Ravens report card - Week 13: Defense/special teams

In one of the more frustrating games, the Ravens fell to the San Diego Chargers 33 to 34 to be 7-5. A much harder road to the playoffs now emerges for the Ravens, but let's see how each unit did.

Defensive Line: B

Timmy Jernigan again continues to flash brilliance. I spotted him pushing two offensive linemen back four yards and still making a tackle on Rivers. With Haloti Ngata out due to his suspension, we will get to see more of Jernigan and hopefully he can handle the extra snaps as well as he has handled his season so far. Ryan Matthews, like every running back the Ravens have faced, couldnt get yards on the ground; going on 38-yards on 13 carries. Chris Canty forced a fumble. Rivers was able to find some room to run at times, which kept drives going.

Linebackers: D

The Ravens pass rush got to Rivers early, forcing Rivers to throw a lame duck ball right to Daryl Smith for an interception. Suggs was the only one to notch a sack  from this group and pressure faded quickly as the game went on to become a non-factor in the final drives. Elvis Dumervil was called for lining up in the neutral zone a sad three times and honestly, could have been called all game for it. After the second one, you have to wonder why he wasn't pulled out and made to take an eye exam. C.J. Mosley had issues covering tight end Antonio Gates all game long, leading to Gates piling up 83-yards.

Defensive Backs: F

Absolutely the worst game I think I have seen this unit play all season long. Big plays everywhere in the passing game, missed tackles and just pure confusion in the secondary at times with guys pointing at each other on where to line up. The Ravens are clearly trying to shuffle in anyone in order to find a spark, but at this point guys just don't even know who they are supposed to cover. Matt Elam should be taken out of coverage permanently. Anthony Levine was the guy that Rivers picked on all game long, but Lardarius Webb was beaten deep for a touchdown as was Danny Gorrer. Gorrer did a good job keeping Malcom Floyd in check for most of the game, but a 59-yard completion will make it look like Floyd did much better than he did. Rivers really just had his pick at any time of the game to where he was going with pretty easy completions.

Special Teams: B

Justin Tucker again hit all 100% of the field goals asked of him. The Chargers were clearly afraid to kick it anywhere near Jacoby Jones as they frequently squib kicked it. Once it was apparent that the squib kicks were still ending with the Ravens taking the ball on the 40, the Chargers kicked it deep only to have Jones return it 72-yards. Jacoby Jones bobbled the final kickoff of the game, which killed the Ravens field position on the last drive.