Ravens 0 @ Chargers 10 Halftime thoughts

Nov 25, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; Baltimore Ravens running back Bernard Pierce (30) tries to elude San Diego Chargers safety Atari Bigby (26) at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Wowzers, that was pretty bad. The Ravens offense looks like a mess yet again on the road. this is an issue they desperately need to figure out. you can tell by the looks on the players faces that they have no idea how to fix this, they probably have no idea what the problem even is. schematically the Road Ravens are the same as the home Ravens, but in practice they are a complete mess averaging less than 17 ppg, while the Home Ravens might be the best offensive unit in the NFL averaging almost 40 points per game. What is going on here?

-The defense actually played pretty well. they had one bad mishap on a double move by Malcolm Floyd that led to a TD when Bernard Pollard abandoned his zone to try and make a play and Vary Williams bit on the double. easy TD. other than that the Ravens have held the Chargers to 3 points and have forced 4 sacks and 4 throwaways by Rivers. The Defense needs to play at an even higher level in the second half.

-When did Phillip Rivers suddenly learn to take care of the ball? Rivers has been an interception machine for a couple years now but today he has done nothing but make smart choices. He has been throwing the ball away when he has nothing, he even took a sack instead of forcing a pass. The Ravens could use some signature Screw ups by Rivers.

-I think the Ravens biggest offensive problem is confidence. for whatever reason the Ravens seem to start hot in baltimore, maybe because of crowd noise on the road, but those hot starts boost Flacco and the WRs confidence moving forward and they continue to play at a high level throughout. On the road, they don’t start fast, maybe its crowd noise, maybe they are nervous, maybe they dont sleep well because of hotel mattresses, whatever it is, they start poorly and then they have no confidence in their ability to connect on big plays, players start to try and make things happen instead of continuing to play within the system, then the Ravens get down and they resort to doing nothing but throwing bombs. by that time they are clearly very frustrated. right now, this is a frustrated team.

-The browns gave the Ravens an early christmas present this morning by beating the Steelers, but the Ravens might be throwing that opportunity away. if the Ravens lose this game, they are forced into a must win next week and the pressure is on. That isnt where the Ravens want to find themselves, so they need a good second half here.