It was a night where the refs returned, the rain poured and most importantly, the Ravens ruled.
They weren’t always convincing but they held on for a victory that moved them to 3-1, piled more pressure on their AFC rivals, and reinforced their standing as one of the early Super Bowl favorites.
That they weren’t convincing owed a lot to a Browns team that once again fought valiantly. That may offer some consolation to their fans, but plucky losers are still losers nonetheless and they’re left waiting another week to try and rid themselves of the winless tag.
Still, it wasn’t all bad.
Cleveland – Three Performances of Note
Sophomore Slump Over?
Through three weeks of the season, Jabaal Sheard (+5.1) hasn’t exactly impressed. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that after an impressive rookie year he looked to have taken a step back. Well going up against rookie right tackle Kelechi Osemele, he seemed to find some of the form that caught our eye last year. Sacks will always get you noticed, and his sack and two hurry (with one more negated by a penalty) performance did exactly that. With 0:40 to go in the second quarter he brushed past Osemele as if he wasn’t there to record a much needed sack that effectively ended the Ravens' hopes of a late score to end the half.
Yet it wasn’t his pass rushing that caught our eye the most. Instead it was some top notch work in run defense where he picked up two tackles for no gain, another for a short gain, and one more for a loss as the Raven’s rookie right tackle looked overmatched. Browns fans will hope this is the performance that kick starts his season.
Wild Weeden
There’s something there with Brandon Weeden (+0.8), but sometimes you have to ask yourself if you need to expect less from a rookie, or if the Browns should expect more from a soon to be 29-year-old quarterback. He’s not scared to go down the field, and was somewhat unfortunate to walk away with a 48.1% completion percentage after his receivers put seven balls on the ground. But when he makes throws like the one Cary Williams returned for a touchdown, or the one Jimmy Smith should have picked off with 15 seconds to go in the game, you can’t help but hold your head in disappointment. With the Ravens really coming after him (blitzing on 49.1% of passing plays) he didn’t shirk from the challenge, but too often his execution just wasn’t quite there with a number of inaccurate balls thrown.
Rotating Safeties
Despite playing well last year, it seems like Usama Young (+2.1) is merely keeping the Browns free safety job warm until someone with more upside is ready to call it home. Perhaps it’s time that Cleveland, rather than rotating him in and out of the lineup, starts to just accept they’ve got themselves a capable starter? While the man he rotated with, Tashaun Gipson (-1.4), allowed himself to be frozen by the possibility of backup QB Tyrod Taylor running a deep route (resulting in a touchdown for Baltimore), Young hardly put a foot wrong and even added a sack and pressure on the three occasions he rushed the quarterback.
Baltimore – Three Performances of Note
Ngata Chance
While the world fawns over J.J. Watt after his remarkable start to the year, it’s kind of gone unnoticed just how well Haloti Ngata (+3.5) is playing as the Ravens move back to more of a traditional 3-4 in the absence of Terrell Suggs. He got to know Weeden with a couple of quarterback hits, and added three pressures, while his work in the run game was exemplary. His standout play came with 1:03 to go in the second quarter, as he exploded off the snap with such lateral quickness that Alex Mack couldn’t even lock on a block for it to be shed.
Tough Day for the Tight Ends
Between Dennis Pitta (-3.4) and Ed Dickson (-3.4), the Ravens tight ends ran 53 pass routes. That they were only targeted twice, and caught zero balls, should give you a pretty clear indication that both men were kept in check. But their blanks on the stat sheet aren’t why they earned a combined -6.8 grade between them. Pitta false started twice, while Dickson, who is the Ravens’ closest thing to a blocking tight end, got beat in the run game to give up three tackles. The worst of those tackles came with 2:38 to go in the fourth quarter when he let Emmanuel Stephens get across his face with relative ease. Not a great day from a duo you expect more from.
Brilliant Boldin
While the tight ends were struggling, one man stepped up his game and made a number of catches that should remind people that he’s not to be overlooked. I am of course referring to Anquan Boldin (+3.3), who hauled in 9 of 11 balls thrown his way for 131 yards. Impressive numbers for sure, but it was the manner of the catches that stood out. He overcame tight coverages, held onto the ball in tricky conditions, picked up yards after the catch and generally had his way with Dimitri Patterson or whoever else covered him.
Games Notes
— Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco completed just 27.3% of passes, and took four sacks, on the 15 plays he felt pressure.
— With three missed tackles in this game, Lardarius Webb now has five for the season after missing just seven all of last year.
— When you count drops as completions and ignore throwaways, spikes and hit-as-throwns, Brandon Weeden had an adjusted accuracy percentage of 68.1%.
Game Ball
The conditions weren’t the easiest, but Anquan Boldin took center stage with a number of big receptions that kept the Ravens moving downfield.
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