Baltimore vs. Atlanta
Ravens Keep Rolling With Another Dominant Win over an NFC South Team in 26-7 Win Over Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons became the latest victim of the Baltimore Ravens, as the AFC North leaders have made a habit of beating up on the NFC South this season.
A week after bludgeoning Tampa Bay 48-17, the Ravens built up a 17-0 halftime lead and kept Matt Ryan at bay in a 29-7 victory at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday. Those two wins go along with a Week 4 rout of Carolina, 38-10, improving the Ravens to 3-0 against the NFC South. Baltimore (5-2)also took over first place in their division thanks to Cincinnati’s loss to Indianapolis.
It was also, after a Week 1 loss to Bengals, the third-straight game where the Baltimore defense held the opposing team to 10 points or fewer, which is the sign that head coach John Harbaugh likes the most.
“We started fast. We got a three-and-out, went down, and scored. That’s how you want to start a game,” Harbaugh said, after enjoying a 28-0 first-quarter lead last week. “[The defense] comes to work every day. They bring their lunch box, they bring their blue shirts, and they go to work. And that’s how you become a good football team.”
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The defense held Ryan and the Falcons off the board until midway through the fourth quarter. While they did not intercept Ryan (29-of-44, 228 yards, one touchdown), he was hit plenty of times—sacked on five occasions and fumbled the ball away. Elvis Dumervil had two sacks and a fumble recovery while Pernell McPhee also had two sacks, and Terrell Suggs added one in the win.
“Good things—great things—are expected from this defense,” Dumervil said after the game. “We work hard all year, from training camp and mini-camp, so our motto is, ‘We’re just getting started.’”
Ryan, whose Falcons have now lost four-straight games, said that the defense made things challenging on his team all day.
"I think they've got a big menu in terms of what they do defensively," the Falcons quarterback said. "I thought we were on top of schematically what they wanted to do. Our issue came down to execution. I thought they out-executed us. They played better than we did."
Offensively, Joe Flacco was effective but far from his five-touchdown performance (in the first 16 minutes) in last week’s win in Tampa. Flacco was 16-of-25 for 258 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions in the win.
Justin Forsett led the team in rushing with 95 yards, and Bernard Pierce contributed with 21 yards on eight carries and a touchdown. The Smiths led the day in receiving once again—Torrey Smith had three catches for 81 yards and a touchdown while Steve Smith also had three catches for 67 yards.
“No matter what you do, we’re going to have someone that is good at beating [the coverage] and somewhere to go with the ball,” Flacco explained. “The biggest thing with that is that when teams are doing that to you, and they're trying to give you different looks, you're going to have to get the ball out quickly at times. The fact that guys are getting open quickly is a huge help to that.”
Tight end Owen Daniels led the team in receptions with six, and he also had a touchdown grab to cap the opening drive.
“We didn’t expect [Daniels] maybe to be this much in the forefront, and yet he has handled it tremendously well,” Harbaugh said of the tight end spending his first year with the team. “he has had a great season. He blocks; he makes big catches.”
After last week’s 35-0 onslaught in the first 16 minutes in Tampa last week, the Ravens started strong again, building a 17-0 halftime lead and outgaining their opponent 175-61 in the opening two quarters. The defense—which is conjuring up memories and comparisons to those led by two-time Super Bowl champion Ray Lewis—did the rest, keeping Atlanta at bay the entire game.
“We go against them all of training camp and all of the offseason,” Flacco said. “We know how good they are, so it's nice to see them really, really get after it.”
GAME RECAP
The Ravens’ defense set the tone with a three-and-out on Atlanta’s opening drive that saw two incomplete passes and a run that was stopped for no gain. After taking over near midfield, Baltimore benefited from a defensive pass interference call on Robert Alford that resulted in a 36-yard gain. On third and goal from the Falcons’ 5-yard line, Flacco found Daniels for the score and an early 7-0 lead.
McPhee sacked Ryan on the next drive that resulted in a fumble that was recovered by Dumervil, but Flacco threw an interception to Alford to hand the ball back to Atlanta on the first play of the second quarter. Atlanta couldn’t capitalize, however, and punted the ball back to the Ravens. This time, Baltimore drove from their 41-yard line—taking advantage of good field position again—to drive all the way to the goal line. That’s where Pierce took it in from a yard out to make it 14-0. Justin Tucker added a field goal from 38 yards out just before the half to make it 17-0 at the break.
The only scoring in the third quarter was a field goal by Tucker. With 7:18 remaining in the fourth, the Falcons got on the board when Ryan connected with Roddy White from four yards out to cut the Ravens’ lead to 20-7.
After a punt, the Ravens’ defense got a bit of revenge when Suggs sacked Ryan in the end zone for a safety. And after getting the ball via the free kick, Flacco found Torrey Smith from 39 yards out for the final score of the game and the 29-7 final.
UP NEXT
With the Bengals’ loss, the Ravens can put a little distance between them and Cincinnati if they can win on the road next week and avoid an 0-2 record against Cincy this season.
“It's a very, very tough place to play. They're a very, very good football team. We know each other inside and out, and we're looking forward to the opportunity,” Harbaugh said, in what were his first of likely several comments about the importance of next week’s game at the midway point of the season.