Minnesota Vikings manhandled the Ravens today and except for the 4th quarter when it was junk time – the Vikings absolutely stifled Joe Flacco and the offense. You can officially hit the panic button on this season as the injuries to the O line and receivers have rendered this team ineffective. The Ravens defense, while not terrible, is at best a mediocre unit and are one of the worst defenses against the rush. It is going to be a challenge for Harbaugh and the coaching staff going forward because they just do not have the talent to beat good teams. Other rants on the game are below:

The Ravens 1st offensive series gets a bull rush sack on Flacco which was telling for the day

You have to love Brandon Carr’s interception because he kept his eye on the ball and never gave up on the play

Not sure why the Refs didn’t immediately flag the hit on Mike Wallace, if the helmet comes flying off you have to assume that the big hit on him was aimed at the helmet. Fortunately the Refs consulted and threw a delayed flag

One thing I have noticed in recent weeks is that the Ravens defense is not the most physical team on the field most weeks which has been hard to get used to this year

Typical Ravens Offensive Possession – 1st and ten on the 27 and they lose 3 yards on a bad snap, a pass for a yard loss, and incomplete pass – so awful

The call on Judon for hands to the face was wrong, replay shows it was below the neck. The play gives the Vikings a 1st down and puts them in field goal range for 3 points

Vikings are very physical defense but I thought they played dirty and speared a lot of Ravens players even when on the ground

The Ravens O line had no answer to the Vikings front 4 – the pocket was not a safe place for Flacco today as he was sacked 5 times for a loss of 42 yards

Flacco highlights today – muffed snap, trips on his own feet, and fumbles when hit from the blind side

1st Quarter – Ravens offense gained a whopping 8 yards

Watching Mike Wallace look all over the stadium for his helmet after he was ruled out for concussion protocol was proof that he should not have gone back in

Case Keenum targeted Webb and Carr all day long, with some success at times

Justin Tucker kicks a 57 yarder showing off his monster leg

The Ravens secondary plays too soft on 3rd and long and they give up too many first downs in those situations

Ravens defense has been unable to mount any real pressure on quarterbacks this year and today was no exception as Keenum had plenty of time to find the open receiver and was not sacked once

1st half Ravens offense gained 80 yards

Except for Tuckers field goals, there was very little to be pleased with in today’s game

The Ravens inside linebackers were sloppy in their gap assignments and were gashed on the ground as a result as they gave up 5.1 yards per carry on the day

Special teams punt coverage was very poor today

I don’t know how many negative pass plays the Ravens had today but it had to be in the 5 to 7 range – which is absolutely inexcusable

One positive on the game is that the Ravens had only 3 penalties for 15 yards

Chris Moore is not a world beater but he is better than Perriman so I hope when Perriman is cleared to play that he moves back on the depth chart

Brandon Williams being out of the starting lineup has been the excuse for the Ravens giving up a lot of ground yardage. What will the coaches and talking heads say this week?

Looking ahead at Thursday Night Football, you have to imagine that the NFL just might have their lowest ratings of the year with the Dolphins and Ravens queued up for the evening

Game Predictions Game Statistics Score Ravens 9 Vikings 20 Ravens 16 Vikings 24 Turnovers Minus 1 Plus 1 Net Rushing Yardage Ravens 76 Vikings 110 Ravens 64 Vikings 169 Net Passing Yardage Ravens 155 Vikings 184 Ravens 144 Vikings 188

Miscellaneous Predictions

Everson Griffen gets 2 sacks a forced fumble on Flacco – Correct, 2 sacks not sure about the forced fumble as Flacco did fumble

Ravens commit 8 penalties for 80 – Incorrect, Ravens played clean with only 3 penalties

Justin Tucker accounts for all 9 points – Incorrect, but almost correct as we scored our TD as time ran out

Refs make terrible calls – Correct, call on Judon as noted above

Possible Monday morning headlines – Pick One as they both work

Flacco’s woes continue in loss to Vikings

Ravens continue to struggle to score in road loss

Keys to the Game