Ravens Fall To Packers 19-17; Mike Preston Grades The Game
Mike Preston writes for the Baltimore Sun and grades the Ravens performance every week.
Hear Mike give his grade every Monday Morning on The Fan and read his column in the paper daily.
Mike Preston's Report Card
Mike as he always does started his grades by grading Joe Flacco. Mike gave Joe a C- because while Joe had a lot of passing yards most came in garbage time after the Packers dropped into soft zone coverages. Preston noted that Joe must get off to faster starts in the next few games.
Mike graded the running backs with a failing D. Ray Rice had 34 yards on 14 carries and Bernard Pierce had 9 yards on 6 carries, those numbers sum it all up.
The receivers got a C from Mike. Mike said it best "When Tandon Doss leads your team in receiving yards and receptions its not a good day for your team. Dallas Clark got into the endzone, Marlon Brown played well but Torrey Smith was a non-factor.
D- is the grade for the offensive line. The interior of the OL could not handle the blitz couldn't pick it up on most plays. Every time the Ravens tried to hand the ball off there were 2 Packers in the backfield creating a new line of scrimmage.
Switching over to the defensive side of the ball the D line got a C+. Eddie Lacy was able to run for 120 yards on 23 carries and they couldn't come up with the big stop when it was needed most.
The Ravens linebackers got a B- from Mike. Daryl Smith and Terrell Suggs both finished with 10 tackles, and Elvis Dumervil had 2 sacks. Suggs was also stout against the run for the most part.
The Ravens secondary got a C. They did well early but had some breakdowns in coverage late and after all the criticism Jimmy Smith has become possibly the most consistent corner.
Jacoby Jones returned and had a couple of nice kick-off returns helping the special teams earn a B-. Tandon Doss was once again solid in returning punts including an exciting return with a zig zag pattern up the field while breaking tackles. Sam Koch returned to from and Justin Tucker had a FG.
Coaching was given a failing D grade. Harbaugh had some very bad coaching decisions and the team seemed to come out flat on offense for the 6th straight game.
