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The Beat with Aaron Wilson - Reality bites Ravens in the Meadowlands
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Posted On: 11/17/08
Written By:
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Trampled bybruising powerhouse running back Brandon Jacobs and bewildered by thesharp cuts of Ahmad Bradshaw, the Baltimore Ravens' swaggeringdefense had a humbling experience Sunday afternoon against thereigning Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
The top-ranked run defense in the NFL practically left Giants Stadium sportingcleat marks and a bad case of whiplash as the Giants' top-ranked running game steamrolled the Ravens in a stinging 30-10 defeat wherethey rushed for 207 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries.
The Ravens (6-4) hadn't allowed that many rushing yards in over a decade, butcouldn't halt the Giants (9-1) from piling up their third consecutive200-yard rushing game. It's the most rushing yards allowed by Baltimoresince surrendering 214 yards on the ground to the Pittsburgh Steelers inan Oct. 5, 1997 game.
"It was a thumping," defensive end Trevor Pryce said. "It's thebiggest thumping I've been a part of for a long time. Even the Indianapolisgame didn't feel like this one. We can't do nothing about it now.
"It's gone. There's nothing good we can take from this. The score was bad.We played bad. They're the best team in football."
And the second-ranked defense's NFL-high 29-game streak of not allowing anopposing rusher to eclipse 100 yards nearly vanished as Bradshaw gained 96yards on nine carries, including 77 on one electrifying run.
If not for a sore knee, Jacobs could have easily generated totals higher than73 yards and two scores on 11 carries. Jacobs rushed for all butthree of his yards in the first quarter.
"They're really good at running the ball, as you can see," linebackerTerrell Suggs said. "Am I embarrassed? Definitely embarrassed, but the badthing is we prepared for what they do.
"We knew they would run the ball. Our coaches did a great job of giving usa great scheme. Not only did we let them down, but we let ourselves down."
The breakdowns cropped up immediately in the first quarter.
The top-ranked run defense in the NFL practically left Giants Stadium sportingcleat marks and a bad case of whiplash as the Giants' top-ranked running game steamrolled the Ravens in a stinging 30-10 defeat wherethey rushed for 207 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries.
The Ravens (6-4) hadn't allowed that many rushing yards in over a decade, butcouldn't halt the Giants (9-1) from piling up their third consecutive200-yard rushing game. It's the most rushing yards allowed by Baltimoresince surrendering 214 yards on the ground to the Pittsburgh Steelers inan Oct. 5, 1997 game.
"It was a thumping," defensive end Trevor Pryce said. "It's thebiggest thumping I've been a part of for a long time. Even the Indianapolisgame didn't feel like this one. We can't do nothing about it now.
"It's gone. There's nothing good we can take from this. The score was bad.We played bad. They're the best team in football."
And the second-ranked defense's NFL-high 29-game streak of not allowing anopposing rusher to eclipse 100 yards nearly vanished as Bradshaw gained 96yards on nine carries, including 77 on one electrifying run.
If not for a sore knee, Jacobs could have easily generated totals higher than73 yards and two scores on 11 carries. Jacobs rushed for all butthree of his yards in the first quarter.
"They're really good at running the ball, as you can see," linebackerTerrell Suggs said. "Am I embarrassed? Definitely embarrassed, but the badthing is we prepared for what they do.
"We knew they would run the ball. Our coaches did a great job of giving usa great scheme. Not only did we let them down, but we let ourselves down."
The breakdowns cropped up immediately in the first quarter.
On Jacobs' first carry, he darted towardhis right and ran into interference from Pryce. He bounced off, reversedfield and dashed away from defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, Suggs and linebackerJarret Johnson before strong safety Jim Leonhard finally pushed the 6-foot-4,264-pounder out of bounds at the Ravens' 32-yard line for a 36-yard run.
"That's what I do," Jacobs said. "I set the tone for ourteam."
Jacobs continued to pound the football, rushing for 53 yards on six carriesduring the Giants' first scoring drive.
With a first down at the Ravens' 16-yard line, Jacobs carried it fourconsecutive times before bulling into the end zone as free safety Ed Reed doveat Jacobs in vain on his first touchdown run from one yard out.
"I actually think that Ahmad Bradshaw ran better than Jacobs did,"Pryce said. "It's just that the holes they were running through were sobig. The holes were gaping, gaping.
"If you give any NFL back holes like that, he's going to look like GaleSayers. It wasn't so much that they were ultra-special, but it was more that wewere ultra-bad."
The momentum permanently shifted when kicker Matt Stover's 32-yard field goalattempt on Baltimore's subsequent drive was blocked by defensive tackle FredRobbins and covered by Ravens tight end Edgar Jones all the way back at their33-yard line.
"I think it was a little bit of a push, but I think Matt would say hecould have kicked it higher," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said."That's what happens sometimes, especially when you're kicking the ballinto that wind. I sure wish we could have given the Giants a better footballgame.
"They were better than us today. We didn't do the things we needed to doto win this game, but I'm proud to be the coach of this team."
The Giants went right back to Jacobs following Fabian Washington's interceptionof an Eli Manning pass that was nullified due to a penalty. Three consecutiveruns ended with him busting into the end zone for his second one-yard score.
"We knew it was going to be a heavyweight fight," Suggs said."They got some shots in during the early rounds and they were able tosustain enough to win the fight. We respect them most definitely.
"They ran downhill. It wasn't like they beat us at the point of attack.They cut back. They broke some tackles. It wasn't Rex Ryan's fault. Once wecross that white line, it's on us."
The Ravens seemed to get caught out of position by overrunning plays, hurtingtheir cause as much as being "outphysicaled," in cornerback SamariRolle's appropriate words.
"We had problems with over pursuing," star middle linebacker RayLewis said. "That's something that we don't do, bottom line.
"That's what I do," Jacobs said. "I set the tone for ourteam."
Jacobs continued to pound the football, rushing for 53 yards on six carriesduring the Giants' first scoring drive.
With a first down at the Ravens' 16-yard line, Jacobs carried it fourconsecutive times before bulling into the end zone as free safety Ed Reed doveat Jacobs in vain on his first touchdown run from one yard out.
"I actually think that Ahmad Bradshaw ran better than Jacobs did,"Pryce said. "It's just that the holes they were running through were sobig. The holes were gaping, gaping.
"If you give any NFL back holes like that, he's going to look like GaleSayers. It wasn't so much that they were ultra-special, but it was more that wewere ultra-bad."
The momentum permanently shifted when kicker Matt Stover's 32-yard field goalattempt on Baltimore's subsequent drive was blocked by defensive tackle FredRobbins and covered by Ravens tight end Edgar Jones all the way back at their33-yard line.
"I think it was a little bit of a push, but I think Matt would say hecould have kicked it higher," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said."That's what happens sometimes, especially when you're kicking the ballinto that wind. I sure wish we could have given the Giants a better footballgame.
"They were better than us today. We didn't do the things we needed to doto win this game, but I'm proud to be the coach of this team."
The Giants went right back to Jacobs following Fabian Washington's interceptionof an Eli Manning pass that was nullified due to a penalty. Three consecutiveruns ended with him busting into the end zone for his second one-yard score.
"We knew it was going to be a heavyweight fight," Suggs said."They got some shots in during the early rounds and they were able tosustain enough to win the fight. We respect them most definitely.
"They ran downhill. It wasn't like they beat us at the point of attack.They cut back. They broke some tackles. It wasn't Rex Ryan's fault. Once wecross that white line, it's on us."
The Ravens seemed to get caught out of position by overrunning plays, hurtingtheir cause as much as being "outphysicaled," in cornerback SamariRolle's appropriate words.
"We had problems with over pursuing," star middle linebacker RayLewis said. "That's something that we don't do, bottom line.
"We don't normally let backsget outside, and that's something that we pride ourselves in, but they wereable to do it. I mean, there are always going to be days where you aren'tgreat."
Baltimore entered the game allowing a league-low average of 65.4 rushing yardsand 2.9 yards per carry. The Giants averaged 6.3 yards per carry.
"After the first couple of times, we were just like, 'How in theworld?'" Pryce said. "At that point, it's like what else can go bad?Playing the champs, you had better come with your A-plus, plus game and wedidn’t do that."
No team h ad gained more than 76 rushing yards against Baltimore this season.The Giants topped that mark by 131 yards through their backs' combination ofagility and strength.
"A lot of guys were over pursuing the play, and that's how they gotbackside plays," Ngata said. "We were so hyped up that we just neededto calm down and play our game. I think we figured it out too late. We just gotto bounce back."
The loss snaps a four-game winning streak and a three-game road streak. Itextends the Giants' winning streak to five games.
Trailing 20-0 by the second quarter following Manning's 1-yard pass to tightend Darcy Johnson behind Leonhard, the Ravens finally got on the scoreboard onthe next drive with a 38-yard Stover field goal.
Giants’ cornerback Aaron Ross intercepted rookie quarterback Joe Flacco twice,including a 50-yard return for a touchdown in the third quarter off a pass thatdeflected off wide receiver Derrick Mason's body when he was hit from behind.
Flacco hadn't thrown an interception since a 31-3 loss to the Colts five gamesago.
Flacco tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to fullback Le'Ron McClain in the thirdquarter to close the gap to 20-10. Flacco, who completed 20 of 33 passes for164 yards, one score and two interceptions for a 58.1 quarterbackrating, rushed for a team-high 57 yards as the Giants shut down theBaltimore running game.
However, Rolle's interception of Manning was reversed by an instant-replayreview. On the20next drive, Flacco was intercepted by Ross to seal the game.Lawrence Tynes hit a 19-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to put it evenfurther out of reach.
It was a dominant running game that ultimately spelled the difference, though.
"Hell, yeah, we're going to take this game personally," defensivetackle Justin Bannan said. "If we didn't take it personally, it would meanthat we didn't care. We've just got to fix the things that went wrong for usand not let a team run on us like this again."
The Giants ran the ball 18 times for 112 yards by halftime. It left the Ravensscratching their heads in disbelief.
"When they hit a big one, I'm sure it made us second-guess and gave themsome confidence," Johnson said. "Normally, we come out and keepstuffing it. I don't know what the problem was.
"We feel like we're an elite team and an elite defense, one that has madeimprovements across the board. When you play a team like the Giants and play aspoorly as we did, it's extremely disappointing."
The Ravens wanted to use the Giants as a barometer to gauge how farthey had progressed from last year's 5-11 disaster. Now, they understand howmuch further they have to go as they'll try to regroup againstthe Philadelphia Eagles next week at M&T Bank Stadium.
"We just wanted to test ourselves and see how we play against some of thebest teams," Ngata said. "This kind of sucks, but we have to move onand get ready for Philly. They've got a great running back in BrianWestbrook."
Aaron Wilson covers the Baltimore Ravens for the Carroll County Times andthe Annapolis Capital.
Baltimore entered the game allowing a league-low average of 65.4 rushing yardsand 2.9 yards per carry. The Giants averaged 6.3 yards per carry.
"After the first couple of times, we were just like, 'How in theworld?'" Pryce said. "At that point, it's like what else can go bad?Playing the champs, you had better come with your A-plus, plus game and wedidn’t do that."
No team h ad gained more than 76 rushing yards against Baltimore this season.The Giants topped that mark by 131 yards through their backs' combination ofagility and strength.
"A lot of guys were over pursuing the play, and that's how they gotbackside plays," Ngata said. "We were so hyped up that we just neededto calm down and play our game. I think we figured it out too late. We just gotto bounce back."
The loss snaps a four-game winning streak and a three-game road streak. Itextends the Giants' winning streak to five games.
Trailing 20-0 by the second quarter following Manning's 1-yard pass to tightend Darcy Johnson behind Leonhard, the Ravens finally got on the scoreboard onthe next drive with a 38-yard Stover field goal.
Giants’ cornerback Aaron Ross intercepted rookie quarterback Joe Flacco twice,including a 50-yard return for a touchdown in the third quarter off a pass thatdeflected off wide receiver Derrick Mason's body when he was hit from behind.
Flacco hadn't thrown an interception since a 31-3 loss to the Colts five gamesago.
Flacco tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to fullback Le'Ron McClain in the thirdquarter to close the gap to 20-10. Flacco, who completed 20 of 33 passes for164 yards, one score and two interceptions for a 58.1 quarterbackrating, rushed for a team-high 57 yards as the Giants shut down theBaltimore running game.
However, Rolle's interception of Manning was reversed by an instant-replayreview. On the20next drive, Flacco was intercepted by Ross to seal the game.Lawrence Tynes hit a 19-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to put it evenfurther out of reach.
It was a dominant running game that ultimately spelled the difference, though.
"Hell, yeah, we're going to take this game personally," defensivetackle Justin Bannan said. "If we didn't take it personally, it would meanthat we didn't care. We've just got to fix the things that went wrong for usand not let a team run on us like this again."
The Giants ran the ball 18 times for 112 yards by halftime. It left the Ravensscratching their heads in disbelief.
"When they hit a big one, I'm sure it made us second-guess and gave themsome confidence," Johnson said. "Normally, we come out and keepstuffing it. I don't know what the problem was.
"We feel like we're an elite team and an elite defense, one that has madeimprovements across the board. When you play a team like the Giants and play aspoorly as we did, it's extremely disappointing."
The Ravens wanted to use the Giants as a barometer to gauge how farthey had progressed from last year's 5-11 disaster. Now, they understand howmuch further they have to go as they'll try to regroup againstthe Philadelphia Eagles next week at M&T Bank Stadium.
"We just wanted to test ourselves and see how we play against some of thebest teams," Ngata said. "This kind of sucks, but we have to move onand get ready for Philly. They've got a great running back in BrianWestbrook."
Aaron Wilson covers the Baltimore Ravens for the Carroll County Times andthe Annapolis Capital.
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Posted On: 11/17/08
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