In Thursday's game against the Panthers, the Ravens had things that were good, bad, and straight up ugly. Here is a look at the ugly.
The Ugly:
Overall, the entire game on Thursday was an ugly performance. The Ravens' offense didn't play well, nor did their special teams. The only decent unit was the defense.
The Panthers may have scored 34 points, but they did not score a single offensive touchdown. The Panthers scored touchdowns on the following:
- A punt return (74 yards)
- A pick six (71 yards)
- A fumble recovery (2 yards)
- Another pick six (33 yards)
The information above shows that the offense and special teams were the biggest problems on Thursday night. The defense did its job, only holding them to two field goals the entire night.
If you watched the game, you could see how bad the offensive line played without Marshal Yanda. The line was sloppy and could not block for the running backs at all. Only occasionally would the running backs find a hole inside the offensive line to run through. The line also had trouble protecting Joe Flacco, since he was having to scramble a few times, along with having to throw passes that he did not want to throw.
The offense struggled completely, with Flacco throwing interceptions, receivers dropping passes, receivers being unable to run correct routes, running backs being unable to gain yards, and the offensive line not blocking at a high quality.
If there is one unit you had to blame this preseason loss on, it would be the offense.
Of course, for all of the Ravens fans out there, I don't believe that there is any reason to worry about the actual season. Joe Flacco will get it together, the receivers will have more experience, the line will have Yanda, and the team will play much better than it has in the last two preseason outings.
For all of you reading this, I have five words to say: Don't EVER Overreact to Preseason.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED...
To see the list of the bad things in Thursday's game, click here.
To see the list of the good things in Thursday's game, click here.