Baltimore Ravens fall to Patriots: Good, bad and lots of ugly
The Bad:
While it’s tempting to put the all-white uniform in the bad category, let’s stick with the actual football. That being said, go back to the purple pants next time, Baltimore. The bad in this game was something Baltimore had to get out of their system early. D.J. Fluker had his struggles at times in this game. On the first possession, he allowed the pressure that got Lamar Jackson’s second-down pass tipped. After a quick punt, sloppy play started early for the special teams. The Ravens were flagged for fair catch interference.
The Ravens allowed two quick first downs for the Patriots offense, all on the run game. The Patriots opened their offensive attack running on seven of the first eight plays. A Cam Newton quarterback sneak gave the Patriots a fourth-down conversion. The drive amounted to nothing, yet it wasn’t the sharpest start from the run defense. It cost the Ravens in the field position battle of the first quarter.
The next defensive drive saw more of the same problems. The defensive line got pushed too far off the ball and the Patriots run game got too much per play. This opened up play-action passes, one of which got the Patriots a touchdown. One knee-jerk reaction could be that the Ravens really missed Calais Campbell. The defense got off to a troubling start. While the Baltimore offense was able to stay in their comfort zone, Newton and company were able to start grooving in theirs.
The Ravens linebackers had a bad day. This was Patrick Queen’s worst performance as a Raven and he finally looked like a rookie. It wasn’t just on the defensive line, the linebackers were not filling gaps with enough urgency.
Throughout the game, the Patriots offensive line got too much push. The running backs of the New England offense were getting a full head of steam and the Patriots stayed out of bad spots. This led them to picking up way too many first downs for the comfort of the Ravens Flock. The fact of the matter is that the Patriots were creeping towards 100 yards rushing by the end of the first half. That’s not something typical of this defense even if they had the excuse of missing Campbell and having Brandon Williams spend most of the game on the sideline.
The Ravens red zone offense near the end of the second quarter made them settle for a Justin Tucker penalty. Jackson missed Andrews in the end zone, just a little too low for him. It wouldn’t have mattered one way or the other because Fluker was called for a holding penalty. The offense moved the ball down the field well yet their second chance at a score got bogged down in mistakes. Now the ugly begins. Take a deep breath, there is a lot to get through for this game.