Baltimore Ravens: Big push falls short

The Vikings hold on to beat the Ravens 33 to 31.Yeah, yeah, yeah the media who is having a love crush with Brett Favre is going to tell you he won this game. And the old man cans still play. The main thing is he gives you a chance to complete plays the Vikings could not complete before.

But the Ravens have humbled many a QB and RB. On Sunday they did not. And say what you want the Vikings bread and butter is Adrian Peterson. His 143 yards on the ground set the tone for the Vikings to do other things. And Favre did not waste that opportunity.

This is the second week in a row that the Ravens have allowed a 100+ yard rusher. Is it the departure of Rex Ryan? Is that the aging of key defensive players?

Frankly both may be a factor. Baltimore did not cause a turnover in this game. That is a big part of their defensive attack, as is stopping the run. They did not do that either. The Vikings put up 167 rushing yards on the vaunted Ravens D. They also put a complimentary 259 yards in the air.

Thankfully the Ravens held the Vikings to some field goals or this game would have not close enough at the end for a last minute FG attempt. But the fact is it was.

Yes, credit the Ravens led by Joe Flacco for fighting there way back into this game. He was 28 for 43 for 385 yards and 2 TD's. No INT's. He had a nice 9 yard per attempt average.

Being down 14 to 3 at the half led to the Ravens abandoning the run somewhat. And with it only 20 to 10 heading into the 4 th quarter they continued to throw more. They did run the ball fairly well against the Vikings.18 carries for 81 yards. Ray Rice had 2 rushing TD's also.

Speaking of Ray Rice, he is becoming like the Brian Westbrook of the Ravens, He had 10 carries for 77 yards, the 2 TD's, 10 receptions for 117 yards. WOW, this guy can play. And unlike Westbrook he can sustain carrying a load without the same worry of durability.

But I am always concerned when your leading rusher is your leading receiver. That is never good. I don't care how dynamic of a player he is. It is never good for that much of your offense to be dependent on one guy. After a while it gives opposing defenses a chance to focus on shutting down that one guy.

Now we should give credit to Flacco for finding 7 different targets. But I do think this team lacks a big time wide out. But they did generate 448 yards of offense against a pretty good defense.

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Some positive observations:

• The Ravens did not concede victory

• Scored 28 second half points. 21 in the 4 th. Imagine if the defense returns more to its old form and they can put some drives together like that to finish a game strong?

• No turnovers from the offense

• Giving up 3 sacks to the Vikings is not too bad

• Nice kick return by Lardarius Webb of 40 yards

• Ray Rice is turning into a big game back

Some things to work out:

• Get McGahee and McClain more productive in the run game. Last year all three were complimentary

• Have a plan B to Ray Rice

• Can't fall behind so early and thus need to abandon the run

• I still believe that the are trying to lean to much to an Indianapolis type offense when they do not have that kind of personnel. Flacco may be growing into that kind of QB, but they do not have a Marvin Harrison or Reggie Wayne with complimentary receivers

• A related problem is that these developments have lead to the defense having to pitch a tent on the field. The Vikings had the ball for 34 minutes and 43 seconds. Ravens 25 minutes and 17 seconds. Despite the avalanche of offense in the 4 th quarter. Now don't get me wrong sometimes the time of possession is a little overused but it applies to the Ravens. Especially when you play a team like the Vikings. They have the Home Run RB and a QB that can stink all day but just need more opportunities. So if you limit them he can't beat you.

• I thought on the potential game winning drive that there could have been more urgency to get closer. Just because your kicker can kick from 40 – 55 yards does not mean that it is a high percentage move. The Ravens should have picked up the pace and got at least 15 yards closer.

This loss was really bad also because it was the 3 rd loss in a row. Hopefully the strong finish will be something to build on.

By: Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Baltimore Ravens Correspondent