This was a bounce back game for the Baltimore Ravens. The universe is once again restored to its orderly state. The Ravens are who they are and the Washington Football Team are who they are. Big plays and third down conversions probably spelled the difference. Lamar Jackson looked to his security blanket Mike Andrews for two nice passing TDs. Marlon Humphrey gave an immediate return on his new $98M contract extension by knocking a ball out for a key fumble. The Ravens and Matthew Judon discovered their pass rush. And the offensive line was able to flex its tackle situation and still maintain sufficient protection for the passing game. The runs were well distributed – nothing spectacular, but solid. Finally, Lamar came up with one of those signature plays – a 50 yard TD sprint up the middle – that defines his special talent. Washington piled up a lot of yards and time of possession, but the Ravens tackled well and did not give up the big play.

FIRST HALF

FIRST QUARTER

Washington Drive #1:

– Washington tried to pick on Marcus Peters after his poor game against the Chiefs. He was called for defensive holding right out of the gate; but then maintained discipline and did not bite on a double move on the next play.

– McPhee failed to set the edge and gave up a run around the left side.

– DeShon Elliott was dinged up … but was able to come back in and play the rest of the game.

– Board made a nice tackle.

– Queen had his best game as a pro (again, after struggles last week).

– Judon captured his first sack of the season (had another later in the game) to stop the drive on a 3rd and 6.

Baltimore Drive #1 – Starting at the 7; forced to insert Fluker at right tackle and move Brown over to Stanley’s LT spot because of the injury.

– Nice catch by Mark Andrews that set the tone for one of his characteristic great games.

– Good to see Gus the Bus getting the ball early on for a solid draw up the middle.

– Orlando Brown killed the drive with a false start – (he had one late in the game that didn’t matter) – must be incredibly difficult to switch sides with little practice reps.

– Lamar tried to convert the third down with a QB draw, but the 3 LBs were keying on him and converged for an easy stop.

Washington Drive #2:

– They had a replacement player to field punts. He got blown up right away for not calling for a fair catch and was injured.

– Baltimore flipped the field position so now Washington was starting at their 7.

– Humphrey missed a tackle out on a short pass in the left flat that went for 17 yards.

– But he redeemed himself on the next play by poking out a fumble.

Baltimore Drive #2:

– Ravens struck quickly with a 33 yard play by Hollywood Brown down to the 1 yard line. It was a great pass by Lamar and jump-started the offense.

– Nice 1 yard run by Ingram behind Fluker for the first TD.

Washington Drive #3:

– Special teams for Ravens had a great game. Tackled the kickoff returner at the 12.

– Humphrey made a solid tackle in the right flat – for the most part the Ravens tackled well all game.

– On 3rd and 5, 2 receivers for Washington were in the same area and the pass was deflected by them.

Baltimore Drive #3:

– Punt return gave Ravens excellent field position at the 40.

– Washington did a good job all day holding Lamar to very short gains on his outside runs to the sidelines.

SECOND QUARTER

– Lamar badly overthrew 2 deep balls – to Brown and Boykin. Brown had his man clearly beat and Boykin deserved a 50-50 ball because of his height advantage. This is especially concerning since this is the area of weakness he committed to working on and trying to correct over the off season. So far this season Lamar only has 1 long ball completion.

– Positive point was that the Ravens pass protection held up fairly well on these two plays.

– I noted at the time that the Ravens needed to commit to more runs up the gut and that is exactly what they did in their next series.

Washington Drive #4:

– Punt was fair caught at the 16.

– Nice 11 yard pass completion (Holding penalty again on Peters was declined).

– Nice run by Gibson.

– Queen shot the gap and made a nice tackle for a one yard loss.

– 3rd down conversion to Logan Thomas vs. Smith on Washington’s vintage crossing pattern.

– Another pass in the right flat to Gibson that went for 18 yards.

– Good coverage by Elliott on a pass attempt to Logan.

– Calais Campbell dropped off the line and was able to deflect another pass on 3rd and 7.

– The 55 yard field goal attempt bounced off the upright to remind us of the Tucker factor.

Baltimore Drive #4:

– Field goal miss gave Ravens excellent field position at the 43.

– Jackson scored on a speedy 50 yard charge up the middle – nice hole and Bozeman got downfield to take on the lone center safety. 14-0 Looked like a potential rout.

– They made 3 big plays on this drive. Started with 11 yard pass to Inman vs. Marlon (who saw a ton of action in the first half)

– Inman was then wide open for 13 yards over the middle.

– Bowser made a couple of good plays on the drive – one tackle for a loss of 1 and one QB pressure.

– Ravens were burned by a screen to Gibson on 3rd and 11.

– Queen made a nice stop on the goal line (his 8th tackle of the game already) before they punched it in for a score on the next play.

– Brown gets wide open for a 31 yard completion (looked like he tweaked his ankle but didn’t have any more problems with it)

– Jackson had Duvernay wide open, bought some time and then lofted the ball – but did not have the right touch on it and overshot him

– Incomplete dangerous pass on 3rd and 9 and Ravens dropped into punt formation

– Tremendous 10 yard completion by the only perfect passer in NFL history – Mr. Sam Koch – Boykin was covered – so it was a great play all the way around

– Drive ended up with a typical TD pass to Andrews for a comfortable 21-7 lead

Washington Drive #6:

– Key to stopping the drive was Judon’s second sack of 12 yards

– Time left on the clock after a 50 yard punt that Proche did not do anything with; looked like Baltimore had a chance to ice the game

Baltimore Drive #6:

– Nice long pass to Brown who was sandwiched between 3 defenders and could not make the catch – one of the few times I have seen Brown not grab a catchable ball – but this would have been a very contested catch

– Ill-advised throw to the sideline that was intercepted; Can’t completely fault Lamar; it looked like Boykin did not come out of his break and drive on the ball; defender was much more aggressive and made the catch

Washington Drive #7:

– Ended the half with an undeserved extra field goal 21-10

SECOND HALF

THIRD QUARTER

Baltimore Drive #1

– Nice drive to start the second half and take dominant control of the game.

– Nice arm angle on pass to Boykin.

– Dobbins was largely held in check all day – not much room to run for him; short 2 yard gain.

– My buddy Boyle made 1st down catch to bring the ball to mid-field.

– Ingram and then Gus took over with runs up the middle. Ground and Pound portion of the game.

– Play clock was running out, but Lamar got play off for 17 yards to Brown.

– A second TD pass to Andrews who split the seam of the zone – threading the needle with precision. 28-10 Time to put the hay in the barn.

Washington Drive #1:

– Gibson caught a nice pass over the middle.

– Elliott made the stop on third down to force the short punt.

Baltimore Drive #2:

– Uneventful three and out.

– Skura had a false start – but Ravens had no major penalties.

Washington Drive #2:

– Long drive – a lot of successful short slant passes.

– Queen got temporarily dinged up.

– Averett in trailing position made a great play to break up a 3rd and 2 pass.

– But their #1 receiver McLaurin beat Marlon for the first down on 4th down.

– Inman made a catch on the final play of the 3rd Qtr.

FOURTH QUARTER

– Ferguson showed up for the first time I can remember this season with a nice 18 yard sack that killed their drive.

– They ended up trying for a desperation 4th down play but were stopped for no points after a time-consuming 18 play drive.

Game degenerated into garbage time after that. It looked like the Ravens had broken the will of the Washington Football Team.

– Some nice runs by Gus and Ingram.

– A couple of nice receptions by Snead.

– Another Tucker field goal 31-10

– RG3 finally got some minutes. Made a nice pass down the sideline to Brown … but he stopped running and tried to jump for the ball. It went over his fingers to the waiting defender for an interception. I thought that one was more on Brown.

– Ended up leading to a final Washington TD for the 31-17 final score.