Week 3 Highlights: Ravens Vs Rams

Normally I choose games of either post-season significance or exceptional effort from both teams to review, but sometimes you get a team that so royally hammers an opponent into the ground they deserve a shout-out.

So here it is: the Baltimore Ravens are awesome.

Joe Flacco. 389 yards. 3 Touchdowns. No interceptions. 103.6 rating. Well done.

Baltimore’s fourth year pro out of Delaware is growing before our eyes into a potential game changer.

The Ravens leapt out to a 21 point lead by the end of the first quarter and sat back as they coasted to a 37-7 walkover. Impressive, I hear you cry? On paper it’s good, but on the field it’s even better, because at times it looked like they weren’t even trying. So tight and organic is this fantastic defence it matters not whether they play a complicated zone coverage or stick man-to-man, it looks like one body moving as one.

Their offense too – for so many years the component of a team that had unrivalled consistency on the tackling side of the ball blamed for their lack of success – is suddenly a thing of cohesive beauty.

Okay, I’m going Balti-MAD, but these Ravens are good, and they could get even better. I think the Steelers will have to push really hard to keep the division title they so covert, because I can’t see their main rivals losing many, if any, after the halfway point when absolute synchronisation has been achieved.

A note on Rams’ QB, Sam Bradford: last year’s runaway Rookie of the Year has had a rough start to 2011, but it doesn’t seem to be down to him. Although he sits way down the charts, his stats haven’t been helped by numerous dropped balls and awful protection that has seen him sacked 11 times for a total of 79 yards through three games – not good enough. Despite his troubles, this game is the only game in which he’s thrown an interception, and he only lost one to a swarming D that sacked him an unacceptable 5 times. He is still a star; the kid just needs a little help out there.


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