Throw Out the Game Tape: Ravens @ Texans Notes

Oct 21, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans linebacker Whitney Mercilus (59) tips a pass by Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) that would be intercepted during the first half at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-US PRESSWIRE

When I say throw out the tape, I am not joking in the least. This is a game that the Ravens should never even look at again. Just get rid of it, burn it, throw it in the dump, throw it in the bay, I don’t care. Just ignore it, pretend it never happened.

-The Ravens looked great early, they forced 2 3 and outs and marched easily down the field for a field goal and a 3-0 lead. Then the Wheels fell off. The Ravens gave up a safety which turned out to be a 9 point swing after the Texans scored on their ensuing drive. A penalty on the Texans kickoff backed the Ravens up and pressure forced a Flacco interception which Jonathan Joseph took to the house. In about 5 minutes real time the game wen from 3-0 to 3-2 to 3-9 to 3-16. The Texans found rhythm and never looked back.

– The Ravens Ol was terrible for the entire day. Kelechi Osemele left in the second quarter and didnt return until the fourth and that cause problems everywhere. Osemele hasnt been fantastic, but he at least was part of a cohesive unit. after the line shuffled around they lost any ability to block. Flacco was never sacked during this period, but he was relentlessly pressured and it resulted an at least 7-9 throwaways.

-The Ravens D started well, but fell apart. Do not blame that on Suggs though. Suggs was the best player on the D today and looked close to midseason form. He started the game with a tackle on the first play and finished with 4 tackles and a Sack. He didnt look as fast as normal, but he was explosive and handled the Houston OL all day long. when he was on the field, the Ravens D was actually pretty good. That gives me some hope for the rest of the season. The defense clearly fed off of Suggs play.

-Now that I talked about how well Suggs played, let me do a bit of a switch around. Suggs noticeably wore down as the game went on. Suggs snaps also went down, the worst thing for Suggs would have been to leave him on the field tired and let him get hurt because he couldn’t go full speed. Suggs looked like he was in good overall shape, but he isn’t in Football shape yet.

-This was a classic Setup game for the Ravens. They came in limping and banged up to the max and walked into a building with a jazzed up crowd and a pissed off team and got their butts kicked. It shouldn’t really be all that surprising.

– My last note, DO NOT BLAME THIS LOSS ON FLACCO. Flacco wasn’t bad, the offensive line was the worst they have played all season and the ball just refused to bounce the Ravens way today. Flacco wasn’t great and he deserves a portion of the blame, but if you watched the game then I am sure you saw Flacco running for his life on most plays just so he had an opportunity to throw the ball away. He really never even got a chance to set his feet.