I usually begin my weekly NFL reactions with a recap of the most interesting games around the league. This week, however, I must address the state of the Ravens after their home loss to the Green Bay Packers. I was worried after the Ravens beat the Miami Dolphins because they did so only because two of the Dolphins best defensive players exited the game with injuries. Probably the most important of these two players was former Raven Dannell Ellerbe. Before Ellerbe left the game, the Ravens struggled woefully to run the football. Aften Ellerbe left the game, the Ravens ran the football relatively well and finished with over 130 yards rushing. These numbers may have given the Ravens hope that Juan Castillo's new blocking schemes were finally working. It became clear, however, that the Ravens had fixed almost nothing in this department as they totaled a mere 47 yards on the ground the next week at home against a Green Bay Packers team that lacked its greatest defensive weapon, Clay Matthews.
The Ravens could have easily beaten a mediocre Packers team had they simply kicked a field goal on 4th and 1 from the goal line and elected to kneel the ball with 20 seconds left in the first half. That 6 point swing would have ultimately likely put the game out of reach for the Packers, and the Ravens would have been deluded once more into believing that their offense is making progress. The narrow 19-17 loss has, instead, forced the Ravens to re-evaluate their horrendous zone blocking schemes recently installed by Juan Castillo.
Though no one in the organization outright detailed what is going to change, John Harbaugh made comments to the press that alluded to fact that major changes are coming in order to get the running game back on track. In the long run, this could actually be the best thing to happen to the Ravens this season as the running game is the only glaring weakness on this Ravens team. Flacco has had too many interceptions thus far, but he had no picks against the Packers and that was most likely due to increased chemistry with new receivers and a return to the field for Jacoby Jones. Flacco had, in fact, 342 passing yards and 2 touchdowns last weekend; the Ravens should win most games where he puts up that kind of stat line considering the strength of the defense.
All of Flacco's first half passing yardage, however, came in vain as it produced zero points. The Ravens elected to run the ball 4 times in a row on first and goal from the 5 yard line and simply couldn't out-muscle the Packers defensive line. It didn't matter which running back the Ravens used, and it certainly didn't matter that the Ravens had the best fullback in the NFL leading the way because the offensive line simply didn't create enough room for Ray Rice or Bernard Pierce to get 5 yards in 4 plays.
The Ravens have never been this bad at running the football, and it has nothing to do with on-the-field personnel. I've said it before, and now everyone appears to be talking about it. The Ravens offensive woes are due to Juan Castillo's changes in blocking schemes--and I can prove it. The Ravens actually sbandoned Castillo's blocking schemes and reverted back to last year's schemes in the second half against the Packers and suddenly they began to move the ball. Both Rice and Pierce produced some fairly long runs on draw plays and Flacco unleashed a late fury through the air. Unfortunately, the Ravens defense had been out on the field so much in the first half that they were visibly exhausted by the time the Ravens needed them to force quick 3-and-outs in the 4th quarter. The Packers used their powerful young running back, Eddie Lacy, to grind out a drive that ate up nearly 8 minutes and sunk almost any hope of a Ravens comeback.
The silver lining to this heartbreaking loss is that the Ravens have now had serious reason to not only evaluate their major weaknesses but to make sweeping changes in order to correct them. This wouldn't be the first time something of this nature happened. One has only to look at last season when the Ravens went on a three game losing streak which forced them to do that which fans had begged them to do for years: fire Cam Cameron. I'm not assuming that they'll necessarily fire Juan Castillo immediately, but they certainly won't let him have the reigns when it comes to the offensive line anymore. He was brought in to be the "run game coordinator" and he has failed miserably. If the Ravens had pulled off narrow victories against the Bills and Packers, the Ravens would be 5-1 right now and Castillo would not likely be in the hot seat despite a lack of production on the ground.
The bottom line is that sometimes teams learn far more from losses than wins, and the Ravens clearly have the personnel to run the ball, pass the ball, stop the run, stop the pass, and play special teams. Ironically, this is arguably the most complete Ravens team I've seen in years from a player personnel standpoint, but like last season, one coach is clearly holding them back in a big way. The Ravens have 3 consecutive games against divisional opponents coming up. If the coaching staff makes the correct adjustments, there's no reason the Ravens shouldn't go 3-0 in those games and retake the divisional lead with a 6-3 record. This weekend, however, will be quite telling. If the Ravens can come out and totally dominate the worst Steelers team in decades, then I'll be optimistic about their chances of winning the division and gaining a 6th consecutive playoff berth. If, however, the Ravens are only barely able to edge the Steelers or they somehow lose, I think it's safe to assume our favorite team is in real trouble. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
THURSDAY NIGHT PREDICTION
SEAHAWKS AT CARDINALS- The Seahawks aren't nearly as good on the road as they are at home...this is nothing new. The Cardinals, however, are simply not strong enough offensively or defensively to stop the Hawks. The Cardinals have the 5th ranked run defense and will likely do a decent job of bottling up Marshawn Lynch at times, but I doubt they'll be able to keep Beastmode out of the endone entirely. The Seahawks defense will get the ball back to the their offense enough times that the Seahawks will ultimately win a battle of field position. This won't be a big win, but the Cardinals simply don't have the offensive firepower to pull the kind of upset win that the Colts did two weeks ago. SEAHAWKS 20-17.
I will be publishing my Sunday and Monday predictions on Friday so stay turned and stay positive about the Ravens. I have faith that the Ravens organization will make immediate corrections to a relatively simple problem to fix. Keep the faith, Baltimore.
AS ALWAYS
GO RAVENS!!!
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