Jerry Coleman: Raven Block Jags Upset Attempt
The Ravens clawed out a 20-12 win at M&T Bank Stadium against the 2-12 Jaguars. The Purple and Black got on the scoreboard first with Kamar Aiken returning a blocked punt. The last time that occurred was on November 23, 2003 vs. Seattle when Ed Reed blocked and returned it 16 yards for a TD.
"I saw the block, and the ball bouncing, and I said this can't be real, and then I just scoop and scored, we practice that everyday in practice," Aiken said.
The early jolt did not intimidate the Jaguars from making it a close game, as they would have the lead at halftime 12-10 due to the performance of Kicker Josh Scobee. Regardless of leading at halftime the Jags would end up going 5-18 on 3rd down, and rookie quarterback Blake Bortles was forced to the ground eight times. Veteran linebacker Terrell Suggs recorded 2.5 sacks on the day, and now has 11 this season, producing the sixth double-digit sack campaign of his 12-year career. But he defended Bortles:
"He's a young kid; I don't think he got shook up. He stayed in there. He still made throws even though we were hitting him. So, I don't think we shook him up. I think our secondary did an outstanding job. Many times they got in the red zone, [and] we didn't give up a single touchdown today. That says volumes. We're just trying to get better. You want to play your best football in December, and it's a good thing that we get all our pieces kind of working," Suggs said.
With the victory, and the Chargers loss to the Broncos, the Ravens are currently the 6th seed for the postseason, and each of the players understand the importance of the final two games and are not gong to celebrate much after beating a team like Jacksonville. "We can't really worry about too much other than going out and winning next week. We know what's in front of us, and we've just got to make sure we take care of one piece at a time. Nothing is really new this week than last week. We know what we have to do. We've just got to go do it," Flacco said.
The Ravens did not make it look easy against a bad team but prevailed victorious. Next week they will be in Houston taking on the Texans - who have lost their starting QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. Then they're back home to face the Browns with the possibility of the playoffs being on the line.
The most amusing part actually came after the game, when Ravens WR Steve Smith was asked about having only 5 grabs for 37 yds while sounding sick:
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