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Well the Baltimore Ravens scored in just about every way possible today against the Oakland Raiders at M&T Bank Stadium. Everything but a defensive touchdown that is. Quarterback Joe Flacco scored on a keeper from one yard out and passed for a pair of touchdowns to Torrey Smith and one to Dennis Pitta. Jacoby Jones had some nice catches on offense and returned a kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown as well. Ray Rice also got in on the action with a rushing touchdown before he was relieved of his duties for the day with the game well in hand.
Flacco looked impressive as he carved up the Raiders defense on almost every drive. He passed for 341 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Joe had several long passes over the top to Torrey Smith, Jacoby Jones and tight end Ed Dickson. On the other end, Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer also put up some impressive passing numbers with 368 yards and a pair of touchdowns but suffered from having his passes batted down by the Ravens defensive line all day. Defensive end Paul Kruger made a T-Sizzle-esque play when he batted a Palmer pass up in the air and recorded an interception off of his own tipped pass.
The Ravens defense was again in bend-but-don't-break mode as the Raiders were able to move the ball well on the ground and through the air frequently even with out any of their top running backs on the field. However Baltimore strapped on their pads a bit tighter on third and fourth downs and did just enough to keep Oakland out of the end zone for most of the day. The Raiders went for it twice on fourth down and were unsuccessful, mostly due to their own misfortunes but the Ravens will take it none the less.
At the end of the day the Ravens are 7-2 and head into a tough three-game stretch in which they will play Pittsburgh twice and San Diego on the road. This game should help get the offense rolling but the defense still needs some work. Especially with safety Ed Reed constantly re-injuring his shoulder. However, the Ravens are still in first place and set to make their run.