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| ATL at ARI | BAL at SEA | CLE at CIN | DAL at CAR | DEN at SD | GB at CHI | HOU at IND | KC at DET |
| MIA at NE | NYG at BUF | NYJ at TEN | OAK at JAX | PHI at NO | PIT at STL | TB at SF | WAS at MIN |
Week 16 Game Recap: Baltimore Ravens 6, Seattle Seahawks 27
What you need to know
| Baltimore Ravens |
Rookie quarterback Troy Smith got the first start of his NFL career in a disappointing 21 point loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Smith showed signs that he might have what it takes to make it in the league, but still had a rough game. He showed confidence, evasiveness, and determination, but also was inaccurate and failed to lead the Ravens on any scoring drives during the competitive portion of the game. In fact, the only Ravens score came late in the game when Smith hit Derrick Mason over the top of the Seahawks defense for a 79 yard touchdown.
Running back Willis McGahee left the game after only five carries with injured ribs. He didn't return. In his stead, Mike Anderson has his highest producing game of the year, earning the team lead in rushes and rushing yards. Musa Smith also saw his usual five carries in the game, while Troy Smith scrambled with the ball on several occasions, as well.
Derrick Mason was the only Ravens receiver to have a good game, and even that was mostly thanks to the long touchdown bomb from Troy Smith. Mason and Mark Clayton were Smith's preferred targets, but all Ravens receivers suffered from Smith's general inaccuracy.
The Ravens defense struggled without their emotional leader Ray Lewis, who missed the game with an injured hand. Baltimore also played another game without their starting cornerbacks. The defense struggled against the run, and let the game get out of reach by allowing Seattle a 21 point second quarter. The game wasn't ever close afterwards.
| Seattle Seahawks |
Matt Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander, and the Seattle defense all had good games to lead the Seahawks to an impressively easy 27-6 point victory over Baltimore in which they secured the NFC's numbers three seed in the playoffs. Hasselbeck threw two second quarter touchdowns (and two second quarter interceptions) and linebacker Leroy Hill recovered a fumble and returned it for a score to effectively end the game by halftime. At that point it was 21 to zero and the Seahawks coasted to an easy victory.
Shaun Alexander ran with more decisiveness and power than he has shown all year. He busted through the Ravens defense for several gains of ten or more yards, and finished the game with a 5.6 average on his 13 carries. He also scored Hasselbeck's second touchdown pass on a screen pass he raced to the end zone from 14 yards out. Bobby Engram and Nate Burleson led the team in receiving, with Burleson the only one with a score.
The Seattle defense played superbly, shutting out the Ravens for over 55 minutes and only allowing a score in garbage time. They scored a touchdown, recovered three fumbles, and sacked Troy Smith twice.
What you ought to know
| QB Troy Smith, Pass: 16 - 33 - 199 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 6 - 25 - 0 |
Smith started slowly and suffered from inaccuracy throughout, but still showed some signs that he might have what it takes to be an NFL quarterback. He leaned heavily on his starting wide receivers for his targets. Derrick Mason was the main beneficiary, with ten looks, including the Ravens only score of the game on a 79 yard bomb late in the fourth quarter. Smith showed decisiveness in the passing game, and didn't hesitate to pull the ball down and scramble. He had a hard time protecting the football, though, as he lost two separate fumbles.
| RB Mike Anderson, Rush: 8 - 44 - 0, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (1 targets) |
Anderson had his most productive game of the season as he took a majority of the carries once Willis McGahee left the game with an injury. Anderson led the team in rushes and rushing yardage, but overall he game wasn't that great. He lost yardage a few times, and he fumbled the ball that was returned for a touchdown by the Seahawks defense.
| RB Musa Smith, Rush: 7 - 25 - 0, Rec: 2 - 12 - 0 (4 targets) |
Despite McGahee's injury, Smith still only saw carries in spot duty. He caught two of his targets.
| RB Willis McGahee, Rush: 5 - 10 - 0 |
McGahee left the game over only five carries and did not return. It was reported that he had injured ribs that weren't taking well to treatment.
| RB LeRon McClain, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0 (1 targets) |
McClain's only carry resulted in a lost fumble, although the fumble was credited to Troy Smith as it was the result of a poor handoff.
| WR Derrick Mason, Rec: 5 - 98 - 1 (10 targets) |
Mason led the team in targets and receptions. He had the lone touchdown for the Ravens, hauling in a 79 yard score in garbage time when he managed to get behind the entire Seahawks defense.
| WR Mark Clayton, Rec: 3 - 39 - 0 (7 targets) |
Clayton was Troy Smith's second favorite target, but he only managed to haul in three of his looks, and two of those came in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach. Clayton was targeted deep a few times, and had at least one drop.
| WR Devard Darling, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (3 targets) |
Darling was only targeted in the third quarter, with the exception of an unsuccessful two point try in the fourth quarter.
| TE Quinn Sypniewski, Rec: 3 - 28 - 0 (4 targets) |
Sypniewski showed good hands as he hauled in most of his targets. He saw significant game action with both Todd Heap and Daniel Wilcox ailing.
| TE Lee Vickers, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (3 targets) |
Vickers targets all came in the fourth quarter during garbage time.
| PK Matt Stover 0 - 0 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 0 points |
Stover never had an opportunity to score in the game, as the Ravens were never in field goal range, and the team opted to go for two after their only touchdown.
| BAL Rush Defense |
Baltimore's rush defense gave up 144 total yards on 36 carries for a 4.0 average. They gave up no scores but allowed the Seahawks to win the time of possession battle.
| BAL Pass Defense |
Baltimore's pass defense gave up 192 yards on 19 of 29 passing for 6.6 yards per attempt. They allowed two touchdowns and had two interceptions.
| QB Matt Hasselbeck, Pass: 18 - 27 - 199 - 2 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 3 - 12 - 0 |
Hasselbeck had an up and down game, but benefited from a pass heavy game plan that earned the Seahawks the lead and an easy victory. He threw two touchdown passes as well as two interceptions in the Seahawks' explosive second quarter. Hasselbeck hit Nate Burleson for the first and Shaun Alexander for the second. Once the score was decidedly in Seattle's favor, the Seahawks changed their game plan to one of primarily running the ball and eating up clock. Hasselbeck attempted 21 passes in the first half compared to six in the second.
| QB Seneca Wallace, Pass: 1 - 2 - 3 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 5 - 0 |
Wallace got some playing time late in the game once the Seahawks' victory was secured. He only threw two balls (both to tight end Will Heller), but was mostly in the game to hang the ball off and eat up the clock.
| RB Maurice Morris, Rush: 15 - 40 - 0, Rec: 1 - -1 - 0 (1 targets) |
Morris led the team in rushes but didn't do much with them, averaging just over 2.5 yards per carry.
| RB Shaun Alexander, Rush: 13 - 73 - 0, Rec: 1 - 14 - 1 (1 targets) |
Alexander ran with atypical power and burst against the Seahawks. He had several rushes of 10 or more yards, and finished with a 5.6 yards per carry average. Alexander's one target in the passing game resulted in a 14 yard run after a screen pass for a second quarter touchdown. Despite his solid game, Alexander was second in the team to Maurice Morris in rushes.
| RB Leonard Weaver, Rush: 4 - 14 - 0, Rec: 2 - 20 - 0 (3 targets) |
Weaver had one target in each of the first three quarters of the game, and added four carries. Otherwise, he was the Seahawks blocking fullback.
| WR Bobby Engram, Rec: 5 - 69 - 0 (7 targets) |
Engram had a solid game, leading the team in targets, receptions, and receiving yards.
| WR Nate Burleson, Rec: 3 - 52 - 1 (5 targets) |
Burleson had a nice game thanks to his 21 yard score off the arm of Matt Hasselbeck to open the scoring in the game. He finished second on the team in receptions and receiving yards.
| WR Deion Branch, Rec: 2 - 24 - 0 (6 targets) |
Branch has the second most targets on the team, but only managed to haul in two of them. All of his looks came in the first half.
| WR Ben Obomanu, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (1 targets) |
Obamanu's only target came at the beginning of the second half.
| TE Marcus Pollard, Rec: 3 - 15 - 0 (4 targets) |
Pollard caught three quarters of his targets, mostly on shorter routes.
| TE Will Heller, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (2 targets) |
Both of Heller's targets came off the arm of Seneca Wallace, who entered the game late in the fourth quarter with the victory secured.
| PK Josh Brown 2 - 2 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 9 points |
Brown made field goals of 42 and 39 yards in the third quarter, and connected on all three of his PATs.
| SEA Rush Defense |
Seattle's rush defense gave up 106 total yards on 27 carries for a 3.9 average. They forced a Mike Anderson fumble that Leroy Hill ran back for a second quarter touchdown.
| SEA Pass Defense |
Seattle's pass defense gave up 187 yards on 16 of 33 passing for 5.7 yards per attempt. They only allowed one score, a garbage time 79 yard reception by Derrick Mason. They had two sacks.
