Team Grades: Ravens Defense Dominates Jacksonville Jaguars
By Samuel Njoku
With the Ravens (9-5) postseason hopes hanging in the balance, Baltimore picked up an impressive victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-12) and moved one stepped closer to a playoff berth. It was an unexpectedly tight contest that went right down to the wire.
Offense Grade: C
The Jaguars defense had a gameplan coming into this game that was largely effective – shut down the run game. And they did just that on Sunday by keeping seven or eight men in the box at all times. Justin Forsett could get little going against the Jaguars front as he picked up only 48 yards rushing. In fact, the longest run of the day came from Joe Flacco with 10 yards, and not Forsett. Keeping that many men inside the box made things a little easier for the Ravens receivers.
Marlon Brown led the team with five receptions for 66 yards, including a huge 22 yard pick up that set the tone for the offense. Torrey Smith is still dealing with a knee injury and Brown stepped up well in his absence. The offense as a whole still had trouble moving the ball down the field as they would only pick up one touchdown against an inferior opponent. Gary Kubiak has to do a better job of getting the offense going early instead of settling for slow starts.
Ravens Defense: B
When the defense picks up a season high eight sacks in a game, it’s a pretty good day at the office. It was a team wide affair for Baltimore as a number of players picked up sacks for the Ravens. Terrell Suggs led the team with 2.5 sacks and was a real problem for the Jaguars all day. In the absence of Haloti Ngata, Timmy Jernigan has made the most of his opportunity by picking up two sacks of his own on Sunday. If Baltimore reaches the postseason, the tandem of Ngata and Jernigan will be a serious threat for opposing offenses.
The Ravens secondary continued to struggle on Sunday. Fortunately for Baltimore, Jacksonville didn’t have the tools on offense to capitalize. Terrence Brooks and Asa Jackson went down with serious injuries and really hampered what they were able to accomplish on defense. Jaguars’ receivers ran free for most of the game, but Baltimore’s pass rush made it impossible for Jacksonville to capitalize. Rashaan Melvin was a pleasant surprise for the Ravens and made some crucial plays down the field late in the game.
Quarterback Grade: A
It's hard to remember the last time we've seen Joe Flacco play this well in consecutive weeks – perhaps even his entire career. Since the Ravens returned from their bye, Flacco has played exceptional football. In this game, Jacksonville decided to take the run game away from him and make this team one-dimensional and Flacco was more than capable of handling the burden. Of course, the Ravens struggled to put points on the board, but the throws Flacco were able to make were exceptional. Baltimore will need more of this from him if they hope to make a deep run in the postseason.
Special Teams Grade: F
It’s been a while since the Ravens special teams unit has played this poorly. Justin Tucker missed two field goals on Sunday. Jacksonville caught the Ravens special teams unit napping on two occasions. They picked up an onside kick early in the ball game. And on 4th down, the Jaguars successfully converted with a fake punt that had the punter shuffle pass to their full back for a 19 yard gain
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Samuel Njoku was born and raised in Baltimore, MD and is a graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Samuel has covered the Ravens for Examiner.com since 2010. Prior to 2010, Samuel was an avid blogger and radio personality in Salisbury, MD. Samuel Njoku is a freelance writer covering all things NFL. His work can be found on Examiner.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @Ravens_Examiner.
