Full disclosure - It’s finals week for my graduate school program and I had to listen to the first half of Sunday’s Ravens game on the radio as I battled the elements returning to Baltimore from lovely Deep Creek Lake, so this week’s blog entry will be fairly concise. 

The Ravens smacked-up a bad Lions team.  They tied a franchise record for points scored and eclipsed their previous week’s offensive yardage output by 373 yards.  The victory was secured by the second half and a significant amount of Raven starters hit the showers early.  So what did we learn from this game?  I’m not really sure to be honest with you. 

Cam Cameron seems to have re-embraced his running game, but that might have been out of necessity due to the torrential downpours in Baltimore.  Regardless of the reasoning it was good to see the Ravens impose their will via the ground attack again.  A week after the offensive line got manhandled by the Green Bay Packers they exacted their revenge on the Packers’ NFC North foe.  The Ravens ran the ball 40 times for 308 yards, which is music to my ears.  Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, and Le’Ron McClain all had at least one rushing TD and looked like three hot knives carving through butter.  I realize that the Ravens success came against the lowly Lions, but it was a dominating performance nonetheless. 

Running the ball is so crucial in December.  I realize that last statement is an NFL cliché, but it’s true.  For the Ravens to make a second consecutive late season playoff push they have to run the ball effectively, plain and simple.  Pittsburgh may look down and out after losing five consecutive games, but you can bet your mortgage payment that they’ll be up come December 27 at Heinz Field.  The Ravens will have no chance to win in Pittsburgh if they can’t run the ball effectively. 

Yesterday’s effort was a complete team performance in all facets, but I have to say that I’m very worried about the Ravens’ inability to pressure the passer.  Against a bad Lions team the defense was only able to muster one sack.  Jay Cutler might be having a bad year with a bad group of receivers, but if you give him time he will beat you.  The Ravens kryptonite is a pass happy QB with time. 

So I guess my take away from the game is that the offensive line played great while the defensive line (at least in passing situations) continues to be uninspiring.  Me obsessing about line-play? Go figure.  Oh, and I also love how the Ravens are using Chris Chester as a blocking tight end.  Chester played some TE in college and is agile enough to carry the skill set over to the NFL.  What a versatile player Chester is…he can play center, guard, and tight end at an NFL caliber level, which is impressive to say the least. 

How ‘bout we get after Jay Cutler this week?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 5:00 pm and is filed under AFC, AFC North, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Football, NFC, NFC North. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.