Another culprit -- Ravens' return game
As Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason said after last night's game, moral victories are little consolation. When an important win is so close as last night's 23-20 overtime loss to Pittsburgh, it's natural to go through the what-ifs and linebacker Jarret Johnson is getting his share of the heat for his foolish personal foul against Hines Ward that shifted the momentum at a point when Baltimore was in control of the game.
But an ongoing problem last night that both held back the Ravens and eventually proved fatal was in the return game. Perhaps it was the Ravens' special teams strategy to allow Yamon Figurs to return kickoffs regardless of how deep into the end zone they sailed. Or maybe, he was simply overconfident. On the Steelers' first two kickoffs of the game, Figurs took the ball four-yards deep both times. On neither occasion did he get to the 20-yard line, putting the Ravens' offense in the hole at the 16- and the 12-yard lines. The first possession was a three-and-out and the Ravens managed one first down on their second drive. Fortunately for Baltimore, neither time did the bad field position result in Steelers points but it certainly didn't help the offense get into the flow.
Then, in the second quarter, Figurs muffed a punt. The Ravens recovered but in the aftermath of the play, Ravens special teamer Brendon Ayanbadejo was called for unnecessary roughness which again put the Ravens inside their own 20 at the 18-yard line.
For the rest of regulation, the return game wasn't a disaster but there was nothing special, either -- short punt returns and punts allowed to bounce and be downed. But then at the beginning of overtime, Figurs finally came up with a return that could have given the Ravens a short field off the opening kickoff. But this time, double holding penalties (naturally, only one was enforced) on Haruki Nakamura and Antwan Barnes put the ball on the Ravens' 15-yard line. Baltimore didn't get a first down and the Steelers converted their own ensuing good field position, starting at their 43-yard line, into a 46-yard winning field goal.
To be fair to special teams, the Ravens' kicking game was a major contributor -- punter Sam Koch was outstanding and Matt Stover was 2-for-2 on field goals -- but the flip side of the kicking game hardly covered itself in glory.
Comments
Lets face it the Ravens just suck GO STEELERS
Posted by: Ron | September 30, 2008 11:03 AM
Good point about the return game--essential for the kind of field position needed to win most games.
But the real loser of the night was the Monday Night Football announcing team. When McGahee went down the first time, they didn't even notice that he was lying on the turf being attended to by doctors. The announcers just kept up their mindless banter until Tirico finally saw that McGahee was down and forced a word in edgewise: "Hey guys, it looks like McGahee's banged up."
Kornheiser in particular is an embarrassment and needs to be thrown out of the booth. He contributes nothing to the program and seems to believe that we tune in to hear him blather on while an unimportant game is going on in the background.
ESPN has a lot of talent. I think we should boycott MNF--read the Sun instead!--until ESPN replaces the current inept announcing team.
Posted by: Michael Evans | September 30, 2008 11:13 AM
Plenty of areas to improve, including the return game for sure. But I've never been this happy about a loss before. Flacco did an excellent job considering the circumstances: it was his third game, he played against the Steelers D, it was an away game on Monday night, etc.
Posted by: J | September 30, 2008 11:44 AM
Why do you think Harbaugh did not challenge the Mason TD?
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Joe,
Great question. Obviously, they had concerns about winning the challenge but it was in the first half when you can afford the timeout.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: joe | September 30, 2008 1:45 PM
Why didn't the coach throw out the flag on a touchdown pass that was called incomplete? the replay showed both feet aware in bounds and that the receiver had control of the football?
Posted by: Sal Cimbolo | September 30, 2008 2:18 PM
How in the world do you not challenge? The guy upstairs has the video in front of him. I also believe that Ward could have been flagged for taunting JJ. This is a whole Yankees, Colts, Steelers get all the calls scenario.
Posted by: budc | September 30, 2008 4:30 PM
Look back to week 3 Titans vs. Texans to understand a good reason Harbaugh might not have challenged the TD. Halfway into the first quarter, Houston challenged whether an intercepting player from the Titans was in bounds when he caught the ball. The ruling on the field stood. Two plays later, Titans fumble resulted in a return of the ball to Houston 13 yards closer to a score - he challenged a call that was upheld, but ended up having no negative impact on the team. Then, middle of the second quarter, there was a 37-yard pass to the Houston 3 that Houston didn't challenge, most likely because the prospect of losing and having no challenges left could cost them the game. Three plays later, Titans got a TD.
There was a very good chance the 2Q play would've been overturned, but the risk analysis is a lot different when you've already lost one challenge and have more than half the game to play still, so the risk of challenging was too great simply because of that earlier challenge that he lost.
Posted by: Josh C | September 30, 2008 4:32 PM
Ouch dude. One game my friend in a season where we are supposed to be dead last. It is all gravy baby, relax enjoy the ride. We'll get the Squealers at our place.
Posted by: Fells Point Craig | September 30, 2008 4:48 PM
I say to Ron ... you must have not been watching the same game most of us watched. The Squeelers were getting their butts kicked for most of the game and all with a rookie quaterback.
Posted by: chapsravengirl | September 30, 2008 5:18 PM
Yamon Noodles or Jim Leonhard?You can blow Yamon down off his feet and defenders think a little before busting into Jim on returns .I think Ed Reed has better hands but (Leonhard) can run,too.! I know who I prefer but I'll wait to see if the fans are paying attention to this percieved weakness early in the season.
Posted by: Dan R. | September 30, 2008 7:26 PM
the biggest mistake: not trying to score with 1:30 left at the end of regulation with a timeout. we had bad field position but we only had to get into field goal range. The Ravens had a chance right there to win the game but were afraid of making a mistake and rather go into overtime were both teams have an equal chance. If we're scared of turning the ball over then why not just punt it every time we get the ball on offense. You can't win games if you're scared of making mistakes.
Posted by: Wyatt | September 30, 2008 10:06 PM
Hey Ron well see who's who at the end.
Squeeler overrated cheapshot artist.
Posted by: RavenJohn | October 1, 2008 6:54 AM
Ron, Steelers should have lost that game. The Ravens dominated that game and had a few bad plays, let's hope we can finish the deal with the Titans.
Posted by: steve | October 4, 2008 9:00 AM