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Week 7: Passing Game Shines In Loss
Great aerial attack makes team entertaining.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for a whopping 374 yards on 29 of 43 passes and a career high four touchdowns. He showed poise in the pocket and calmly drove them down the field for a game tying field goal and brought them back from 10 points down in the fourth quarter.
Grade B+: The two interceptions bring the grade down slightly.
Running Backs:
Fred Jackson ran hard getting the tough yards in the middle. He finished with 73 yards on 23 carries and one catch for four yards. He had two long gainers brought back by penalties.
C.J. Spiller ran hard in limited action and had a 13 yard run and an 8 yarder but only seven carries for 33 yards.
Corey McIntyre made a nice play on his nine yard reception making something out of nothing.
Grade C+: They just didn't stay with the running game when the passing game was working so well.
Receivers:
Lee Evans had a big day with six catches for 105 yards and three touchdowns. He did have a big drop in fourth quarter.
Roscoe Parrish made some big plays including a highlight reel catch. He had eight catches in all for 49 yards and a fumble.
Steve Johnson had a breakout day with 8 catches for a whopping 158 yards and a touchdown. He also made a few big plays on third down.
David Nelson didn't get involved in the action until late in the game and had two big catches for 25 yards.
Jonathan Stupar had a big catch for eight yards.
Shawn Nelson had two catches for 16 yards but the controversial fumble as he battled for more yards.
Grade A+: Best game in years from this unit.
Offensive Line:
Geoff Hangartner was called for an uncharacteristic penalty but it was huge.
Cordaro Howard filled in at right tackle with no problems.
Grade A-: Only gave up one sack but Fitzpatrick had lots of time to throw as they didn't blitz much.
Defensive Line:
Kyle Williams had three tackles and a forced fumble as he gutted through with an ankle injury.
Marcus Stroud was banged up throughout but did have two tackles.
Dwan Edwards had seven tackles, a sack, and a pass deflection. Nice return to Baltimore
Spencer Johnson was in on four tackles.
Torell Troup had two tackles.
Grade B: Held the Ravens to just 135 yards rushing but they didn't run a lot.
Linebackers:
Andra Davis was quiet with just one solo tackle.
Chris Kelsay played some defensive end when they played the 4-3 early. He did have a sack and three tackles.
Reggie Torbor was very quiet with just one tackle.
Paul Posluszny got caught inside on a 14 yard run by Rice on the Ravens first field goal drive. Had a big pass breakup to force a punt. Was faked out on a 10 yard pass to McGahee on the Ravens 2nd FG drive. He was quiet with five tackles.
Grade C-: Gave up big plays over the middle.
Secondary:
Drayton Florence was beat by Boldin on a 14 yard pass to Boldin on the Ravens first field goal drive. Got called for a costly 40 yard pass interference penalty.
Leodis McKelvin was beaten by Derrick Mason for a big 36 yard gain late in the fourth quarter after the Bills had pulled within three.
Jairus Byrd couldn't get there in time to stop Heap's score.
Donte Whitner was beaten bad by Heap on the Ravens first TD. He dropped a sure interception and maybe a pick six on the Ravens second FG drive. Beaten on flea flicker for the Ravens third TD.
Reggie Corner made a nice one handed almost interception but was ruled out of the end zone when he came down on the defender.
Grade C-: Didn't act like the best unit on the team.
Special Teams:
Brian Moorman had a great 53 yard punt with no return on his first attempt than added a 47 yarder.
Rian Lindell hit all four extra points. He has never missed one in his long career. He then calmly nailed the 50 yarder to send the game into overtime. It would have been good from 60.
C.J. Spiller fumbled a kickoff return and averaged 25 yards on three returns.
Coverage Units allowed 22.2 yard average on six kickoff returns and no punt returns. Nice effort with Jon Corto back.
Grade B: Moorman and Lindell are money in the bank.
Coaching:
Chan Gailey did some innovative things offensively that was successful against a tough Ravens defense early. They just didn't run the ball enough. That has been a problem all year. They run for a good average just not enough. Also had to waste two timeouts and were called for 12 men on the field in the defensive red zone. A six men on the line penalty wiped out a 20 yard gain in the fourth quarter.
George Edwards had no answers on defense. They started in a 4-3 and were doing ok, then switched to a 3-4 and were dominated once again. They did recover to play well in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Bruce DeHaven saw his unit force a fumble in kick coverage only to give it back later in the game.
Grade B: With two weeks to prepare they had them ready to play.
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