It certainly didn’t take long for the Baltimore Ravens to get their first loss of the season. The Cincinnati Bengals intercepted quarterback Joe Flacco four times on their way to a 15-10 victory.
Sunday can be classified as Flacco’s worst day as a professional so far. His mechanics were off, he was forcing passes and looked confused in the pocket at times.
One positive of Flacco’s performance was his touchdown to Derrick Mason in the third quarter which was the only touchdown of the game.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh didn’t help his struggling quarterback much, dropping three passes. Houshmandzadeh has the reputation of being reliable, but he looked anything except reliable Sunday.
Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron can take some blame for the poor offensive showing as well. In the past two weeks he hasn’t used Ray Rice very much rushing or in the passing game. If the Ravens want to be successful this season, Rice is an integral part of the offense.
Baltimore’s special teams still leaves a lot to be desired, too. Tom Zbikowski was better returning punts this week, but still needs to improve in that role if he’s going to keep that job. In only one instance, but an instance that possibly cost the Ravens the game, the kickoff coverage let Bernard Scott return a kick 60 yards. That return set up Terrell Suggs’ controversial roughing the passer penalty.
The defense, as always, carried the team Sunday. Baltimore was able to reach Palmer on several occasions, forcing Carson Palmer to throw the ball early or take a sack. The front seven did their job clogging up the running lanes and not leaving much room for Cedric Benson. Baltimore’s secondary didn’t allow the Bengals to get any long touchdowns. The secondary did have trouble picking off Palmer. Zbikowski and fellow safety Dawan Landry each dropped an interception that could have easily led to touchdowns by the offense. Now two games in to the new season and the defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown.
The Ravens will now regroup and prepare for the home opener against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
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