No More Boring Baltimore, Ravens trick and treat the Raiders 29 to 10

Ravens now 4-3 on the season with win

At least for now it looks like the generic Baltimore offense is a thing of the past. For years the only thing the Ravens defense wanted for Christmas was a solid offense who could score occasionally. Well the Ravens are actually trying to go one step further.

As the rookie QB Joe Flacco continues to grow, head coach John Harbaugh is taking some of the pressure off the kid by using some traditional offense and some trickery. From the traditional department came 46 rushes for 192 yards. This was distributed between the workhorse Willis McGahee, 23 rushes for 58 yards; Ray Rice, another rookie with 8 carries for 64 yards; and big bruiser Le'Ron McClain 7 carries for 32 yards. Joe Flacco even got into the act with 4 carries for 23 yards. One of Flacco's carries was a 13 yard QB keeper in which he took out a Raiders safety and scored a touchdown.

Then there was the trickery. The Miami Dolphins have been running what they call the Wildcat offense in which running back Ronnie Brown will take a direct snap and run or consider a pass. They often have their QB Chad Pennington line up on the outside or in the slot on this formation. In fact we watched the Ravens stop it last week.

Well Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who coincidentally was the had coach in Miami last year, put his own spin on this concept. Instead of using the Wildcat he took Flacco and lined him up as a wide out and inserted back up QB Troy Smith to take the snap. They had enough success that head coach Harbaugh is telling everyone to get used to it.

In fact the highlight of this formation was a 43 yard pass from Troy Smith to Joe Flacco in the 3rd quarter. This set up a TD but that was called back due to a holding call. They settled for a field goal.

The Raiders defense is going to have an embarrassing film day when they see defenders getting beat by a QB in pass coverage and in run stoppage.

Overall Flacco had a modest day throwing the ball. He went 12 for 24 and 140 yards with 1 TD pass. Troy Smith had the 1 completion on his 1 attempt for 43 yards. Flacco has taken his share of criticism in the Baltimore media but he is getting better. But it is good they are trying to be innovative in the meantime.

As usual the Ravens defense did there expected run stuffing. The vaunted Raiders backfield were held to 47 total yards. They held the Raiders to 2 for 13 on 3rd downs and 1 for 4 on 4th downs overall.

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Baltimore 's "D" had 4 sacks on the day also, as they restrained the Raiders offense to a total 234 yards and 10 first downs for the day.

This was a good win for Baltimore and another chance to develop the new identity they have been seeking.

Now we can look forward to going to Cleveland. This time the Browns are going to see things they never saw from the Ravens before. More than just the in your face defense.

By Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Baltimore Ravens Correspondent