That Was A Very Ugly Bellyflop

The Baltimore Ravens' 12-7 loss to The Jacksonville Jaguars was confounding.

It seemed like all that was required of the football team was to show up, bodyslam the Jags a few dozen times, and strut away with an easy Win.  A 'W' that could give them some serious momentum en route to eventual possession of home field advantage throughout the playoffs.  Or so the conventional wisdom went. Then, inexplicably, they played woefully and handed Jacksonville the hammer to bash those plans into tiny shards of broken glass.  Unbelievable.

Some of the post game analysis I've seen from Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun squarely hits the mark.  Frank Sullivan of yardbarker.com lends interesting insights to this game as well.  It's hard to quibble with what these guys have offered in reaction to the game.  However, I feel there is a bit more to add.

• Flacco just seems (inexplicably) incapable of turning the corner to consistency.  Sorry Baltimore fans, but there are too many times when you watch this guy play that you blurt out "what the fuck was that?"  I've defended him many times, cause he plays well enough to fool ya.  As soon as you start giving him props though, he pulls one of last night's numbers.  That crunch time interception feeds the fire in Bmore that he can't get it done when it counts.
• For my money, the weirdest aspect of the game, was that Ray Rice barely touched the ball.  I understand that he was puttin' the rock on the ground.  I understand that the staff sat him for awhile to teach him a lesson.  But the Ravens can't don't Win without this guy.  And they didn't.  Observe that the Jags knew that they couldn't Win without Maurice Jones-Drew, no matter how many times he fumbled.  They stuck with him...and he rewarded that commitment by rushing for 100+ yards on the night.  Maybe the Ravens should learn from the opponent's example, eh?
• Further, the Defense allowed waaaay to many rushing yards.  Clearly the Rookie Quarterback wasn't going to beat them.  That dink and dunk stuff Jacksonville called was not an effective passing attack.  So their only option was to rely on the run.  And it worked.  The Jaguars controlled the clock, the tempo, and the field position the majority of the night.  The Raven defensive coaches had to know that given the scenario, their opponent was severely limited.  Yet they still let the rush beat em.  To me, that was the difference in the game.
• But it was the Jacksonville kicking game that actually Won the contest.  Kicker Josh Scobee had an MVP night, nailing 4 field goals, including 3 50-yarders(!!) to beat the Ravens.  But it was the Jags punt and kickoff teams that really controlled the game, bottling up Baltimore with bad field position--a textbook example of why special teams are the critical third element of the game.
• All that said, the most egregious offense on the night was committed by Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh.  Right after the Baltimore touchdown, Harbaugh had two timeouts, a talented veteran defense, his own quality kicker, and most importantly, a couple seconds before the two minute warning.  The announcers in the booth, as well as myself, fully expected him to kick it deep for a touchback (so the game clock would not start).  That way, after Jacksonville's first play of their possession, there's a guaranteed timeout because of the 2-minute warning stoppage.  And with two timeouts, theoretically, the timeouts would stop the clock as the defense held the Jags to a 3-and-out.  They punt, the Ravens would get the ball around midfield with plenty of time left to mount the game winning drive.  At the time of the kickoff, the score was 9-7, so a Baltimore field goal would be the go ahead score.  Harbaugh elected not to go that way.  He onside kicked, the Ravens were penalized for illegal touching, and although the defense prevented the first down, Jacksonville was already in position for the game-clinching field goal.  Once Scobee nailed that (based on how poorly Bmore's Offense had played), the game was essentially out of reach.  That's poor tactical strategy on Harbaugh's part.  Plain and Simple.  

Baltimore was humiliated on national television with such a surprisingly lackluster performance.  The die was all but cast that they were the class of the AFC with a much anticipated Win.  But in the aftermath, the thinking has changed considerably.  Of course at 4-2, the Ravens are in a pretty good position overall.  The most damaging aspect of this loss comes in ceding the division lead to their hated rival Steelers.  But there's more than enough time to sort that out.  What we do know now is that there is no clearly dominant team in the AFC this season.  The Baltimore Ravens are right there though.  But it's also clear that they're right there in the jumble, and not able (or willing) to separate from themselves from the crowd and stand alone.