The Baltimore Ravens Can’t Stand Delays
Feb 3, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; A stop in play caused by blackout in the third quarter in Super Bowl XLVII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
There is something about delays the Baltimore Ravens cannot overcome. The most recent experience happened against the Chicago Bears. High winds and the threat of impending tornadoes delayed the game for almost 2 hours.
This also happened in the beginning of the season against the Denver Broncos, but that was before the game even started. Let’s look at the two other delays that occurred during the game.
This past Sunday, the Ravens started the game hot, with Ray Rice evenrunning for 47 yards in one play… quickly followed by a one-yard touchdown to end the drive.
Adding a field goal, it was 10-0 and the Ravens had the momentum that they needed. That’s when the delay occurred and the game fell apart.
The first quarter had not even ended, and the Ravens had scored 10 points using the running game. Afterwards, the running game had no big plays, and the passing game simply wasn’t there.
This was déjà vu, but just a little longer. We all remember the Super Bowl delay of 34 minutes after the Ravens took a 28-6 lead. Ravens’ fans watched in horror, until the score was 31-29, though still in the Raven’s favor. As we all know, we managed to win that game. Because we had a 22-point lead when the delay occurred, the Ravens only managed to score 6 more points after that.
I have no clue what is wrong with the Ravens when it comes to recovering from delays. It seems to be the second half “delay” also.
The Ravens scored three points in the second half, including overtime, against the Bears. In the win against the Cincinnati Bengals, they scored three points, zero in the third and fourth quarters, but managed to score a field goal in overtime to win.
The Ravens have scored 111 points in the second half. There have been a few games with more points than others creating the triple-digit number, but they have not come when it has been needed most. The Ravens have scored only 61 points in the second half of losses. Do the quick math in the six losses; that is only about 10 points per loss.
In the loss to the Packers, they scored 17 points in the second half, but no scoring in the first half. See the problem?
I cannot leave out that the Ravens have only scored 97 points in the first half, totaling 208 points on the season for all quarters.
There are two major things wrong with the Ravens, besides the passing and running game. The Ravens start games too slowly and cannot come back in the second half, or they start the game hot and the halftime break cools them off.
The stats show this with just a little calculation using my sports app. When we calculate an extra delay into the game, say by a power outage or extreme weather, the Ravens pretty much shut down completely.
If it were any time to get some Star Trek weather-bubble-control thing, it would be now for the Ravens’ season. And if the NFL could change the rules to void halftime, the Ravens would probably be much better off.
Let’s hope Terrell Suggs doesn’t try to blame the commissioner for the weather delay.
If the Ravens have to face another delay other than halftime, they had better hope to have a 22-point advantage or it will be another blown lead, if the Ravens have a lead in the first place.
I am sure some fancy ESPN statistics calculator could probably draw some connection to everything I mentioned, but until I hook that ESPN job, I am left to wait for the Ravens to play and hope they have both a hot start and can score double-digit points in the second half.
Any non-bandwagon fan knows (the Denver loss probably got rid of most of them), this is not an uncommon thing for the Ravens. One week the Ravens had an amazing third quarter of play, and another week, halftime shut them down.
Super Bowl win or not, this is one thing the Ravens have yet to overcome and need to if they are going to try to make the playoffs again this year.