Ravens looking far from Super
BALTIMORE − For the past eight seasons, the defending Super Bowl champ has failed to win a playoff game. This year, the champ may not even get to play one.
It wasn’t that the Ravens lost to the Patriots at M&T Bank Stadium Sunday. The Pats generally profit more from December than Macy’s. It’s how the Ravens lost it − being undisciplined, failing to make plays in the clutch, blowing assignments. In general, it was shocking how they didn’t play championship football that, like the Patriots, has been part of their DNA.
And now, after being blown out of their own building, 41-7, they face another unusual situation. They need help to get into the playoffs. First, the Ravens, who have won just two road games all year, have to finish off the season with a win in Cincinnati. Then they need either the Chargers to lose to the Chiefs or the Dolphins to lose to the Jets because they are the odd team out in a three-way tie. Just for fun, if all three lose, the Steelers get in with a win. Now that would really hurt.
“I don’t think we’ve ever needed some help and a win,” said QB Joe Flacco. “We’ve always kind of controlled out own destiny. We’ve had to win the last game of the season against the Bengals a few times to get into the playoffs. We’ve had to win the division I think once. But we’ve never had to rely on anything else. I don’t know what the scenarios are but I’m not going to worry myself about it now. I’m just going to worry about going to get a win.”
“Since I came in, you couldn’t tell me it’s not handed to you every year,” said third-year receiver Torrey Smith. “Now it’s tough. But we are where we are because we earned it. If we had won the division and been undefeated right now, we would be there because we earned it and the way we played. There are no secrets. But it’s not a good feeling knowing you need help.”
Flacco was even more mystified during the game than he was after it. The reigning Super Bowl MVP had a nightmare outing, full of bad throws and poor decisions. He didn’t hook up with a wide receiver until the second half and threw two interceptions. It was so out of character, Flacco was asked if it had anything to do with the brace he had to wear on is left knee, which took a helmet shot from the Lions’ DeAndre Levy last Monday night. “I don’t know what it is,” he said. “It didn’t affect me. I’d like to play better but the brace didn’t have anything to do with anything.”
The Patriots had already clinched their 11th AFC East title under Bill Belichick when the Dolphins flopped in Buffalo but looked like the team with more to play for. They staked themselves to an early 14-0 lead and spent the rest of the night protecting it, adding two TDs in the last 2:00 with their third and fourth forced turnovers of the game. Flacco was out of the game by then.
“Yeah. It’s disappointing,” Flacco said. “We’re used to going out there and playing well when we need to and when the playoffs are on the line. We came out today hungry and ready to get ourselves into the playoffs or take that next step towards it and we didn’t do it.”
Among the stuff they didn’t do:
Flacco missed hitting Smith with what could have been a 93-yard touchdown on his first throw of the game.
Jimmy Smith was flagged on a questionable interference call at the Ravens’ 1 to set up the first Patriots’ TD. Flacco’s first interception on an underthrown ball set up the second, a Tom Brady TD pass against blown coverage.
Sure-handed tight end Dennis Pitta had a routine third-down conversion go through his hands in the third quarter for a second INT by Logan Ryan, setting up a Steve Gostkowski FG that made it 20-0.
Even kicker Justin Tucker fell short. He missed his first field goal try of the season after 33 straight, slipping while trying to plant on a 37-yarder.
“It sucked,” said cornerback Corey Graham. “It seemed everything went their way . . . every little thing. That’s how the while night was. They jumped out on us and it just kind of got away from us.”
Brady, now 44-7 in the month of December, noted that the Patriots were the team with more questions coming into the game.
“Every year is special but we’ve really earned it this year,” he said. “The NFL has a lot of stiff competition. Winning 11 games is hard. We have faced adversity all year. But our mental toughness has really gotten us through this.” The Ravens, who have become a bit of a nemesis to the Pats lately, have usually found a way to match that mental toughness. That was the real shocking thing about Sunday.