Ravens report card: The offense 9/7/2014
The Baltimore Ravens lost to the Cincinnati Bengals 23 to 16 and the offense struggled greatly in the first half of the game. The Ravens debut of the Gary Kubiak offense did not go as planned.
Quarterbacks: Joe Flacco’s numbers were not great and he was not helped by his receivers. Flacco had two big mistakes: getting sacked before the half and his bad interception. He simply didn’t seem to be on the same page as his receivers. Flacco’s final numbers were: 35 for 62 with a touchdown, an interception and a quarterback rating of 71.0. Grade C+
Running backs: Bernard Pierce got benched early after fumbling and it was all Justin Forsett for the rest of the day and he showed off the best part of the Kubiak offense, he averaged 6.4 yards per carry and scored a touchdown. Forsett also had five receptions. Grade B
Receivers: Like I said, the receivers and Flacco were not on the same page. A lot of missed routes and miscommunications. Jacoby Jones and Steve Smith, Sr. had a bad case of the drops and it may have cost the Ravens the game. Jones had a ball go right through his hands and Smith, Sr. had several go right through as well. Smith, Sr. redeemed himself with his 80-yard touchdown reception and a total of seven receptions for 118 yards. Dennis Pitta had a team high ten receptions for 83 yards but even he and Flacco had some miscommunications. A lot of receptions and yards from this group but overall, sloppy play. Grade C
Offensive line: The offensive line actually was not the problem; they held up pretty well. Flacco was sacked three times, but some of those were his fault. Grade B
Overall: Too many dropped passes and too many miscommunications. The Ravens looked better in the second half and hopefully they can clean it up by Thursday. Grade C
