Ravens Team Grades: Baltimore's Defense Dominates Second Half, Ravens Roll Over Cleveland Browns
During the first half of Thursday night's game against the Cleveland Browns, the Baltimore Ravens looked like they were hungover from their important AFC victory in last week's game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But, the Ravens completely dominated the Cleveland Browns in the second half to roll to a 28-7 victory.
Baltimore moved the ball down the field well the whole game, but as has been the case this year, the offense sputtered as the ball got closer to the end zone. The Ravens opened the scoring with 10:30 left in the second quarter on a Justin Tucker 25-yard field goal. The Browns answered right back with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive on the following possession. Tucker would make another field goal as time expired in the quarter to bring the Ravens within 7-6 at halftime.
Baltimore came out of halftime like a team possessed, taking control of the game immediately after the start of the second half. The Ravens took the lead for good with 9:34 left in the third quarter when Joe Flacco connected with Darren Waller for his first career touchdown. Waller's score was the Ravens' first offensive touchdown in five quarters, which spanned 17 drives. The 28 points marked a season-high for the Ravens, who became the 10th team to score 25 or more points against the Browns (0-10).
Offense: C-
The offense looked like a well-oiled machine in the second half after struggling to produce points in the first 30 minutes of the game. The Ravens totaled 396 yards of offense—232 yards came after halftime—which is the most since their Week 4 game against the Oakland Raiders, when they tallied 412 yards.
Flacco was not very good, despite having a very productive night by completing a season-high 73.2 percent of his passes (30-of-41) for 294 yards along with a season-best three touchdowns.
Flacco made horrible throws on his two interceptions, throwing across his body and trying to force a throw into the end zone against a zone defense. His other interception came after he overthrew Steve Smith Sr. on a go route down the sideline. The most maddening aspect of Flacco's night was due to how long he hung onto the ball on several occasions, causing him to take unnecessary sacks and hits.
Wide receivers Mike Wallace, Steve Smith Sr. and Breshad Perriman, who made a wonderful sprawling catch in the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown, had nice games. As did running backs Kenneth Davis and Terrence West.
Defense: A
The defense was terrific, particularly linebacker Terrell Suggs. The Ravens limited the Browns to 144 total yards of offense, forced three turnovers, recorded four sacks and was credited with nine passes defensed.
Suggs blew past All-Pro left tackle Joe Thomas to force two turnovers, one by hitting quarterback Josh McCown's hand as he was throwing the ball -- it ended as an interception by cornerback Jerraud Powers. The other was on a strip sack of McCown with rookie Matt Judon recovering the ball.
Linebacker C.J. Mosley, safety Eric Weddle, and cornerbacks Tavon Young and Jimmy Smith also played well.
The grade would have been an A+, but Weddle got beat badly on a crossing route by the Browns' two tight ends, resulting in Seth DeValve's first career touchdown.
Special Teams: A
The kicking game and the kick coverage were solid as usual. Tucker was perfect on his attempts, and none of his kickoffs were returned. Punter Sam Koch buried the Browns inside the 20 on three of his four kicks, one of which was downed at the one-yard line. Return specialist Devin Hester was solid in his returns.
Coaching: B-
The defensive game plan was brilliant. Offensively, it was a surprise that Dennis Pitta wasn't used more often, especially in the early going. Cleveland came into the game as one of the worst in the league at covering opposing tight ends. The Ravens also waited too late in the second quarter to get Wallace involved. In addition, they didn't run the ball nearly enough.
John Harbaugh made the right decision going for two following the Ravens second touchdown of the game to make the score 21-7. The play-call was also very good as it was a play-action play where Flacco kind of rolled to the right before hitting fullback Kyle Juszczyk out of the backfield.
Baltimore (5-4) has won two-straight games. The Ravens have 10 days to prepare for the Dallas Cowboys (7-1). The Cowboys are in Pittsburgh on Sunday to take on the Steelers.
Post Author: Daniel Benjamin.
