Breaking Down the Ravens

This Sunday, the Patriots will host the 9-7 Baltimore Ravens for the second time this season, as both teams look to stay alive this Wildcard Weekend.  The first meeting, the Patriots won 27-21, thanks to a Mark Clayton drop on fourth down in the final seconds. Since then, the Ravens have really transformed.  They went from a pass happy team the first few weeks, to a very well balanced team on offense more recently.  While the Ravens have had their fair share of struggles this season, they are far from a team to fool around with, and will certainly have the Patriots hands full Wildcard weekend.

On Offense

The Ravens are led by 2nd year quarterback Joe Flacco who has aired the ball out a lot more this year, as he finished

Stopping Ray Rice may be the key to the Patriots winning on Sunday

with 21 touchdowns and over 3,600 yards passing.   Interestingly, Flacco has taken his fair share of hits recently, being sacked 18 times over the final six weeks of the regular season.

Flacco’s top targets include veteran Derrick Mason; who tore the Patriots apart in week four, tight end Todd Heap, and wide receiver Mark Clayton and Kelley Washington.  However, the Ravens’ most dangerous weapon offensively is running back Ray Rice.  Rice led the squad with 78 receptions as well as 1339 rushing yards on 5.3 yards per carry.  However, the Ravens’ talent in the backfield doesn’t end there.  They have LeRon McClain, the bruising halfback/fullback as well as Willis McGahee, who has come up big as of late.

On Defense

While the Ravens have a more than capable offense, their defense has been spectacular again this season.  Although they run a base 3-4,  they deploy more of an attacking defense with most of their work comes out of sub-packages and exotic blitz schemes.

The Ravens are still led by inside linebacker Ray Lewis, who had his highest tackle total since 2004, and was an especially dominant force in 2009.  In the secondary, they have one of the best ballhawking safeties of all time, Ed Reed.  Reed had been out with injury the four weeks prior to week 17, but he returned last week against the Raiders.  While he is still hurting, he will still be out there, and with Ed Reed in the game you have no choice but to take notice.  The Ravens also have another great safety, Dawan Landry, as well as two more solid cornerbacks in Domonique Foxworth and Chris Carr, who were both picked up during the offseason.

On the edge, the Ravens feature outside linebacker Terrell Suggs, who has battled injury and has had a bit of a down year, but is a formidable presence nonetheless.  The Ravens also have the solid Jarret Johnson, who is a solid presence on the outside, although he won’t dazzle you with his sack total.  Along the line, the Ravens feature the dominant Haoli Ngata, nose tackle Kelley Gregg, and ends Dwan Edwards, Justin Bannan, and Trevor Pryce, who picked up 6.5 sacks this year.