Ravens Grades Against the Texans

[Alexir]

My grades based on A=Excellent B=Good C=Average D=Needs improvement F=Turrible, Turrible, Turrible

 

Joe Flacco-C

-Wasn't a bad game for him, wasn't a good game. 

 

Running Backs-C

-Really hard to grade them when the offensive line is letting guys into the backfield before Pierce and Leach get back to the line of scrimmage. I am confident it's not the backs.

 

Wideouts-C

-Torrey matched up well out there but the whole offense took a while to get clicking. I loved his effort (B grade for him) but as a whole, the receiving corps was average.

 

Tight End-C

-Dallas Clark might look like he has great numbers when it comes to fantasy football but this guy needs to secure better catches and he looks like he is slowly improving. Flacco sailed a couple out of his reach but once they get on the same page, the offense will progress by a lot.

 

Offensive line-D

I wanted to give them an F. I really did. But they went up against JJ Watt, a man beast, and did alright. The penalties need to stop and we need some better run blocking from the guards and Gino. There is no reason Rice, Leach and Pierce should be below 4 yards a carry.

 

Defensive line-A

-Canty was already out and so was Williams, Cody goes out and we are rotating like 4 defensive linemen and were collapsing Schaubs pocket and we held Foster and Tate to under 50 yards each. That is Excellent. I would like these guys to get their hands on more balls in the future.

 

Linebackers-B

-I think Suggs played good, given his match up, I thought him and Dumervil would of had more sacks but I'll take it. Daryl Smith is a GEM and the MVP of our defense so far, IMO. Bynes is bringing this corps grade down. Looks lackluster and lost out there. Art Brown, get healthy, the starting job is begging you to take it.

 

Secondary-A

-I almost want to break this down into Safeties and corners. The Safeties were a solid A. Dig and Elam were all over the field making tackles, tackles for a loss. James is as good as advertised. I am glad we got both of these guys on the field. Webb had a typical game, played very well, made some good wrap ups. Jimmy Smith was going against AJ, so I will spare him some criticism. Injuries are part of the game, but if AJ doesnt get injured, I think this grade would of been different.

 

Special Teams-?

-Can't decide. On one hand you have stupid penalties that this team shouldn't be making, on the other hand you have Doss' well blocked and well ran Punt return for a TD. Tucker was perfect on the day. Ah screw it, I give them a B.

 

Many of you will look at my grades and crucify me for giving the offense Cs and Ds. But the truth is, that was a league average offense out there and out of respect of the talent that I know we have, I will not grade them any higher because I know they are a lot better than we've seen. Once the run game gets going, we will be a much, much better offense.

[Puntit]

...

Offensive line-D

I wanted to give them an F. I really did. But they went up against JJ Watt, a man beast, and did alright. The penalties need to stop and we need some better run blocking from the guards and Gino. There is no reason Rice, Leach and Pierce should be below 4 yards a carry.

...

 

Many of you will look at my grades and crucify me for giving the offense Cs and Ds. But the truth is, that was a league average offense out there and out of respect of the talent that I know we have, I will not grade them any higher because I know they are a lot better than we've seen. Once the run game gets going, we will be a much, much better offense.

I think it's tough to know how to grade the O-line. They aren't doing a good job of run blocking, but are doing a great job of protecting the pocket/Joe against teams that supposedly have very good pass rush defenses. Not clear to me why they aren't able to do both. The only real change since last post-season is Gino, but again, if he's keeping Joe upright he's doing half his job very very well. We need to work on this or else perhaps use more formations where the RBs attack the edges instead of the middle.

[PolishRifle]

My grades based on A=Excellent B=Good C=Average D=Needs improvement F=Turrible, Turrible, Turrible

 

Joe Flacco-C

-Wasn't a bad game for him, wasn't a good game. 

 

Running Backs-C

-Really hard to grade them when the offensive line is letting guys into the backfield before Pierce and Leach get back to the line of scrimmage. I am confident it's not the backs.

 

Wideouts-C

-Torrey matched up well out there but the whole offense took a while to get clicking. I loved his effort (B grade for him) but as a whole, the receiving corps was average.

 

Tight End-C

-Dallas Clark might look like he has great numbers when it comes to fantasy football but this guy needs to secure better catches and he looks like he is slowly improving. Flacco sailed a couple out of his reach but once they get on the same page, the offense will progress by a lot.

 

Offensive line-D

I wanted to give them an F. I really did. But they went up against JJ Watt, a man beast, and did alright. The penalties need to stop and we need some better run blocking from the guards and Gino. There is no reason Rice, Leach and Pierce should be below 4 yards a carry.

 

Defensive line-A

-Canty was already out and so was Williams, Cody goes out and we are rotating like 4 defensive linemen and were collapsing Schaubs pocket and we held Foster and Tate to under 50 yards each. That is Excellent. I would like these guys to get their hands on more balls in the future.

 

Linebackers-B

-I think Suggs played good, given his match up, I thought him and Dumervil would of had more sacks but I'll take it. Daryl Smith is a GEM and the MVP of our defense so far, IMO. Bynes is bringing this corps grade down. Looks lackluster and lost out there. Art Brown, get healthy, the starting job is begging you to take it.

 

Secondary-A

-I almost want to break this down into Safeties and corners. The Safeties were a solid A. Dig and Elam were all over the field making tackles, tackles for a loss. James is as good as advertised. I am glad we got both of these guys on the field. Webb had a typical game, played very well, made some good wrap ups. Jimmy Smith was going against AJ, so I will spare him some criticism. Injuries are part of the game, but if AJ doesnt get injured, I think this grade would of been different.

 

Special Teams-?

-Can't decide. On one hand you have stupid penalties that this team shouldn't be making, on the other hand you have Doss' well blocked and well ran Punt return for a TD. Tucker was perfect on the day. Ah screw it, I give them a B.

 

Many of you will look at my grades and crucify me for giving the offense Cs and Ds. But the truth is, that was a league average offense out there and out of respect of the talent that I know we have, I will not grade them any higher because I know they are a lot better than we've seen. Once the run game gets going, we will be a much, much better offense.

 

If Flacco and his receivers put up a C grade game with a D grade Oline, doesn't that mean they played at a B grade level? Re-Do the math on that. :D

[FreckleNate]

Joe was on the same page with his receivers most of the time. I recall a couple overthrown passes and atleast one, where Joe led his receiver too much. Mostly, Joe felt prey to the offensive scheme, that desperately tried to establish a run game, that we don't have this season. B-

 

Much of Joe's performance was on the Oline. Not only did they do a bad job run blocking once again, but allowed way too much pressure to come Joe's way. One of McKinnie's fauls earased a huge gain into Texan territory. C-

 

The RBs were largely a non-factor in this game once again and were not running the ball effectively, until the passing game started to spread out the Houston defense. I guess, that's the gameplan for offense going forward. C-

 

WRs/TEs. Made some nice plays, when they had the opportunity to. Overall a good effort as they seem to gain confidence. Even Dickson caught a pass. B+

 

Defense I'm not going to pick that unit apart. I think every single part of our defense had a good game. All of them showed improvement from the last two weeks and that against a very loaded offense. A

 

The ST bounced back in a major way after being largely dissapointing in the first half. The return team gave our offense consistently bad field position in the first half and there were still some huge blunders (damn you Trawick!). JT was on the money today and Doss had a great return for a TD. B+

I agree with these but I would give Flacco a B, he probably could have gotten A if he could have gotten a TD, but he looked solid. But I would give the ST a B- or C+ outside of Tucker's solid bounce back and Tandon showing that we should have never cut him they were not very impressive the offense never really had great starting field position but TD's speak for them self.

[Puntit]

...  and Tandon showing that we should have never cut him ...

Actually based on his candid press conference after the game, he conceded he hadn't been taking football seriously until we cut him. So not only should we have cut him, we probably should have done it earlier.

[Alexir]

If Flacco and his receivers put up a C grade game with a D grade Oline, doesn't that mean they played at a B grade level? Re-Do the math on that. :D

Ha. Not quite though. Means to me that as long as this offensive line keeps underperforming the more average we look at the skill positions.

[DocMartin]

IAnd Lets Not Forget the Awfull performance by the REFS, who were clearly the worst on the field. What a bunch of %&*#&%. SMH
REFS GRADE F

[DocMartin]

There were some "questionable" penalties called. Texans 14 - Ravens 10

[Tank 92]

There were some "questionable" penalties called. Texans 14 - Ravens 10

It was like a freakin' flag fest! That was a bad group of zebras.