Baltimore Ravens report card versus the Houston Texans
Quarterback– Do not let the completion percentage lie to you, Joe Flacco was on target most of the game. Several good throws were dropped or were slightly off. Flacco did not turn the ball over and did not have much time to make plays. Overall, I thought he had an effective game. He finished the game with a 97.1 quarterback rating. Grade B
Running back– The running game never got going. Ray Rice’s longest run was nine yards and Ricky Williams’ longest run was five yards. The Texans made a clear effort to stop the run and they did. Rice finished the game averaging 2.9 yards on the ground. Grade C
Receivers– Too many drops for a post season game. Anquan Boldin had the best game of the group with four receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown. Lee Evans and Kris Wilson also contributed in big ways. Ed Dickson has great hands but needs to be more consistent on the easy catches. The officials let the Texans get away with a lot of contact, missing some pass interference calls. Grade C
Offensive line– Lets be honest, they got manhandled. Even Pro Bowl guard Marshal Yanda got beat. They allowed five sacks and six quarterback hits. Some of the sacks were from good coverage but most of them were from bad blocking. Grade D
Defensive line– They had trouble containing Texans running back Arian Foster, who ran for 132 yards. They also had problems pressuring T.J. Yates, who only got sacked twice. Grade C
Linebackers– Ray Lewis had a good game leading the Ravens in tackles. Terrell Suggs also had six tackles. Grade B
Secondary– This unit won the game for the Ravens. Lardarius Webb had two interceptions and four tackles. Ed Reed had the interception that pretty much ended the game for the Texans, and had six tackles. Cary Williams was the player that made the hit on Jacoby Jones that forced him to muff the punt, and Jimmy Smith was the player that recovered the football. Bernard Pollard also had a some solid tackles. Everyone contributed for this unit. Grade A++
Special Teams- Billy Cundiff was on target making two 40-plus yard field goals. Sam Koch made some monster punts averaging 49.3 yards per punt. The kick coverage unit could still use work but the two specialists were great. Grade A
Coaching Staff- The Ravens again saw an early lead nearly fade away. The team needs to find a way to play hard all four quarters if they want to beat the New England Patriots. There were some very questionable play calls once again by Cam Cameron in short yardage situations. Grade B