Week 3 Recap – Baltimore Ravens vs. St. Louis Rams
ST. LOUIS – On September 25, the Ravens and Rams had their third regular season game of the year. The Rams are coming off a disappointing loss away this past Monday against the New York Giants and the Ravens are coming off a surprising loss in an away game last Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
Pre-game notes: The Ravens’ head coach, John Harbaugh, squared up against his former coach of the Giants, Rams’ head coach Steve Spagnuolo. The Ravens’ WR Lee Evans is inactive because of his injury. Ravens CB Domonique Foxworth is also inactive due to injury. The Rams’ RB Steven Jackson is starting tonight after missing last week’s game with his right leg injury. Rams WR Danny Amendola is inactive again because of his shoulder injury. Another receiver of the Rams, Greg Salas, is inactive because of his rib injury.
1st quarter:
On 4th-and-6 at the STL 40, Rams P Donnie Jones punted the ball 41 yards and it was returned to the BAL 22.
On 2nd-and-6 at the BAL 26, Ravens QB Joe Flacco threw a deep right pass to WR Torrey Smith, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by K Billy Cundiff. Ravens 7 Rams 0
On 4th-and-2 at the STL 32, Jones punted the ball 41 yards and it was returned to the STL 44.
On 4th-and-14 at the STL 33, Cundiff unsuccessfully kicked a 51-yard field goal.
On 4th-and-6 at the BAL 39, Jones punted the ball 39 yards into the end zone for a touchback.
On 1st-and-10 at the STL 41, Flacco threw a deep middle pass to Smith, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Cundiff. Ravens 14 Rams 0
On 4th-and-14 at the STL 16, Jones punted the ball 39 yards and it was fair caught at the BAL 45.
On 1st-and-10 at the STL 18, Flacco threw a deep left pass to Smith, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Cundiff. Ravens 21 Rams 0
On 4th-and-19 at the STL 11, Jones punted the ball 55 yards and it was returned for no gain to the BAL 34.
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2nd quarter:
On 4th-and-2 at the STL 32, Cundiff unsuccessfully kicked a 51-yard field goal.
On 2nd-and-7 at the BAL 26, Rams QB Sam Bradford threw a deep right pass intended for WR Danario Alexander and the ball was intercepted by CB Lardarius Webb, who returned it for no gain to the BAL 3.
On 4th-and-2 at the STL 3, Cundiff successfully kicked a 21-yard field goal. Ravens 24 Rams 0
On 4th-and-6 at the STL 19, Jones punted the ball 59 yards and it was returned to the BAL 38.
On 3rd-and-10 at the STL 13, Cundiff successfully kicked a 31-yard field goal. Ravens 27 Rams 0
3 rd quarter:
On 4th-and-10 at the STL 20, Cundiff successfully kicked a 38-yard field goal. Ravens 30 Rams 0
On 1st-and-25 at the BAL 34, Bradford threw a deep right pass to WR Brandon Gibson, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Brown. Rams 7 Ravens 30
On 4th-and-6 at the STL 49, Ravens P Sam Koch punted the ball 40 yards and it was fair caught at the STL 9.
4th quarter:
On 4th-and-28 at the STL 37, Jones punted the ball 48 yards and it was returned to the BAL 22.
On 4th-and-10 at the STL 49, Koch punted the ball 49 yards into the end zone for a touchback.
On 4th-and-6 at the STL 35, Bradford was sacked at the STL 31.
On 3rd-and-goal at the STL 6, Flacco was strip sacked at the STL 13 by LB Chris Chamberlain and the ball was recovered by S Quintin Mikell, who returned it to the STL 22.
On 1st-and-10 at the STL 37, Bradford was strip sacked at the STL 28 by LB Ray Lewis and the ball was recovered by DT Haloti Ngata, which resulted in a touchdown and extra point by Cundiff. Ravens 37 Rams 7
On 4th-and-2 at the STL 28, Jones punted the ball 50 yards and it was returned for no gain to the BAL 23.
On 3nd-and-8 at the STL 39, Flacco knelt to the STL 40. End game
Post-game notes: The Rams lost zero starters throughout the game due to injury, just like last week. The Ravens had two injuries; S Haruki Nakamura injured his left knee and Cundiff got hurt on a roughing the kicker penalty near the end, missed the next kickoff, but was fine after the game’s conclusion. Smith did an impressive feat: his first three receptions went for 133 yards and three touchdowns. Flacco had a career-high 389 passing yards and a career-high 74 yard pass. The Ravens also set franchise records for most offensive yards in a half (406) and in a game (553). Gibson had a good game with five catches for 55 yards and the Rams’ only touchdown.
In a loss that was deserved, the Rams got annihilated by the hard-hitting Ravens 37-7. The Ravens beat the Rams on sacks, with five sacks to two. The Ravens killed the Rams on total net yards, with 553 to 244. The Ravens had more net yards rushing, with 168 to 112, and way more net passing yards, with 385 to 132. The Rams’ average gain per offensive play was close to half of what the Ravens had. The Rams also had a lot more penalty yards, with 117 to 32. The Ravens were bad in the red zone, scoring touchdowns on one of four tries, and were zero for one on goal-to-go. The Ravens didn’t even have to punt until near the end of the third quarter; they did miss two 51-yard field goals, though. On the contrary, the Rams punted six times and had an interception in the first half alone.
The season is looking even worse for the Rams, now that they are 0-3 in the regular season; however, because Seattle beat Arizona, Seattle and Arizona are only one game up on the Rams, though the 49ers beat Cincinnati, so the Rams are two games down in the division. I would be very surprised if the Rams win this year’s division for the first time since 2003 and make the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
By Trevor Roe
ProFootball-fans.com St. Louis Rams Correspondent