Baltimore Ravens: What we learned from each game of 4-2 start

Every game gives us a lesson on the Baltimore Ravens:

Today we’re going to break down the Baltimore Ravens season by little lessons that we’ve learned per week.

Buffalo Bills vs. Ravens: Ravens won 47-3

The lesson we learned in the Ravens 47-3 win, is that Joe Flacco came into the season ready to roll. It was a different look from Flacco, who had more struggles than successes in the past few seasons. Flacco looked renewed and tore the Bills defense apart without much trouble.

Ravens vs. Bengals: Ravens lost 34-23

The Ravens learned a couple things in this frustrating game. When C.J. Mosley left the game with an alarming injury, the defense fell apart. The Ravens lost their field general and communication became a problem. We learned that Mosley made a huge impact on the defense. I the second half the Ravens figured out that Eric Weddle had to be the one directing the defense, and not Patrick Onwuasor. The adjustment changed everything but the game had gotten too far out of reach.

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Don Martindale also learned the worth of rookie linebacker Kenny Young. Young flied around on the field and played great in his first real chance to show his stuff. Young became a more featured part of the defense.

Broncos vs. Ravens: Ravens won 27-14

The Broncos started their game in Baltimore with a vengence. A blocked punt led to a quick 7-0 lead. The Ravens responded with a touchdown of their own. It looked like a shootout was in store when Emanuel Sanders ran a reverse for a long score on the Ravens. That’s when we learned that Don Martindale was good at in game adjustments.

The Broncos fans had a lot of fun in the first quarter, but that was the end of that. The Ravens kept the Broncos off the scoreboard for the next three quarters. Baltimore learned that they could take a punch without flinching.

Ravens vs. Steelers: Ravens won 26-14

The Ravens had a few lessons in this game for their fans. The first thing is that we haven’t seen this movie before. When the Steelers used the second quarter to make the Ravens 14 point lead vanish, it felt like we had. As Eric Weddle stated in his post game press conference: this was not the same old Ravens. There was no Hienz Field collapse in store. Instead the Ravens stood up to their top rival and Baltimore welcomed the change of pace.

The other thing that the Ravens faithful learned is that the passing offense could control a game. The purple and black picked up many first downs in the big win, and most of them were through the air. Joe Flacco had an answer to everything. Willie Snead and John Brown espescially showed they were worthy additions to the offense.

Ravens vs. Browns: Ravens lost 12-9

There wasn’t much to take from this game. In fact, the Ravens could have wrapped the game tape in heavy chains and dumped it off the Cheasepeak Bay Bridge. It probably would have the same affect as watching it. There were dropped passes, a fumble and a blocked field goal. The defense held Cleveland to nine points in regulation and the rest of the team wasted their effort.

The Ravens did learn what can happen when you don’t bring your A game. They learned the importance of consistency.

Ravens vs. Titans: Ravens won 21-0

The Ravens learned that their defense is insanely good in this contest. The Ravens recorded 11 sacks and destroyed the Titans. This was an eye opening win. The Ravens have potential to have one of the greatest defenses the NFL has seen in a long time.

Joe Flacco was able to nickel and dime Dean Pees’s defense to death. One thing that became very clear in this game is that Martindale is a huge upgrade over Pees. With almost the same exact group of players, Martindale is making the defense look much more convincing.