Watch CBS News

Team Grades: Ravens Lose To Jaguars In Heartbreaking Fashion

By Samuel Njoku

The Baltimore Ravens (2-7) are finding new ways to lose football games. After staring victory in the face Sunday afternoon, the Ravens managed to find a way to lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars as Jason Myers kicked the game winning field goal as time expired. As is usually the case with games like this, there is plenty of blame to go around.

Offense: C+

Someone needs to tell the Ravens receivers that the object of the game is to catch the football. Whether it's Kamar Aiken or Marlon Brown, the Ravens receivers did a poor job of holding on to the football once it hit their hands. Aiken did finish with 7 catches for 73 yards, but he left a lot of plays on the field. Chris Givens gained separation on his defender on nearly every play, but Flacco either underthrew him or missed him completely during his progressions. Justin Forsett was a non-factor in this game, but that has more to do with the gameplan than anything else.

The Ravens may be asking too much of Joe Flacco. He continues to throw the ball into double coverage in an attempt to make something happen. That has to stop.

Defense: B-

The Ravens defense didn't play perfect defense on Sunday, but their technique was a lot better than previous weeks. Not too often did you see Jaguars receivers running wide open on routes.The secondary held their receivers without a 100 yards and held Bortles under 200 yards.The penalties and dropped interception killed this unit. Late in the game, there were so many opportunities for the defense to seal it and they were unable to rise to the occasion. The facemask on Bortles with no time left on the clock will sting for quite some time.

Special Teams: B+

The Ravens asked Justin Forsett to kick a 61 yard field goal and he couldn't get the job done. Sam Koch did a decent job of keeping the Jaguars as far away from their side of the field as possible. Raheem Mostert has been sensational since picking up kick return duties. He's almost guaranteed to score a touchdown at some point this season.

Coaching: F

The Ravens game plan coming into this game was to throw the ball early and often against a weak Jaguars secondary. But in doing so, they completely forgot about the running game. Sure, the Jaguars front seven is strong against the run. But to purposefully make the offense one dimensional was a huge mistake. Especially given the success Forsett had late in the game when they began to lean on the run game a little bit more. The Jaguars offense is prolific and the best way to combat that would be to keep the ball out of the hands of Bortles.

Even though the coaching as a whole in this game was subpar, credit has to be given to Dean Pees for the way he had his players come out and play on Sunday. He'll need his players to continue to improve because his job is indeed on the line.

Up next are the St. Louis Rams in Baltimore. The Rams defense is stout against both the run and pass and feature one of the best running backs in the league in Todd Gurley.

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.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.