Click here to see all recaps on a single page
| Other Week 10 Game Recaps | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL at HOU | BUF at NE | CAR at OAK | DEN at CLE | GB at MIN | IND at PIT | JAX at DET | KC at SD |
| NO at ATL | NYG at PHI | SEA at MIA | SF at ARI | STL at NYJ | TEN at CHI | ||
Week 10 Game Recap: Baltimore Ravens 41, Houston Texans 13
What you need to know
| Baltimore Ravens |
QB Joe Flacco got off to a fantastic start, putting up some of his best numbers of the season in the first half, but then became a victim of his own success as the Ravens focused more on the run in the second half to protect their lead. Still, it was an impressive outing for the rookie with almost 200 yards and two TDs.
RB Willis McGahee dominated the running rotation for the Ravens and torched the Houston defense for 121 total yards and two rushing TDs as he regularly bulled over defenders.
TE Todd Heap made a splash as he hauled in five big receptions for 58 yards and a pair of TDs. He showed good speed and the ability to get open -- a marked contrast to his performances earlier in the season.
| Houston Texans |
QB Sage Rosenfels, in for injured starter Matt Schaub, racked up almost 300 yards, but his day was anything but a success as he regularly shot himself in the foot with bad decisions. While he did throw a 60 yard TD to WR Kevin Walter, this was more than offset by four bad interceptions.
Rookie RB Steve Slaton was a non-factor in the game as he received only four carries. While he might have been able to salvage his day with a 58 yard TD off a screen pass, that score was unfortunately called back due to a penalty.
WR Andre Johnson was the most targeted receiver on the day, but was unable to make a big impact as QB Sage Rosenfels was off target early and the Ravens defense seemed focused on keeping the talented WR contained.
What you ought to know
| QB Joe Flacco, Pass: 15 - 23 - 185 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 8 - 0 |
At the end of the year, as we look back over Flacco's rookie season, this outing will probably be listed as one of his best games. No, he didn't put up big yardage numbers, but that wasn't because of any shortcomings on his part, but rather was a result of the Ravens focusing on the running game to protect their lead in the second half. In the first half, Flacco was 10 for 15 for 143 yards through the air and a beautiful 43 yard TD pass to a streaking WR Yamon Figurs. Not bad at all. Certainly some of this success was due to the Texans' abysmal pass defense, but even a bad NFL defense is more talented than anything Flacco faced in college. While he amassed only 42 yards in the second half, Flacco did add a second passing TD in the fourth quarter on a one yard toss to TE Todd Heap at the goal line. One negative thing that has unfortunately continued for Flacco, however, is his penchant for putting the ball on the ground. While he only did it once today and the fumble wasn't lost to Houston, it still marks the continuation of what became a trend for Flacco in the first half of the season.
| RB Willis McGahee, Rush: 25 - 112 - 2, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (1 targets) |
Back in the mix after spending last week's game on the sidelines, McGahee punished the Texans' rush defense all day long. McGahee looked impressive as he smashed through tacklers, hit the holes with speed and converted on key downs and in short yardage situations. His success in these situations clearly encouraged the Ravens' coaching staff to continue giving McGahee the goal-line carries that earlier in the season had gone to fellow RB Le'Ron McClain, and he rewarded their faith in him with his two TDs from the one and four yard lines respectively. If there was any shortcoming in McGahee's performance, it would be in the passing game as rookie teammate Ray Rice was used in more passing situations. Given McGahee's final numbers, however, that really wasn't a big deal.
| RB Ray Rice, Rush: 7 - 17 - 0, Rec: 2 - 2 - 0 (2 targets) |
After the best day of his career last week, the return of fellow RB Willis McGahee relegated Rice to the backup position. While he was given seven rushes and used regularly in the passing game (including an end zone target), he was not able to convert those limited chances into any meaningful stats. With McGahee finding success, the coaches stayed with the hot hand in McGahee.
| RB LeRon McClain, Rush: 4 - 19 - 0, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (2 targets) |
McClain was the third option on the ground for the Ravens, so while he did see time on the field, it was not enough to make much of an impact. Moreover, it was fellow RB Willis McGahee who received the Ravens' goal line carries, so McClain didn't even get a chance to vulture some easy points.
| WR Derrick Mason, Rec: 3 - 41 - 0 (6 targets) |
While he started the game, Mason suffered a left shoulder injury early on that took him out of the action for significant stretches, and thus limited his targets to only a half dozen. While he managed to convert half of those looks, Mason only contributed one significant play -- taking a short pass on the last play of the third quarter, spinning away from the covering DB, and dashing up the right sideline for 21 yards. Mason might have contributed a second big play early in the first quarter as he looked ready to haul in a long TD pass in the end zone, but Houston Jaques Reeves managed to break up the play at the last moment.
| WR Mark Clayton, Rec: 3 - 40 - 0 (6 targets) |
While Clayton ended the day with a thoroughly pedestrian three receptions for 40 yards, Clayton was only one fantastic defensive play away from notching a score. Late in the third quarter Clayton had a 38 yard TD at his fingertips, but the Texans' Eugene Robinson, streaking across the field, arrived just in time, and disrupted Clayton just enough, to send the ball bouncing to the turf.
| WR Yamon Figurs, Rec: 1 - 43 - 1 (4 targets) |
Due to an early injury to fellow WR Derrick Mason, Figurs saw more action than usual this week. While he was only targeted four times, Figurs was used almost exclusively to go deep and so when he pulled down his single reception of the day, it was a big one. At the end of Baltimore's second drive of the game, Figurs got behind the defense and was able to hold on to QB Joe Flacco's 43 yard TD strike.
| TE Todd Heap, Rec: 5 - 58 - 2 (6 targets) |
Through much of the season Heap has been a massive disappointment, but that was not the case in this game. Heap was regularly targeted throughout the game and was tied for the team lead by the end of the day. Most importantly, however, Heap was regularly getting open and making plays when given the chance. That included long receptions downfield, such as his second catch where he took a short pass at the line of scrimmage and turned up the field for a gain of 20, as well as a short yardage catch at the goal-line for a score. One TD wasn't enough for Heap, however, and he added a second in the fourth quarter as he hauled in an easy 14 yard pass after he managed to get wide open at the goal line.
| PK Matt Stover 0 - 1 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 4 points |
Despite all of the points scored by his Ravens, Stover's contributions were limited to extra points as he missed the single field goal attempt he was given (from 50 yards). While the Ravens did attempt a second field goal, it was fellow Baltimore kicker Steve Hauschka who was given the chance to make that 54 yarder, and he did. Of note, Stover's final extra point on the day tied the NFL record for most consecutive extra points made (371).
| BAL Rush Defense |
For the most part, the Ravens defense against the run was stifling. While they gave up some medium length runs to Houston RB Ahman Green, this was the exception and not the rule. As the game wore on, the combination of stiff defense and a growing Baltimore lead forced Houston to largely abandon the run, and so the Baltimore rush defense was called upon to do less and less.
| BAL Pass Defense |
While the Texans were able to rack up almost 300 passing yards on the day, that was the only measure by which the Ravens pass defense could be said to have been soft. For the most part Baltimore (and in particular DT Haloti Ngata) was able to put consistent pressure on Houston QB Sage Rosenfels, and this pressure directly contributed to Rosenfels tossing four interceptions, including two to Raven LB Ray Lewis.
| QB Sage Rosenfels, Pass: 23 - 38 - 294 - 1 TD / 4 INT, Rush: 1 - 15 - 0 |
Rosenfels took over the potentially explosive Houston offense from the injured Matt Schaub and he showed both why he is considered one of the better backup QBs in the game and why he's a backup to begin with. While Rosenfels was able to spread the ball to his talented receivers and rack up passing yards, he also demonstrated an alarming tendency to place the ball in the Ravens' hands as well. Rosenfels' single TD of the day (which came on a 60 yard play to WR Kevin Walter) was more than offset by four bad interceptions. The first came late in the first quarter as Houston had a first and goal at the Baltimore one yard line. While Rosenfels saw an open TE Owen Daniels in the back of the end zone, he didn't see the Ravens' Haloti Ngata between them. On his second interception Rosenfels threw the ball directly at Ravens LB Ray Lewis. There was no Texan receiver nearby, and the pick was a direct result of the pressure Rosenfels was facing from the Ravens' pass rush. Rosenfels' third pick also went to Lewis, and again it appeared as if Rosenfels intended to toss the ball to him. Finally, Rosenfels delivered the ball to Baltimore's Samari Rolle in the flat on the very next drive. All in all, a very uneven day for the man who will be the Texans' starting QB for the next few weeks.
| RB Steve Slaton, Rush: 4 - 7 - 0, Rec: 2 - 17 - 0 (2 targets) |
Houston's dynamic rookie running back was held to virtually no impact on the day by two separate factors. First was the Ravens' defense which made gaining yards on the ground difficult for any of the Texans' backs and then later helped stretch the Ravens' lead far enough that Houston had to basically abandon the running game. Second was a holding call on Slaton's teammate TE Owen Daniels. Daniels' penalty robbed Slaton of a 58 yard TD reception on a screen pass early in the second quarter, and any chance of a productive fantasy day.
| RB Ahman Green, Rush: 4 - 19 - 0, Rec: 2 - 4 - 0 (3 targets) |
Though he split carries evenly with fellow RB Steve Slaton, that didn't mean much since they each only received four carries. On those four carries, Green was effective, but between Houston's preference for the passing game, and the increasing need to resort to the pass as Baltimore took a bigger and bigger lead, Green was never given a real chance to make an impact.
| WR Andre Johnson, Rec: 7 - 66 - 0 (12 targets) |
Johnson was QB Sage Rosenfels' favorite target by far against the Ravens, and as a result ended the day with the most receptions. Unfortunately, none of those was for longer than 20 yards and none ended up in a TD. The single biggest reason for this was the focus that the Baltimore defense placed on covering Johnson, but he also suffered from the fact Rosenfels struggled early on in getting him catchable balls. By the second half, the duo seemed to click much better, and so Johnson's performance improved as a result.
| WR Kevin Walter, Rec: 4 - 85 - 1 (6 targets) |
Despite the fact that QB Sage Rosenfels was slinging the ball all over the field for much of the game, Walter was not a regular target, receiving only two looks in the first half and six for the day. Fortunately for Walter's owners he still ended up the target of the biggest Texans offensive play of the day. On the only play of Houston's second third quarter drive, Rosenfels hit Walter streaking across the field and the receiver was off to the races getting his six points 60 yards later.
| TE Owen Daniels, Rec: 1 - 13 - 0 (6 targets) |
While Daniels wasn't QB Sage Rosenfels' favorite target overall, he certainly seemed to be Rosenfels preferred option once the Texans managed to get in the red zone. While that might bode well for Daniels in future games while Rosenfels fills in for the injured Matt Schaub, it unfortunately didn't do much for Daniels today. None of those red zone targets ended in completions, and Daniels only pulled down one catch all day for a measly 13 yards.
| PK Kris Brown 2 - 2 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 7 points |
Two field goal attempts turned into six points as Brown connected on both of his opportunities -- from 23 and 48 yards.
| HOU Rush Defense |
The Houston rush defense was virtually nonexistent throughout much of the game. No matter who was carrying the ball for the Ravens, they were able to gobble up chunks of yardage due, primarily, to poor tackling. The inability to stop the run resulted in Baltimore's being able to chew up plenty of time and rob the Texans of any chance to get back into the game once they fell behind.
| HOU Pass Defense |
One word would describe the Houston pass defense against Baltimore -- inconsistent. On some plays the defensive line was able to generate intense pressure on Ravens QB Joe Flacco (and actually registered three sacks), but on the others they gave Flacco a day and a half to make a play. Similarly, in the defensive backfield, while some near Raven TD passes were broken up by outstanding defensive plays, Houston also allowed more than its share of long plays and open touchdowns.