Ravens outlast Jets 10-9 in a battle of defenses, pride

Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens defense reminded people on Monday night that they are still a powerful force in the National Football League, and still very much relevant as they defeated the New York Jets in a bruising 10-9 contest. While the Jets owned the top-ranked defense a season ago and dominated the offseason news, it was the Ravens defense that dominated the statistics last night, ultimately stealing the headlines and sealing the victory.

With the overload of news coverage and hype given to the Jets leading up to the 2010 season and Monday night opener, the Ravens felt disrespected and overlooked. Even though the Ravens were getting recognition for adding a number of new weapons on the offensive side of the ball to help with quarterback Joe Flacco’s progression, it still seemed that the majority of the headlines had to do with the Jets’ dominant defense and pound-it-out running game, a style of play that the Ravens have virtually perfected over the last two seasons.

Another theme that frequented offseason discussion about the Ravens was the apparent glaring weakness of the secondary. Many media members and analysts claimed that the Ravens had a very good team and that the roster was stacked with talent, but its secondary was its Achilles’ heel and would ultimately hold the team back from winning the Super Bowl. Baltimore answered those critics last night by allowing just 60 total passing yards to the Jets, forcing Mark Sanchez to go 10-21 passing for a measly 74 yards and 56.4 QB Rating. While the Jets are not a pass-happy team by any means, this was an outstanding performance from a Baltimore secondary that has been harshly criticized and questioned all offseason, and was without two injured starters from last season in All-Pro safety Ed Reed and promising young cornerback Lardarius Webb.

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Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense, though shaky at times, performed adequately enough to come out of New Meadowlands Stadium with a victory, despite three first-half turnovers. In what was correctly predicted to be a low-scoring affair, Baltimore outgained New York in total offense 282 yards to 176 yards. While the Ravens were outrushed by the Jets 49 yards to 116 yards, and managed only 1.4 yards per carry compared to the Jets’ 5.5, they dominated the most important statistic of the game, which was time of possession. Throughout the 60 minutes of the game, the Ravens held the ball for 38 minutes and 22 seconds, and they were able to do so because of their play on third downs. Flacco, who otherwise had an average evening and appeared to throw off of his back foot on a number of occasions, excelled on third downs, completing 9 out of 14 passes for 137 yards and 9 first downs. Overall the Ravens were 11 for 19 on third down conversions and the Jets were only 1 for 11, and wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who shined in his Ravens debut, helped out Flacco on a number of these third downs. This allowed Baltimore’s offense to stay on the field and dominate the time of possession, total plays, and total yards, which allowed them to eventually win the game despite offensive statistics from Flacco and running back Ray Rice that do not necessarily jump off the box score.

But in the end it was the Baltimore defense that shined, overcoming the aforementioned three turnovers and surviving being put in poor field position for much of the game. They were much more disciplined than the Jets defense (38 total penalty yards compared to the Jets’ 125, many of which came on crucial pass interference and defensive holding calls) and simply made more plays. One such play came from Lewis on the Jets final drive of the game, when he unloaded a brutal collision on Jets tight end Dustin Keller to break up a second down pass. Year after year the general consensus on Lewis seems to be that he has lost a step and that he is a good but no longer great player, but year after year he continues to produce at an elite level. His clutch hit undoubtedly sent a message that he should still be legitimately feared, along with the rest of Baltimore’s aggressive, hard-hitting defense.

And while too much stock should not be put into the first game of any season, the Ravens certainly are happy with the tone they set Monday night. They heard all of the talk about the Jets before this game, and after their victory they made it clear that they feel it should be their team being talked about. Who can blame them?

By: Greg Miletic
ProFootball-fans.com Baltimore Ravens Correspondent