Gathering Speed

Ravens 20, Steelers 17 November 30, 2009

Close game. Weird game. Great game. Weird game. Weird because there’s a lot of ambiguity about how to feel about it this morning. Pardon the lateness on the post, I was in attendance and the priority was eating chicken parmesan and going to sleep.

This may seem scatterbrained, but it was a bit of a scatterbrained game. In the first quarter, the Ravens looked like they had gotten it all together, scoring on their first drive against the number one defense in the league. But then we ended up trailing and eventually ended up in overtime.

Let’s ignore the whole “If they were healthy” argument right now. It’s very likely that the Steelers would have been infinitely harder to beat with Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu in there. But if we’re going to play fantasy football, let’s get Samari Rolle and Terrell Suggs in the lineup, maybe even Fabian Washington too (as the dime back. all that does is get Chris Carr and Frank Walker off the field). The inaccurate balls that Dixon threw aren’t open because of Rolle and he doesn’t have the time to throw with Suggs breathing down his neck. Different game. Let’s talk about the one last night.

Dennis Dixon is really good. He probably should have won the Heisman a couple years ago and was way more poised than any other first-game quarterback the Ravens have faced before. He’s also ridiculously fast. Maybe he doesn’t move in the pocket like Roethlisberger, but ol Ben isn’t breaking off a 24 yard naked boot. If I’m Cleveland, I’m shipping a few of those picks to the Steelers to get ahold of this guy.

Let’s talk about the towels real fast. It’s stupid. The Ravens brass passed out white and purple towels Sunday night to drown out the Terrible Towels that are in every stadium in America. But you can’t watch the game while you’re spinning the towel, probably why so many Steeler fans don’t seem to know their own players or the lions share of the rules. They’ve been to plenty, but haven’t seen a game in fifteen years. Let’s let Pittsburgh wave the dish rags and move on.

OFFENSE

Joe Flacco is still hurt. Like really hurt. Plant ankle. Before the Minnesota game he was one of the top ten quarterbacks in the league. He just can’t make the throws he used to when he can’t push off. Nothing can be done about that this season.

Ray Rice is unreal. The fourth down catch-and-run, which was part of a perfect pass from Flacco, was a thing of beauty, as he broke about four tackles charging down into field goal range. Running on the Steelers isn’t easy, and last time I checked, they still had James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley, Casey Hampton and the rest of the run-stuffers. He had a ton of success. In fact, all the backs had success. LeRon McClain was untacklable until he got knocked out, and Willis McGahee… look, I don’t know if he has some kind of rider in his contract that says he can only play in the first quarter, but he keeps on disappearing. I don’t like it. There’s really no place for him out there?

DEFENSE

Let’s focus on three things: the defensive line got precisely zero pressure on Dixon. Even bringing the blitz didn’t do much better. Chalk that up to missing your best pass rusher or needing to go get another one. At one point, most of the front seven was run stuffers (including a rare appearance at standup-OLB by Trevor Pryce). On the shopping list this year, let’s go get another guy who can get after the quarterback. I thought we already had so many…

Speaking of pass rushers, Paul Kruger isn’t by any indications a good one. That was supposed to be his thing, and he hasn’t gotten anywhere near the quarterback this year. But his pick was just awesome. Forget about clutch, it was a tough catch at any point in the game. And then he took it about twenty yards in a game where yards were at a premium. Maybe there’s a future for him on the team. Why not line him up at MLB next to Ray? Just a thought.

The last thing is that Lardarius Webb is the best corner on the team. It’s a little frustrating that he hasn’t started before Sunday night, but regret is a waste of time. He was dominant in the running game, erased his man every drop-back, and should have had a game-winning pick six, but he dropped it. Once he starts making those, the Ravens got their new shut-down corner. Oh, they still need another one, but one’s a start.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The Ravens love blocking guys in the back. Like every time. That’s gotta get fixed. The specialists played well. Chris Carr’s big game returning is sort of a byproduct of Pittsburgh having the worst coverage units in the league. Billy Cundiff hit a game winner in overtime, which is all you can ask for. He almost hit the Keystone Cops 55-yarder in regulation, but beggars can’t be choosers. Stover wouldn’t have come close on that one.

THREE OBSERVATIONS

1. Fortune hasn’t favored the bold this year. This season isn’t over and the Ravens could get into the playoffs and maybe win one game. But as far as expectations are concerned, take a look at this little nugget: the Ravens Achilles Heel this year has been the secondary play, and on the schedule this season we have almost all of the top quarterbacks in the league. If you were to rank them, in no particular order, the best QBs are: Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers, and Ben Roethlisberger. Those are the top seven in quarterback rating, and all but Brees are on our schedule. That doesn’t do you a lot of favors.

2. It’s 90% likely that the next game against Pittsburgh will be for all the marbles again. They play almost the exact same schedule we do down the stretch, the only difference being we get lowly Detroit and they get always-dangerous Miami, but they get the doormat Browns while we play the Bears. It’s just an interesting situation. God, the schedule isn’t fun, is it? They’ll be a lot healthier than we are and out for all kindsa blood December 27. Not saying we can’t beat ‘em again, but it would be nice if they could maybe drop another weird one to the Raiders or Pack before we show up.

3. Harbaugh’s got to figure out this timeout thing. I don’t think much clarification is necessary here.

3.