The Ravens are tied for the very best file within the AFC at 6-2.
The offense has proven what it’s able to when clicking, rolling up greater than 500 yards and 38 factors behind 4 touchdowns from Lamar Jackson final week in opposition to the Detroit Lions.
The protection is probably the very best within the NFL, having allowed a league-low in factors per sport (13.9) and whole yards (1,902) by way of its first seven video games. Then got here Sunday’s bizarre and rocky efficiency in opposition to the Arizona Cardinals.
Baltimore held on for a 31-24 win at State Farm Stadium in a sport that wasn’t as shut as the ultimate rating indicated, however one which performed out equally to how loads of different video games in opposition to lesser opponents have this season.
“We didn’t play to our standard at the end of the day,” stated inside linebacker Roquan Smith, who tied for a team-high 11 tackles with operating mate Patrick Queen. “But that’s only a credit score to these guys for popping out able to play. And truthfully, we’ve simply obtained to look ourselves within the mirror, figuring out that there’s going to be a troublesome Seattle staff coming into city subsequent week, and we simply can’t let the identical errors all through this sport.
“It was just basic fundamentals that I feel like got to us. … When you have those types of errors, it’s really unacceptable on our end.”
There have been the unlawful contact and cross interference penalties on Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey on the sport’s opening drive that, respectively, negated a sack by Justin Madubuike on third down and gave the Cardinals first-and-goal on the 1 on one other third-down play. There have been missed tackles, missed sacks and missed alternatives, like failing to get well a fumble from a strip-sack by Michael Pierce within the third quarter deep in Arizona territory.
These are simply a number of the the reason why the Cardinals (1-7) have been capable of march down the sector and strike first on the sport’s opening drive, and why they scored 17 fourth-quarter factors in a livid comeback that fell brief when Nelson Agholor corralled an onside kick with 26 seconds remaining.
It ought to have by no means even come all the way down to that, although.
“You’re just not going to be hitting on every cylinder every single week,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh stated. “You need to discover a strategy to win these video games. I feel the very best groups, over time, show that they’ll win video games even once they’re not at their greatest. They’ll discover a strategy to win video games late. They’ll discover a strategy to win a sport once they can’t run it, once they can’t throw it, or once they can’t cease one thing.
“That’s character. That’s also talent, ability [and] confident guys who can make plays. I felt like our guys did a good job of that today.”
Yet, to a person, the protection didn’t really feel it did ok, from misalignments to missed assignments.
“If they line up and beat us, it’s one thing,” cornerback Marlon Humphrey stated. “But whenever you’re not getting lined up proper, whenever you’re having fundamentals so far as me getting flags on the market. Flags are simply poor fundamentals. Not lining up, not [getting] checks, the issues they did to maneuver the ball. Missed tackles.
“It’s weird. It’s always good to win in the NFL, but the standard we’re kind of chasing, we felt like it was not that today.”
After the Ravens held Cardinals quarterback Joshua Dobbs to eight of 12 passing for simply 55 yards within the first half, and Arizona’s offense to 133 whole yards, issues swung wildly the opposite route within the second half.
Dobbs linked on 17 of 25 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns over the ultimate half-hour. The Ravens’ secondary additionally gave up chunks of yardage, together with a 29-yarder to rookie receiver Michael Wilson and a 22-yarder to tight finish Trey McBride, who had eight catches for 79 yards and a landing within the second half.
Still, there have been notable performs from the protection when the Ravens wanted them most.
Safety Geno Stone and Brandon Stephens every had an interception. Both occurred on the Cardinals’ facet of the sector and each led to touchdowns for an offense that wanted all the assistance it may get.
“Those guys have really stepped up and they’ve been very big for us,” Humphrey stated.
So was Pierce.
The seventh-year defensive deal with has been having an excellent 12 months, even when the stat sheet doesn’t essentially mirror it. He’s been constantly disruptive, and Sunday he broke out, recording his first sack of the season. He completed with 5 tackles, batted down one fourth-and-1 cross and stuffed a fourth-and-1 run.
“Big, big relief,” Pierce stated of the sack. “You at all times need to do your half. I’ve been attending to the quarterback, I simply haven’t been getting him down.
“It’s been an interesting year, but our defense has been doing great. We let a lot of stuff slide today, but it’s good to be on the board and hopefully a lot more to come.”
And extra work to do if the Ravens are going to get to the place they finally consider they will go. They can get away with these sorts of errors in opposition to the Cardinals, the fifth staff Baltimore has performed this season with a backup or rookie quarterback as incumbent Arizona starter Kyler Murray continues to work his means again from a torn ACL suffered final December. They gained’t get away with the identical errors in opposition to groups they share the highest spot within the convention with.
“Outside of the Colts [game], that was probably our worst performance,” Pierce stated of their jagged victory within the desert.
Added Smith: “What the offense do is what the offense do. I never concern myself with anything those guys do. Got a lot of great, a lot of faith in Lamar, Todd Monken, all those guys. What I look at is defensively, how we played, and I just know we didn’t play to our standards. At the end of the day, a win is very hard to come by in this league, so very grateful to be on the winning side, being able to take a nice plane ride back. But obviously there were mistakes throughout the game that I know we need to get better. And we can’t allow those mistakes to beat us again, and we can’t allow them to happen over and over throughout the season.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com