Last week the Ravens blew a chance to put a serious dent in the playoff hopes of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Instead they allowed the great Charlie Batch to shred their defense.
This week the Ravens had an opportunity to win the AFC North if the Bengals and the Steelers both lost. Those divisional rivals cooperated, but the Ravens couldn’t finish the job.

In each of the last two games the Ravens played with a lead in the fourth quarter. Both times they let it slip away, almost helplessly watching their opponent move the ball at will. They are struggling to close out games.

These aren’t the Baltimore Ravens we used to know.

The entire season the team has been plagued by inconsistencies and that seems to be the team’s only consistency. Today was no different.

THE GOOD: Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce were an extremely effective tandem averaging 6.2 yards per carry on 28 carries for a total of 174 rushing yards. Both showed patience allowing the highly productive offensive front to win in the trenches…Anquan Boldin was productive (3 catches, 78 yards, 2 TD’s) despite not being targeted (3) enough. He was having his way with DeAngelo Hall and it’s a mystery why the Ravens didn’t go after Hall more…Dennis Pitta had 5 catches for 46 yards and a score and showed good awareness when extending the play as Flacco bought some time sliding to his left on the TD connection…Joe Flacco had the best half of his career going 10 for 13 for 3 TD’s and 127 yards for a 146.5 first half QB Rating. Unfortunately things would change.

Haloti Ngata returned to form today after slumping recently. He was a big reason why the Ravens seemed to control the line of scrimmage during the third quarter. He also pressured RG3 pretty consistently…Art Jones continued his ascent in the Ravens defense. He had 1 ½ sacks and now has 4 ½ over the past 4 games…Sam Koch had a big day averaging 50.2 yards on 5 punts…The Ravens kick coverage was very stout.

THE BAD: The Ravens did their best to remain among the league leaders in penalties, seeing laundry 8 times for 56 yards the wrong way…Michael Oher whiffed again on a deep drop by Flacco and it cost them a possession and good field position…Courtney Upshaw looked lost at times trying to defend the option…Terrence Cody still looks like he plays on roller skates. He was pushed around regularly during his time on the field…The Ravens tackling is still a problem…Albert McClellan reminded everyone why he was an undrafted free agent.

For the VERY Ugly and the Player of the Game (aka Megan Fox) click HERE