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Maybe three, but two turnovers would've been enough to upend the Indianapolis Colts.
Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees and the Ravens doubled that number and still the team left Indy empty-handed. More painstaking was watching Gary Kubiak's offense unable to move the chains, going three-and-out on 10 occasions. The Ravens recorded a miserable, inefficient nine percent success rate on third-down conversions.
Here are some of my takeaways, feel free to add:
1. Bernard Pierce (thigh) finished with 30 yards on four carries. Justin Forsett added 42 yards to the stat sheet, averaging seven yards per carry, and rookie Lorenzo Taliaferro pounded the ball for 18 total yards on five rush attempts. That's 15 total for 90 yards, yet, after the offense found themselves trailing by three points after two quarters, they attempted one more running play, eight, than they did in the first half.
Beats me why they abandoned the run, sure could have beaten the Colts, too.
2. Coordinator Dean Pees' defense stopped the Colts on fourth-and-one in Indy's opening possession. That gut-check couldn't have arrived at a better time -- then Steve Smith Sr. coughed the ball up on their offense's first play.
The Ravens defense played well, yes. The Colts defense, though, suffocated Joe Flacco and the Ravens offensive line.
3. C.J. Mosley was everywhere. The rookie linebacker registered 14 tackles, six of them were solo, and his first career interception -- that came off a deflection -- was timed perfectly. The Ravens were down 13-3 with 1:01 left in the third quarter. Before I sound like I'm giving him a perfect assessment, Mosley could still improve his cover skills.
4. Similar to a seemingly one-dimensional Eagles offense that conked out against a stingy 49ers defense last week, the Ravens were outworked by the Colts. Kubiak's no-huddle offense led to Forsett's rushing touchdown, and we saw how exhausted Indy's defense was. Read No. 7.
5. When Joe Flacco was phenomenal, the receivers didn't reciprocate. When the receivers were on top of things, Flacco was sacked. No. 5 maintained incredible balance, ran towards the sidelines, avoided oncoming tacklers and launched a pass to Marlon Brown. Brown ran out of gas to make the play. Torrey Smith burned his man on 4th-and-3, but Flacco's pass was slightly under-thrown. Feeling the pressure from a delayed blitz, Flacco was forced to rush. ...
6. Steve Smith Sr. is not the face of our offense.
OK, let's rephrase that. If Steve Smith Sr. is who Kubiak believes identifies his offense, then there must be times Kubiak needs to deploy Flacco's favorite target as a decoy. As often as the Texans rang the Colts' doorbell during the offensive coordinator's tenure in the AFC South, much of what the Ravens did today was excruciatingly predictable.
If you've forgotten, we have Owen Daniels, Torrey Smith and Marlon Brown. Again, we've Owen Daniels, Torrey Smith and Marlon Brown
— Baltimore Beatdown (@BMoreBeatdown) October 5, 2014
7. Overall, the Ravens should avoid comeback situations. The Colts' gameplan to soak minutes and enact boring, drawn out drives worked out.