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Quarter Season Review: 10 Things You Ought to Know About the Baltimore Ravens
Posted by tomvanwyheThe Baltimore Ravens are off to a 2-1 start under head coach Jim Harbaugh and with a rookie quarterback steering the offense. The bad news? Because their scheduled game against the Texans was canceled (to be played later this year), the Ravens are now in the middle of a 15 game stretch without rest. How will they deal with it? Well, this is a recap of how they’ve played so far.
1. The Ravens have the best defense in the NFL. Period. They’ve shut down - absolutely shut down - three offenses this season. They rank 1st in passing yards allowed (opponents have passed for an average of 117 per game), 2nd in rushing yards allowed (69.7), and the team that is closest to them in terms of total yards allowed per game, Pittsburgh, allows 50 yards more per week (Baltimore allows just 186.7 per game).
2. The one key category the Ravens don’t rank first in, points per game allowed, they rank second. That’s partly because the Steelers defense scored a touchdown week four and week one the Bengals defense scored a touchdown the same way, on a fumble taken for six. Barring those two touchdowns, the Ravens have held offenses to 3, 10, and 16 points this season. Average: 9.6 points per game. The NFL’s best defense allows more than 11.
3. Still not convinced? Consider this: the Ravens have held offenses to a total of two touchdowns. Two! No other defense can claim to allow an average of less than one per game. Or how about this: when an opponent has possession of the ball, it can expect to gain less than 14 yards per drive. That’s what the Ravens have allowed this season. Only two other teams allow less than 20.
4. Okay, I have one more number for you: 0.54. That’s how many points opponents score per drive. That means an opposing offense needs, on average, more than 37 drives in a game to score 20 points. Only one other team in the NFL allows less than one point per drive.
5. Fine, one more defensive stat, but then it’s on to the offense, okay? The Ravens have had the leading passer, rusher, and receiver in each of their first three games (in terms of yards), except one in which T.J. Houshmandzadeh led. Now, that might sound like an offensive stat. But first consider: Joe Flacco passed for 129, 129, and 192 yards in those games; Le’Ron McClain rushed 86, 66, and 63 yards; and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, when he led for the game, had 44 receiving yards. Unbelievable.
6. On to the offense: Joe Flacco can play. He doesn’t post great numbers - he’s thrown for more than 129 yards in one game this season (at Pittsburgh, no less) and he’s made some rookie mistakes (not protecting the ball, mostly) but he’s also looked calm and collected in the pocket. Keep an eye on him as the season progresses: all he needs to do is not lose the game for the Ravens; that defense can win it.
7. Flacco got his first touchdown pass of the season Monday Night. Interestingly, the Ravens defense has scored as many touchdowns this season (interception returned for a touchdown).
8. This offense’s strength lies in the running game. Though the team hasn’t had a standout running back up to this point in the season (Le’Ron McClain of all people has led the team in every game), the Ravens have run the fooball almost 60 percent of the time and, as a result, the team is third in the NFL in rushing yards per game. Six of the offense’s seven touchdowns are also attributed to the running game.
9. That doesn’t mean the running game has been perfect, though. Not at all, in fact. The reason the team ranks so high in yards per game is due mostly to sheer volume. The Ravens rank 18th in the NFL in yard per rush average, with a 3.9.
10. The Ravens don’t punt a lot (they rank 8th in the NFL in punts per drive), but there’s a pretty logical explanation for that: they turn the ball over a lot. They average .174 turnovers per drive, or just a little more often than one turnover every six drives. That puts them at 30th in the NFL.
10.
Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Best, Data, Defense, Fantasy Football, Ray Lewis, Statistics, Trends
