Baltimore was tough on defense, got TDs from new targets.
M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE – Talk about being poised on the edge of a knife.
The Ravens’ season opener featured a team that could be headed for a major transition that would include the firing of the head coach–if the team misses the playoffs for a fourth straight year and fifth time in six years.
Baltimore had also posted an 11-11 record in season openers, meaning that Sunday’s game against the visiting Buffalo Bills would tip the balance either above or below the .500 mark.
In advance of the game, the team deactivated veteran backup quarterback Robert Griffin III, leaving rookie first-round pick Lamar Jackson as the reserve behind starter Joe Flacco on a wet, grass-topped field. The risk of injury and ineffectiveness was great.
But, in front of 70,591 soaking-wet fans, the Ravens didn’t get cut by the metaphorical knife. Instead, they sliced up an inferior opponent, beating the Bills, 47-3.
John Harbaugh
The Ravens are 32-2 under John Harbaugh when scoring more than 30 points in a game. They are also 16-2 in September home games under Harbaugh. To accomplish both objectives, on Sunday the Ravens got six sacks, two interceptions, and touchdowns from a franchise-record six different players.
“To see our guys do that in this game is what you’re looking for,” Harbaugh said after the franchise’s 191st regular-season win. “A lot of different players made plays in this game.” Not only that, it was the second-biggest victory margin in team history–surpassed only by 45-point home wins over Green Bay in 2005 (a Monday-Night Game) and Detroit in 2009.
It was a good win before the Ravens embark on an away-game festival, playing five of their next seven games on the road. It’s a brutal stretch the team will experience for the third time in franchise history.
Sunday’s win was sweet, too, helping to erase memories of last year’s gut-wrenching Week 17 defeat to Cincinnati–a loss (with Buffalo’s win) that put the Bills into the playoffs for the first time since 1999 when the team lost to the Titans in the “Music City Miracle.”
And on this day the Ravens were able to rest some of their stars in advance of the quick-turnaround Week Two game at Cincinnati (Thursday, Sept. 13; 8:20 p.m.; NFL Network, WIYY-FM).
For the day, Flacco was an impressive 25-for-34, 236 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, one sack, and a 121.7 rating.
The Ravens (1-0) struck early, using an aggressive, pass-oriented drive in adverse conditions to take the lead. A ten-play, 80-yard drive saw the team send Flacco out on designed rollouts and using his favorite target, the tight end.
Flacco didn’t have three touchdown passes in any game last year, but on Sunday he completed five of six passes on the drive, including three to Nick Boyle and a 29-yarder to free-agent pickup John Brown (44 yards, three catches, touchdown) on second-and-26.
Courtesy: Baltimore Sun
To further confuse Buffalo’s usually-stout pass defense, backup Lamar Jackson–who took over at quarterback in the second half–appeared on the field for several snaps, including one under center.
Baltimore reverted to its run-first tendencies in the red zone. Alex Collins (13 yards, seven carries) powered up the middle for an eight-yard touchdown.
The varied and aggressive offense reared its head again as the rain picked up thanks, in part, to a pass-interference penalty. The Ravens drove 66 yards in ten plays and finished it off with a seven-yard scoring pass to Brown late in the first quarter.
Early on, another of the Ravens’ new targets–Michael Crabtree (38 yards, three catches, touchdown)–dropped a pair of passes and slot man Willie Snead (49 yards, four catches, touchdown) barely saw the ball thrown to him. But, like Brown, they would eventually find their way onto the scoresheet.
On defense, coordinator Wink Martindale’s new blitz-heavy scheme netted two sacks from slot corner Tavon Young, who was the first Ravens defensive back to do that in a game since Bennie Thompson had three against the Jaguars in 1997. The team held the Bills without a first down as the Ravens outgained them, 130-2, and got ten first downs to zero for Buffalo.
On the day, Peterman had a 0 QB rating (photo, Baltimore Beatdown)
In fact, multi-dimensional running back LeSean McCoy was held to 22 yards on seven carries, and quarterback Nathan Peterman (5-for-18, 24 yards, two interceptions, four sacks, 0.0 rating) was the first opposing quarterback to be held to a zero rating since then-rookie Eli Manning in 2004.
Everything kept going right as the second quarter began. Undrafted rookie returner Janarion Grant, who at 173 pounds is the roster’s lightest player, ran back a punt 51 yards to the Bills’ 20. That play set up Justin Tucker’s 41-yard field goal and a 17-0 lead. Grant would muff a punt later in the game, but the Ravens got it back.
However, both teams bogged down offensively in the second quarter, especially when Ravens running back Alex Collins fumbled for the fifth time in his Ravens career. The Bills recovered, but their kicker, ex-Raven Stephen Hauschka, had his 52-yard field goal tipped by Anthony Levine, Sr.
The Ravens restored order when another third-down blitz produced a Tony Jefferson interception for a Baltimore defense that led the league in pickoffs and total takeaways last year. Tucker turned that into a 39-yard field goal and a 20-point lead with 4:16 to go before the half.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) celebrates his touchdown pass to wide receiver John Brown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
The half was capped off by a brilliant two-minute drive that featured Crabtree, Brown, Snead, and second-round pick Mark Andrews all catching passes. Crabtree caught the final pass–a 12-yarder with 13 seconds on the clock–to add six more points. He did an acrobatic toe-tap to haul in the ball.
A two-point conversion pass went astray, but the half ended with the Ravens outgaining the Bills, 233-33 (bearly a franchise-record–31 yards were allowed to Cincinnati in 2000) and holding Buffalo to no first downs. The Bills also committed seven penalties and had just ten minutes of possession.
The misery continued for the visitors as the third quarter began. Rookie punter Corey Bojorquez fumbled a long snap, giving the Ravens possessions in the Buffalo red zone. Snead got his first score as a Raven on a 13-yard pass to make it 33-0.
There was no letup, either. Brandon Carr got the Ravens’ second interception of the day and returned it to the Bills’ 2. Buck Allen scored on the next play.
The Bills finally got on the board with 2:38 to go in the third thanks to Hauschka’s 35-yard field goal. That score denied the Ravens their fourth shutout over two seasons.
Kenneth Dixon’s three-yard score with 3:52 on the clock ended the scoring.
By then, the game’s fate was thoroughly sealed–as was the proposition that the Ravens would get cut by fate’s cruel and sharp knife.
