Ravens Report Card: Week 2 at Tennessee
Coming off a dominant victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers and playing a team that lost to the hapless Jaguars in week 1 a doubled-up loss was the last thing that was expected. It appears it was the last thing the Ravens expected too and they came out flat, likely expecting the victory, and fell, 26-13.
Quarterback – D
A good as Joe Flacco was last week that’s how bad he was against the Titans. Flacco threw two interceptions, completed less than half of his passes, and consistently over-threw his targets.
Running Back – C-
The offensive line didn’t exactly help him but Ray Rice, who made big play after big play last week averaged only 3.3 yards per carry against the Titans, a team that allowed 163 yards last week. Ricky Williams barely touched the ball but had only two yards on four carries, one of which he fumbled away. Rice did, though, score the only touchdown and lead all receivers in receptions with five.
Offensive Line – D
Last week they kept Flacco on his feet and gave him a lot of time to find open receivers and opened up gaping holes for Rice and Williams to run through. Not this week, though. The Titans got in the backfield for three sacks and limited the Ravens to only 2.6 yards per carry. The absence of Ben Grubbs really showed as Mark LeVoir was pushed into the backfield all game long.
Receivers – C-
Wide Receiver is the most dependent position in the NFL so because the offensive line didn’t give Flacco, who didn’t play well on his own, any time to find open receivers and the running game struggled, the receivers didn’t get too many chances to do much but they weren’t getting open too often anyway and were never able to get behind the defense for a big play.
Defensive Line – C+
The Titans were limited to only 2.6 yards per carry and they really helped limit the incredibly fast Chris Johnson to only 53 yards and a 2.2 average but they didn’t pressure Matt Hasselbeck, who in-turn picked apart the secondary. Haloti Ngata did, however, get a hand up to tip a pass, which lead to an interception.
Linebackers – C
Like the defensive line the linebackers did a great job limiting the effectiveness of the Titan’s running game but they weren’t able to pressure Hasselbeck nearly enough. But they also had more responsibility in pass coverage and got beat a few times on underneath passes.
Secondary – F
Injuries to Jimmy Smith and Chris Carr really hurt the unit but they allowed Hasselbeck to pick them apart for 358 yards, 234 of those yards went to two players: Kenny Britt and Nate Washington. Hasselbeck was targeting them all game long but they couldn’t even slow them down.
Special Teams – A+
On the bright side David Reed average 41.7 yards on kickoff returns after missing last week serving a one-game suspension and the coverage unit allowed only 17 yards on punt returns. Billy Cundiff was perfect on all of his attempts and Sam Koch booted the ball, averaging 45 yards per punt, one of which landed inside the 20.
Coaching – F
When a team comes out that flat after a dominating win the week before it’s a reflection on the coach’s ability to keep them focused. What made it worse, though, was that the game plan that worked so well last week was abandoned. Last week Flacco had a lot of success in the shot gun, which gave him more time, but be was under center for all but a few snaps.
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