Baltimore Ravens smash Cowboys: 3 positives, 3 negatives

Positive 3: We had a Miles Boykin sighting, a great highlight touchdown!

The Ravens have been hoping for something out of Miles Boykin for a while now. Boykin has just 15 catches, 191 yards, and two touchdowns on the year. That’s really not good enough. Even in the game against the Cowboys he only had one catch. Find me a Ravens blogger or for that matter a Ravens coach, who didn’t predict a breakout year for Boykin. That’s why seeing him score on a wonderful touchdown reception was a sight for sore eyes. It’s what we’ve been waiting for.

Boykin came across the middle of the field wide open. It was obviously a blown coverage, though Boykin did everything right on the play. Everything. When he got the ball, he became a running back. His effort was phenomenal on the play and it reinforces the idea that effort has never been an issue for him. Can the Ravens use him more like this? You have a feeling that play would have gone to Mark Andrews if he was in the game. It may have happened accidentally but the Ravens may have found out how to make Boykin work.

Negative 3: Young receivers remain ignored:

Hey Mr. Roman, are you implying that in a game without three of your best pass catchers, there was no room for James Proche in the offense? Devin Duvernay got used as a decoy once and had one reception as well. Mr. Roman, did the young receivers offend you in some way? If ever there was a golden opportunity to see what Duvernay and Proche could do it was this game right?

The passing game wasn’t all that plentiful in the game plan, something that made a lot of sense. Still, Brown got five catches. Pat Ricard was the only other player with two catches. Everybody else got one ball, mostly on just one or two targets. Every week Ravens fans are faced with two realities at the receiver position. First, they need better talent at the position overall. Secondly, if they had better talent at the receiver position, they wouldn’t know what to do with it.

The end result here is a win. That’s all that matters. The Ravens need to win out to lock up a playoff spot. Their goal is to win a Super Bowl. That will take a massively impressive win streak. The Browns are up next. It’s a must-win game.