Slayed by Green Bay

The Ravens allowed 350 yards of offense to the Packers in the 27-14 loss.

The Ravens let another game get away from under them yesterday, but ironically, they never held the lead in the game. No, instead they just committed 12 penalties for 135 yards that helped the Packers on their way to a 27-14 win. Even more ironic, the Packers committed 11 penalties themselves, for a whopping 175 yards, but the Ravens still couldn't come away with the win despite the advantage.

A large part of that is thanks to Joe Flacco, who threw 3 interceptions in the game, 2 of which came in the red zone and killed scoring drives that would have either given the Ravens the lead when they were trailing 17-14, or pulled the Ravens within 3 points of the Packers when the Ravens were down 24-14.

Don't look now, but Flacco is a mediocre QB. After a lightning hot start to the season in which Flacco threw 8 touchdowns in the first 5 games, versus just 3 INT's, Flacco has now thrown 8 INT's in his last 7 games, including the 3 he threw last night. He now has 14 TD and 11 INT on the year.

His decision making has taken a step back as well, and last night saw him throw into triple coverage on one INT as well as throwing across his body on another. Maybe Flacco is suffering from the general lack of focus that the Ravens are suffering through right now, as they lead the NFL in penalties. Who knows. One thing is sure, and that is Flacco is costing the Ravens games more than he is winning them.

The Ravens gained only 185 yards of offense on their own, and couldn't get any thing going on offense all night. Ray Rice was held in check for 71 total yards from scrimmage.

On defense, the Ravens reverted back to their pre-bye vanilla defense. While they did force the Packers into 4 turnovers, they allowed 350 yards of offense, and got to the much-sacked Aaron Rodgers only once. Once! A QB who has been sacked 45 times this year. ONCE!!!

Going forward, the 6-6 Ravens are still in the hunt for the playoffs along with pretty much every team in the AFC minus the Browns and the Chiefs, but at this point, it's hard to even care anymore. The Ravens routinely find ways to beat themselves so excuse me while I go back to work instead of working out the scenarios.

The Ravens host the 2-10 Detroit Lions next week.