The Baltimore Ravens put on an offensive show with a 21-point first quarter featuring the introduction of rookie WR Torrey Smith to the NFL's attention, who caught all three of QB Joe Flacco's TD passes and beat up on the over-matched St. Louis Rams, 37-7. Smith had not caught a pass in the first two games and many said he seemed lost in the Ravens offense with no off-season to learn and prepare.
However, he certainly didn't need to learn how to run fast and he proved he may indeed be that deep threat the team was looking for when they made him their 2nd round draft pick in April. Smith caught three scoring passes from Flacco (389 passing yards) to give the Ravens the lead and they never looked back, building a 27-zip halftime lead on their way to the final score.
Only a sweet TD pass by Sam Bradford in the 3rd quarter kept this game from being a shut-out, as the Ravens defense hurried and sacked Bradford from the opening whistle and even picked up one of his fumbles and scored by way of DT Haloti Ngata.
The score could have easily been a lot worse, as the Ravens kicked three field goals but Billy Cundiff missed a pair of 51-yarders in the first half. Had Cundiff converted those, or had the Ravens gotten touchdowns instead of settling for the field goal attempt, Baltimore might have scored 40, even 50 points against the winless Rams.
There is so much to like about this game, which should bring enouygh relief to Ravens fans who were so frustrated with the team's lackluster performance in their week two loss to the Tennessee Titans. After such an impressive opening day victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's good to see this Ravens team is more like the one we saw in week one as opposed to the week two one.
Now the Ravens will return home for a prime time battle against the New York Jets next Sunday night, losers today to the Oakland Raiders (34-24). In the meantime, welcome back to the "real" Ravens!