Jonathan Kraft On Ravens Struggles: ‘It’s Too Bad, Isn’t It?’

Is that question becoming a more manageable factor? Taking over at his own 20 with under four minutes to go, the quarterback was unflappable, in complete command and control of the offense.

The Baltimore Ravens are 0-3 for the first time in franchise history, and the common theme in all three losses is their inability to close out games in the fourth quarter.

Baltimore linebacker Elvis Dumervil was happy to be playing on a short week. As long as he’s not reckless with the ball, he could churn out the yards against the Baltimore Ravens.

And with the riches on their roster, the Bengals have managed to go 43-23-1 since Week 1 in 2011. No, that title belongs to one A.J. Green down the left seam and rifled a bullet that landed perfectly between two Ravens defenders covering him in a rare zone look.

But in Game 2, the Oakland Raiders beat the Ravens 37-33 by driving 80 yards in nine plays to score a touchdown with 26 seconds remaining. “One of these days we’ll figure out how to cover A.J. Green”.

Ok, I’m trying to maintain an upbeat approach this week after an emotional win, but something has to be said about head coach Marvin Lewis. “The one where he had the fumble, he tried to hold on at the last second”.

“I didn’t realize I was smiling but I mean, it’s one of those things”, Dalton said.

-PASSING OFFENSE: B-plus. Andy Dalton passed for 383 yards and three touchdowns, made more impressive when you consider how and when he produced those yards. He snagged five catches, including one for 40 yards, in the Ravens’ 30-17 playoff win over and at Pittsburgh in the playoffs past year. Although this is not good by any stretch, there is one saving grace.

No, I am not switching allegiances from my beloved Browns.

“We can draw it up a million ways, teams can do it across the league in whatever way you can say you want, but contracts and the ability to extend guys hands leadership down to your football team“, the 10-year veteran and longtime team captain said. “It just gets better and better each week, so I’m expecting to be even better this week. But this is different than previous year”. Guys have to make contested catches against them because of the man coverage they do.

For years, the Bengals have tried to strengthen the running game and the defense to take a few of the load off Dalton, who was seen as more of an orchestrator than a star. The Bengals are rushing the quarterback and that’s something they couldn’t do a year ago.

Dalton got paid. Green got paid. Miami dealt Dannell Ellerbe and a third-round pick to New Orleans for Kenny Stills, shipped Mike Wallace to Minnesota for a seventh-rounder, and gave buy-low candidate Jordan Cameron just $5 million guaranteed to replace Charles Clay. Welcome to a happy locker room. Despite his playoff losses, his teammates believe in him.

Dalton is averaging a touchdown pass every 11.5 throws, a significant improvement over his 2014 after (25.3). But sometimes, the anecdotal and the actual line up, and yesterday it happened with quarterbacks throwing the ball to players on the other team. “Plus, we have two of the best tackles [Whitworth and Andre Smith] in the league”. In just three weeks, he’s put up numbers (34 receptions/440 yards/4 TDs) that would be considered a decent season for many receivers in the league. Because if we don’t do that, then we’re going to have no chance. Dumervil remains a great pass-rusher, but he can now can be doubled or simply handled if facing a top tackle.

Of course, the Ravens aren’t likely to set up the Steelers defense if they are unable to run the football. It’s been only three weeks, but we might already be there with the once-vaunted Ravens defense. The Ravens appear to have gotten a break in that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger won’t play Thursday night, leaving Baltimore as a slight favorite over a Pittsburgh offense led by Michael Vick.

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