Plus a feature on Anquan Boldin

Anquan Boldin has carried the Ravens’ receiving corps at times this season, but heading into his final year under contract, he has some weaknesses which aren’t going away, and others that are being exacerbated by his reduced speed.

He was targeted 8 times with 2 catches, but might have caught any of three balls that went incomplete.

- He was slowed following the flight of the ball over his head and couldn’t quite catch up to a deep ball down the right sideline when he had Jammer beat (Q1, 9:56).
- Gilchrist had tight coverage and didn’t find the football, but he distracted Boldin from picking up a well-thrown ball which would have converted a 3rd down (Q1, 7:35)
- He got a piece of the high throw (Q4, 2:18) that was nearly picked off by Weddle on the right sideline.

A younger Boldin would have made at least 2 of those 3 catches. Add the personal foul to this list and you have a pretty bad game.

However, his awareness was never more apparent than on Rice’s 4th and 29 conversion (Q4, 1:59). All four split receivers ran routes to at least the 30. Pitta crossed the hashes, giving the Ravens two targets on each side.

As the pass went to Rice, Boldin stood near the numbers on the left side at the 27-yard line. He’s lost (even on the top view) as Rice was breaking across the field, but you then see a full-speed Boldin lining up Weddle who was moving to intercept Rice as Ray turned the corner and moved back upfield. Boldin anticipated the spot, set Rice up to work off his block, didn’t lead with the helmet to risk injury or a penalty, and delivered the blow at full speed with his side to flatten the Chargers’ Pro Bowler.

Should it have been flagged? Quite possibly, but Boldin helped avoid the flag by identifying the interception point such that he arrived a split second sooner and delivered the block in a way that appeared clean. It’s among the best efforts I’ve ever seen a receiver make to throw a block.

The Ravens had 88 snaps (excluding Flacco’s 3 kneels) and the starting linemen played every snap:

Oher: Michael regressed against the Chargers. He was beaten outside by Barnes for a sack (Q4, 2:07), but recovered Flacco’s fumble on the play to set up Rice’s dramatic conversion. Liuget moved across his face for penetration to take down Pierce for a loss of two on 4th and 1 (Q3, 0:34). The seven pressure events had a consistent theme:

(Q1, 9:56) Split 4-way pressure when Liuget split double team with him and Reid
(Q1, 2:15) Bulled by Reyes
(Q3, 12:29) Shared a pressure with Rice on overload left
(Q4, 5:01) Bulled low by Barnes
(Q4, 2:12) Bulled by Liuget
(OT, 10:06) Allowed PD by Liuget despite being engaged and holding ground
(OT, 3:20) Bulled by Ingram

Scoring: 71 blocks, 7 missed, 1.5 penetrations, 5.75 pressures (5 + 0.5 + 0.25) pressures, 1 sack, 50.5 points (.57 per play). D with an adjustment for recovering the fumble. It was barely a passing grade, but it was a poor day in most dimensions.

And for the rest of the offensive line, CLICK HERE