Despite Khaled’s claims that last week’s Monday Night Football couldn’t be beat in terms of lack of excitement, both offenses did their best to prove him wrong when the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens squared off on this week’s MNF.
In a game where the highest graded offensive player was Eugene Monroe (+1.7), the Jaguars shocked pretty much anyone who was asked to pick a winner with a 12-7 win over a Ravens team being touted as the class of the AFC by many in the pregame show.
For the Jaguars, the defensive victory gives them new life in an AFC South that has yet to truly find a dominant team. Will they be able to put themselves in position to make a run at the divisional crown? It’s unlikely, but then so did beating the Ravens less than 24 hours ago. They obviously will need to improve on offense however; 12 points won’t beat many teams this year.
For the Ravens, the manner of the loss has given further weight to the question many critics ask: Does Joe Flacco have what it takes to lead this team late into January?
With that in mind, let’s take a look at Joe Flacco and the other performances of note. Hint – don’t expect a lot of offensive praise here!
Baltimore – Three Performances of Note
Flacco continues to struggle
For the second time this season, Joe Flacco (-4.9) took to the field in prime time. And like the Sunday Night game against the New York Jets, Flacco struggled, completing only 55% of his passes for 137 yards (the majority of which came on Baltimore’s lone touchdown drive). Again Flacco had issues finding receivers downfield, completing just one of five passes on balls thrown further than 20 yards, again on the aforementioned last drive. Outside of that drive, Flacco epitomised the Ravens offense, unable to get anything going and missing opportunities.
Suggs Sizzling Again
After a strong start to the season, Terrell Suggs (+4.8) had a quiet three games leading into this one. This week however, he was back to his dominant best, registering a sack and three pressures on just 20 pass rushes along with two defensive stops in the run game. One play which stood out above the rest occurred with 7:30 left in the 3rd quarter, right after Brendon Ayanbadejo had been ejected. With the Ravens trying to hold the Jaguars to a field goal, and the ball on the Baltimore three yard line Jacksonville ran a toss to Maurice Jones-Drew. Suggs beat the block of Cameron Bradfield easily and made contact with Jones-Drew three yards into the Jaguars backfield before securing him for a one yard loss. It’s what he does.
His Best Peformance? Ngata Chance!
It’s not often that Haloti Ngata (-2.5) grades out negatively here at PFF, but that’s exactly what happened this week. Poor as a pass rusher (one sack his lone contribution for the day), but even more surprisingly, worse against the run. Ngata finished with a -2.3 grade against the run and was out performed by Brandon McKinney (and everyone else for that matter in the Ravens defensive line rotation). It’s definitely not the type of performance you expect from Ngata, the only game he has graded out worse against the run was back in 2008 against the Giants and we’ll surely see him back to his best against Arizona next week.
Jacksonville– Three Performances of Note
Jeremy Mincey
If you suffered through all four quarters of this game, odds are you heard Jeremy Mincey (+3.4) get his name called out a lot. Described by the commentators as someone who “just shows up on film”, Mincey did just that here. Strong against the run, and an absolute menace when Flacco tried to throw the ball, he picked up a sack, two pressures and a batted pass. His sack was, for me, the play of the game. As the Ravens began another drive just 57 seconds into the 2nd quarter, Mincey was somehow left with just Ray Rice between he and Flacco. He shoved Rice to the ground with his right hand before, in almost one movement, swatting the ball from Joe Flacco’s hands. Flacco managed to recover the fumble but the plays still resulted in a seven yard loss.
Daryl Smith
During the game, Jon Gruden remarked that Daryl Smith (+3.4) would not let the Jaguars lose a sixth straight game. His performance certainly backed that up on Monday night. Four of Smith’s five tackles resulted in a stop, on his way to a +1.3 grade against the run. Then he made the most of his three pass rushes, recording a sack and a hit. He did allow a completion on all five passes thrown his way, but managed to limit them to a 6.4 yards per reception. Being the best LB in a game where the man many believe to be the best LB to ever play is also playing is definitely worth noting. Nothing new for the supremely underrated Smith.
Cornerbacks Bounce Back
One week after surrendering big play after big play to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ passing attack the Jaguars only allowed one play of 20 yards or more through the air, that coming on a 20 yard pass from Flacco to Torrey Smith late in the game. Jacksonville’s top three cornerbacks: Rashean Mathis (+2.0), Derek Cox (+2.0) and Drew Coleman (+2.2) all had solid games, each grading out positively as they allowed six completions on 17 targets for 40 yards combined. Their superb coverage downfield frustrated and limited the Ravens offense all game. And fittingly based on the play of the cornerbacks throughout, it was Drew Coleman who stepped in front of a poor Joe Flacco pass late in the 4th quarter to seal the game.
Game Notes
– After yet another game where he shut out the opposing pass rush, Matt Birk has now allowed just one pressure in six games this year.
– The Ravens needed nearly three quarters to earn a first down.
– Six Jaguars (Mincey, Paul Posluszny, Mathis, Cox, Dawan Landry and Dwight Lowery) played every defensive snap.
PFF Game Ball
On a night of offensive ineptitude from both sides the long range kicking of Josh Scobee was the difference in this game. Three field goals landed from beyond 50 yards allowed the Jaguars to make the most of the slender advantage they held all night long.
Follow Gordon on Twitter: @PFF_Gordon … and be sure to follow our main Twitter feed: @ProFootbalFocus
© 2025 PFF - all rights reserved.