to levels the coaching staff felt comfortable with during offseason workouts. After the team charter landed at BWI on Sunday night, he was Tweeting about hosting a party at a club down in D.C. Plus, McKinnie has serious financial issues, with his wages being garnished to pay off his debts. But even if his heart isn't in it, if McKinnie can perform passably like he did in 2011, his insertion at left tackle could potentially improve three spots on the offensive line. And with Flacco getting drilled several times Sunday and with two weeks before their next game, now is the perfect time to make major changes to a line that has been beaten for 13 sacks the past four weeks. Oher has struggled at times this season, but he had only allowed two sacks in the first six games of the season, according to Pro Football Focus. Because he hasn't lived up to the lofty expectations that go with being a first-round offensive tackle -- and because Baltimore was blessed for a decade with the presence of soon-to-be-Hall-of-Famer Jonathan Ogden at left tackle -- Oher is unfairly singled out for his uneven play. The only lineman who hasn't had hiccups is right guard Marshal Yanda, who might just be the best offensive guard in the NFL. That being said, Oher is an above-average right tackle. He struggles with speed rushers, but they aren't as prevalent on that side. Plus, he is an excellent run blocker, and he and Yanda packed quite the punch together last season when they lined up on the right side of the line. And then there is Osemele, who has shown flashes of future brilliance while starting every game at right tackle this season. The Ravens are still trying to figure out exactly what they have in the rookie. There is no question that he is one of their best five offensive linemen. But where is the best fit for both him and the Ravens? At left guard, he wouldn't have to worry about speed rushers and could go blow for blow with his man in a lane the size of a phone booth. Bobbie Williams, who took over for Ramon Harewood last week, clearly doesn't have it anymore, and he got beat badly for one sack against the Texans. Osemele might be the long-term answer at right tackle, but in the short term, the Ravens would be better off by moving him back to left guard, a position he spent the majority of training camp learning. Of course, the Ravens can't do that unless they fully trust McKinnie to be a professional. Harbaugh has always said positive things about the 33-year-old, but actions speak louder than words, and McKinnie wouldn't be here right now if he hadn't restructured his contract before the season opener. The time has come to let him out of the doghouse. The Ravens -- and Flacco -- need this line to be fixed in a hurry.
Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston
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The talent level on defense isn't great and isn't going to get any better during the season, so it's up to defensive coordinator Dean Pees to patch up his busted defense.
Ravens fans could relate to defensive coordinator Dean Pees when he said Thursday that the play of his defense in October made him sick. Three days later, during a 43-13 loss to the Houston Texans, the defense probably made them all want to chug a few bottles of Pepto Bismol again. The Ravens allowed more than 400 total yards again (420 to be exact), but at least they didn't allow more than 200 rushing yards for a third straight game (those slackers from Houston could only muster 181). For the first time since Week 3, the Ravens didn't force a turnover. The Texans picked up first downs on eight of their 15 third-down conversions and scored touchdowns on three of five trips inside the red zone. As linebacker Terrell Suggs put it, "When you step into the shower, you're going to get wet -- and it rained tonight." I'm not 100 percent sure about that analogy, but there is no doubt the Texans poured it on Sunday.
"I was like, 'Damn, 40 points,' but this is going to happen," Suggs, who played well, said after the game. "We went down to San Diego last year and it was raining touchdowns. ... We've been here before, but after seven games, and you think of everything this team has been through to come out 5-2 going into the bye, we'll take that. We'll take that every day. We're going to go to work tomorrow. We're going to go to work during this bye, and we're going to come back. You all know what we do down the stretch."
Sorry, Sizzle, but this is not the same Baltimore defense. Linebacker Ray Lewis, who is likely out for the year with a torn triceps, and safety Ed Reed have looked like guys who are in their mid-30s. Reliable run defenders in Jarret Johnson and Cory Redding are playing elsewhere. And by focusing on overhauling their offense in recent drafts -- 24 of their 38 picks from 2007 to 2011 went to the offense -- they appear to have left the cupboard bare defensively. They have only spent one first-round draft pick (cornerback Jimmy Smith) on defense since 2006, and three of their second-round picks have disappointed. Nose tackle Terrence Cody and outside linebacker Paul Kruger haven't secured starting spots, and outside linebacker Sergio Kindle, who was cut Saturday to make room for Suggs, was unfortunately unable to come remotely close to reaching his potential after fracturing his skull before his first training camp.
On Thursday, Pees was adamant that he has enough talent for the defense to succeed, even with the loss of both Lewis and standout cornerback Lardarius Webb. And safety Bernard Pollard defended Pees passionately, interrupting a reporter at the podium to say that the players, not the coaches, are to blame for the collapse of the defense. They are the ones blowing assignments. They are the ones missing tackles. And they are the ones getting pushed around at the line of scrimmage. But it's up to the coordinator to put the talent he has in a position to succeed, and Pees hasn't done that. Some of it is correctable, and Pees and his staff will get two weeks to build this defense back up with the bricks and mortar that were given to him. There are calls from the vocal, over-reactionary sector of the fan base that would like to see Pees shipped out of Baltimore for good -- maybe to Ann Arbor, Mich. to spend some time with Greg Mattison? -- but the Ravens organization isn't the type to panic. They believed in him enough to hire him after his divorce from the New England Patriots and they had enough faith in him, and in how his players would respond to him, to promote him to defensive coordinator when Chuck Pagano left to become the coach of the Indianapolis Colts. The Ravens have been rocked by injuries, but Pees isn't going to back down from the challenge of fixing this flawed Baltimore defense. But until he actually does it, you might want to keep the Pepto Bismol within arm's reach on game day.
ExpandBy Matt Vensel
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The Ravens inexplicably went away from Pro Bowl running back Ray Rice after he had success on their first drive during Sunday’s blowout loss to the Houston Texans. He didn’t receive a carry on their next two, albeit brief, possessions. And after handing Rice his fourth carry of the game on the last play of the first quarter, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco had an interception returned for a touchdown, giving the Texans a 16-3 lead.
At that point, the game spiraled out of their control, and the deficit of two and then three and then four scores meant that Rice would have to become a non-factor on the ground. He finished the game with a season-low nine carries for 42 yards. He caught five passes, but the Texans keyed in on him and held him to 12 yards.
It was the second time that Rice got less than 15 touches this season, and the third time in the past three weeks that he got less than 20. But naturally, since the Ravens lost a game, his workload was questioned.
“We could have stayed with the run a little more patiently,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh admitted Monday. “Once they got the tip-ball interception, we felt like we needed to try to get back in that thing a little bit more quickly because of the type of team they are. We probably all say we could have been a little bit more patient with the run – whether it’s Ray Rice or Bernard Pierce or whoever it is.”
Sunday’s loss brought back memories from their losses during the 2011 regular season, and elicits similar chants about how Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron should be given a permanent bye week. Rice averaged nine carries a game in those four losses, the low point coming when he got just five carries in a 22-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. If you throw in his receptions, though, Rice averaged 17.8 touches in those losses.
Overall last season, Rice averaged 18.2 carries per game and 4.8 receptions while being targeted 6.5 times per game. He had 11 games with at least 20 touches and eight with 25 or more.
Through seven games this season, the stats confirm what you have likely been seeing: Rice isn’t as involved. He is averaging 15.1 carries and 4.1 receptions. He has been targeted 6.1 times per game. Still, he is on pace to rack up 1,198 yards and 11 touchdowns on 242 carries, and the Ravens are making sure their star running back, who signed a lucrative new contract extension this summer, isn’t taking too much of a pounding.
But there is reason to believe Rice’s workload will increase, and it’s not just because Harbaugh spoke out about it Monday.
In the first seven games last season, Rice averaged 15.3 carries and 4.7 catches a game as the Ravens got off to a 5-2 start. His carries and touches picked up as the season went on, and he had at least 20 carries in eight of the team’s final nine games, including postseason. The Ravens would be wise to follow a similar script as the temperature gets colder. If you believe Harbaugh, it sounds like they will.
“We want to get the ball in all of our playmakers’ hands. We probably didn’t do that like we wanted to,” he said.
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