Ravens @ Chiefs Halftime Notes

October 07, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) warms up before the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Yikes! that first half was terrible for the Ravens. Honestly they are extremely lucky not to be down by 14 or more points. They were saved by Chiefs turnovers and as a result are still in position to win this game. Here is what I saw.

– The Chiefs ran the ball almost 90% of the time in the first half. Jamaal Charles broke the hundred yard mark before even 1/3 of the game was over. The Ravens have to find an answer in the running game.

-The Ravens defense has been atrocious against the run. They came in ranked 10th, but at this rate they will be lucky to emerge from this game in the top 20. It hasn’t mattered whether the Chiefs ran right left or up the middle, they got big yardage on almost every play and easily marched up and down the field.

-The good news for the Ravens is Cary Williams. He is starting to look like the Cary Williams of last year. he had a pick 6 that broke the game open last week and today he got his hand on a pass to Dwayne Bowe and it was picked by Lardarius Webb. The Ravens turned the turnover into 3 points.

-The Ravens offense struggled in the first quarter and barely managed to do anything. Things didnt get much better in the second quarter as the Ravens failed to convert their first third down until about halfway through the second, it came on a defensive holding penalty.

-Flacco struggled to complete passes all morning, but that wasnt entirely his fault, his WRs dropped 6 passes (including 3 in a row on the Ravens final drive) and Boldin, who had a horrible first half accounting for three of those drops, was called for a block in the back negating a nearly 40 yard screen pass catch and run by Torrey Smith.

– Justin Houston had a great first half. he had 2 sacks and was wreaking havoc all half.

– Coach Harbaugh was aggressive to end the half once again, trying to use his three timeouts to get the ball back after the Chiefs final drive. the Ravens D wasnt able to force the 3 and out so the attempt was unsuccessful. using your timeouts in that manner is extremely risky. If the opposing team is able to start making big plays then it can massively backfire and basically hand the opposing teams free points. The Ravens nearly learned that lesson the hard way, but the Chiefs elected to punt the ball away after getting close to FG range.

-not necessarily game related, but the Ravens once again seem to be showing very little support for the NFL october Breast cancer awareness program called the Crucial Catch. As you likely know, during breast cancer awareness month(October), NFL players are offered and encouraged to wear Pink accessories such as towels, shoes, gloves etc.. There are a handful of players wearing gloves or shoes, but not nearly as many or as much as almost every other NFL team. Most Ravens players arent wearing any pink at all(take a look at the Flacco pic above) Personally I think this is a shame because this is one of the best and most creative promotions the NFL does. I don’t understand why any NFL player wouldn’t wish to fully support it. For any of the Ravens players not wearing pink(especially Ray Rice, Joe Flacco, Torrey Smith, Anquan Boldin, Michael Oher, Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and the other star players) I am calling you out. Maybe you don’t like pink, you don’t think it is manly or whatever, get with the program, this is a great promotion for a great cause.

-The Ravens need to get their act together in the second half because they look rusty and lethargic right now. They are very fortunate to not be down at least 17-3 right now, instead they have somehow managed to go into halftime tied 3-3. I can’t begin to explain how lucky the Ravens have been so far in this game.

-Pernell McPhee went to the locker-room near the end of the half, no updates are currently available.