Top Takeaways from Ravens commanding win over Texans: Fourth-and-1 gambles

The Baltimore Ravens continued to look like the cream of the NFL crop in Week Two after they followed up their dominating win in their season opener with another landslide victory over the Houston Texans on the road 33-16 this past Sunday.

This was a rematch of a Week 11 game from last season when the two teams met in Baltimore and even though the Texans scored more than doubled their messily seven points from that rough outing, they still didn’t fare much better as the Ravens made more plays than their hosts for most of the day on both sides of the ball.

Here is one of the top takeaways that I observed in the Ravens Week Two win:

Baltimore’s fourth-and-1 gamble paid off but Houston’s did not

In the NFL the difference in winning or losing often comes downs to which team made more plays on crucial downs and there is no situation more crucial or indicator for success more telling than how teams fare on fourth down. It is a gamble that should be strategically taken and requires near flawless execution.

History favors the bold and winning teams are often on the right side of it because they are aggressive on crucial downs and in key conversion situations. On Sunday both the Ravens and the Texans went for it on fourth-and-1 at different times in the game and the outcomes form the two teams were juristically different.

Houston went for it from their own 34-yard line in the first quarter, Baltimore made a great defensive stop and their offense put the ball in the end zone four plays later on a one-yard touchdown pass from reigning MVP Lamar Jackson to his Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard.

The Ravens went for theirs at the top of the fourth quarter deep in Texans territory on the opposite 30-yard line and even though Houston’s defense loaded the line of scrimmage to stuff what they were certain was going to be and ultimately was a running play, that didn’t stop veteran running back Mark Ingram from finding a crease and galloping virtually untouched to the endzone for a touchdown.

“The key for me was to catch the snap and go through my reads,” Ingram said. “The O-line did a tremendous job. I was able to press, set up their blocks and they created a big seam for me to run through. All credit goes to the nine guys blocking for me.”

While both teams showed their aggressiveness on their respective attempts, the difference was not only in the questionable decision and failed execution by the Texans compared to the flawless execution of the brilliantly called play call by the Ravens. The biggest and most pivotal difference was the time in the game in which they decided to go for it and the risk and reward factor associated with it.

When Houston decided to leave their offense on the field deep on their own side of the field, it was late in the first quarter and they only trailed by three points after their defense held the Ravens to a field goal on the previous drive. It was an unnecessary risk that backfired horribly against a team that has shown a propensity for capitalizing on the mistakes, miscues, and turnovers of their opponents dating back to last season.

Whereas in Baltimore’s case, their offense had already driven 45 yards in five plays and was already up by 10 points heading into the final stanza and wanted to plunge the proverbial dagger in the hearts of the Texans. The worst-case scenario for the Ravens, if they didn’t convert in that situation, was that they would trot their defense that had been giving the Texans fits all afternoon back on the field with Watson and company 70 yards away from pay dirt whereas their offense only had short trek when Houston failed to convert their fourth-and-1 earlier in the game.

The Texans knew coming into their Week Two tilt with the dominant three-phase juggernaut that the Ravens have been dating back to last season that they would have to be aggressive on both sides of the ball, not give Baltimore extra possessions by turning the ball over and stealing some extra offensive possessions of their own by going for it on fourth down, picking up clutch first downs and scoring touchdowns and not settling for field goals.

Houston failed to do all of the above but the highly questionable decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 so early in the game when it seemed the two teams were on equal footing and they were only trailing by three points was a pivotal turning point that they could not afford and were never able to recover from. However, it was business as usual for the Ravens and their low-risk gamble paid major dividends as it shut the door on any hopes of a late comeback for the home team and secured their victory.

“It was a critical play,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said. “We had been preparing for that kind of situation. I give [Offensive Coordinator] Greg [Roman] and the offensive coaches and the players who executed it all the credit. They’re the ones who made it happen. That was big. That was a big turning point in the game.”

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