Baltimore Ravens: The Offense Is Back, But Not Completely

A 2nd half offensive turnaround

The second half was a completely different story. After throwing two bad interceptions in the first half, Flacco cleaned up the mistakes. He finished with a stat line of 296 yards and 3 touchdowns, with all 3 touchdowns coming  in the second half.  The Ravens marched down the field on their first drive of the third quarter and Flacco executed a beautiful pump fake to find tight-end Darren Waller for a 4 yard touchdown. Flacco then followed that up with a bullet to Steve Smith Sr. for an 11 yard touchdown. 2nd year wide receiver Breshad Perriman also joined the touchdown party, catching his first career score in the 4th quarter.

Flacco looked much more confident and comfortable in the 2nd half. He was pressured on just 10 of 44 drop-backs. Much of this came in thanks to the offensive line. They overcame injuries to Marshall Yanda and Alex Lewis to produce a solid performance. Valdimir Ducasse and John Urschel stepped in and held held their own. Center Jeremy Zuttah played most of the game on a sprained ankle while man handling 335 pound nose-tackle Danny Shelton. The amount of injuries that have occurred on the line this season is concerning, but the “next man up” mentality has proved well for the Ravens.

While the passing game was impressive, the ground game was as well. Running backs Terrance West and Kennith Dixon only rushed for a combined 103 yards, but both looked very explosive. Kennith Dixon looked like the running back the Ravens saw when they drafted him in the 4th round in the 2016 draft. He ran for 38 yards on 6 carries and was also a contributor in the receiving  game, racking up 42 yards. Terrance West bruised his way to 65 yards on 21 carries. If this duo continues to play like they did last night, it could give opposing defenses loads of trouble.