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| BAL at IND | CAR at TB | CHI at ATL | CIN at NYJ | DAL at ARI | DET at MIN | GB at SEA | JAX at DEN |
| MIA at HOU | NE at SD | NYG at CLE | OAK at NO | PHI at SF | STL at WAS | ||
Week 6 Game Recap: Baltimore Ravens 3, Indianapolis Colts 31
What you need to know
| Baltimore Ravens |
QB Joe Flacco continued to regress as he again allowed the pass rush to force him into ill-advised throws, three of which resulted in interceptions. In addition, Flacco twice fumbled the ball, and while both were recovered by the Ravens, they likely did little to help his confidence.
While RB Willis McGahee started his second straight game at RB, he was quickly supplanted by rookie Ray Rice. This was less a result of McGahee's play, which was solid, as it was due to the fact that Baltimore fell far behind the Colts early and the Ravens coaching staff likely didn't want to risk injury.
Early season Superman RB LeRon McClain reverted to Clark Kent against the Colts as he fumbled away his only reception and gained a total of negative two yards on his only two carries.
| Indianapolis Colts |
QB Peyton Manning was in vintage form as he eviscerated the Ravens defensive backs on the way to three TDs and 170 yards in the first half alone. Throughout the game he threw deep as often as he threw short, and connected more often than not. Manning looked to be back.
After RB Joseph Addai left the game in the Colts' second series with a hamstring injury, Dominic Rhodes replaced him and ran reasonably well against a tough Ravens defense. While he averaged just under three yards per carry, he did show some elusiveness and power that will serve him well against lesser foes should Addai miss any length of time.
WRs Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison shredded the Ravens DBs (Chris McAlister in particular) and combined for 201 yards and three TDs as each displayed speed and separation all day long.
What you ought to know
| QB Joe Flacco, Pass: 28 - 38 - 241 - 0 TD / 3 INT, Rush: 3 - 12 - 0 |
Flacco capped off a week during which he was named the Ravens' starting QB for the rest of the season by putting in a performance that might make his coaching staff question the wisdom of that decision. On his second pass attempt of the game, Flacco once again demonstrated that he does not make the best decisions under pressure. In the face of a looming pass rush, he tossed the ball into an area of the field solely occupied by four Colts defenders. While none of them caught the ball, one did knock it up into the air where a fifth defender was able to bring it down. Flacco almost brought the Ravens' second series to a similarly disastrous end as he bobbled a hand-off to RB Ray Rice (Rice fell on the ball to prevent the turnover inside his own ten yard line.) Flacco suffered his second pick mid-way through the second quarter on a deep pass intended for Mark Clayton. While the pass was well-placed to avoid the covering CB, it did not arrive fast enough to elude a nice break on the ball by Colts FS Antoine Bethea. Flacco would add a third interception in the fourth quarter, and do so the only time that the Ravens were able to get deep into Colts territory. While Flacco would ultimately end up with 241 passing yards (54 of which came on a nice, deep pass to Derrick Mason during fourth quarter garbage time), his performance in this game was anything but impressive.
| RB Ray Rice, Rush: 6 - 23 - 0, Rec: 7 - 64 - 0 (9 targets) |
After being shunted to the sideline as the third RB behind Willis McGahee and LeRon McClain earlier in the season, Rice emerged, somewhat surprisingly, as Baltimore's #1 offensive option in this game. This may have been more a function of the fact that Baltimore very quickly fell behind than anything else. Whatever the reason, Rice showed that he could be a versatile part of the Ravens offense if given the chance. While he failed to break any long runs, Rice was able to hit the holes and dance his way to a 3.8 yards per carry average on his six rushes, and in the passing game he actually ended up seeing more targets (nine) than any other receiver. While none of these were particularly far downfield, Rice showed that he was able to convert on his pass receiving opportunities and generate yardage through the air. With 87 total offensive yards, Rice finished the day as the most productive RB, WR or TE on the field for the Ravens.
| RB Willis McGahee, Rush: 8 - 18 - 0, Rec: 4 - 26 - 0 (4 targets) |
While he started the game as the #1 RB, and did finish with the most carries, McGahee saw very little action in the second half. This was largely a function of the fact that the Colts were up big and early and the Ravens' coaching staff was likely reluctant to risk any injury. When he was on the field, however, McGahee was not particularly effective. While he showed some speed in hitting the hole and making cuts to bounce outside, McGahee was unable to get to the second level and create any big plays.
| RB LeRon McClain, Rush: 2 - -2 - 0, Rec: 1 - 2 - 0 (2 targets) |
After spending the early part of the season earning a spot on many deep-league fantasy starting rosters, McClain probably frustrated a lot of owners with this game. While an active Willis McGahee ensured that McClain's touches would not be plentiful, he uncharacteristically failed to make the most of his opportunities. On his first touch of the game he hauled in a short pass but then promptly fumbled the ball away for no immediately apparent reason. On his first (and only) two rushes, he lost a combined two yards. After those performances, the Baltimore coaching staff had apparently seen enough, and when McGahee was not on the field, it was Ray Rice who trotted out to replace him.
| WR Derrick Mason, Rec: 6 - 70 - 0 (7 targets) |
While he was regularly targeted in the passing game, Mason turned in a quiet performance (as did virtually every Raven), with a single notable exception. Late in the game, as the contest was no longer in doubt, Mason was able to get down field and corral a long pass for a gain of 54 yards.
| WR Demetrius Williams, Rec: 6 - 53 - 0 (7 targets) |
Due to his speed, Williams saw a healthy amount of action in the game given how quickly the Ravens fell behind. He seemed to make the most of his opportunity as far as converting his chances (he caught six of his seven targets), but was unable to break free for any big gains.
| WR Mark Clayton, Rec: 3 - 13 - 0 (5 targets) |
Despite the need for Baltimore to be taking shots down the field early, Clayton was rarely looked to and ended the day with only the barest impact on the stats sheet.
| TE Todd Heap, Rec: 1 - 13 - 0 (3 targets) |
Heap ended the day as a non factor, hauling in only a single catch on his paltry three targets.
| PK Matt Stover 1 - 1 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 3 points |
Stover converted on his sole field goal attempt from 37 yards out. These three points were the only ones standing between the Ravens and a shut-out.
| BAL Rush Defense |
With the Ravens able to knock out Joseph Addai early, Baltimore was forced to contend with Dominic Rhodes coming out of the Indianapolis backfield. Even so, while they held Rhodes to an average of under three yards per carry, they still gave up some important runs and a long, 38 yard run in the second quarter that led, shortly thereafter, to Indianapolis' third touchdown.
| BAL Pass Defense |
The Ravens' pass rush was able to put pressure on Payton Manning early, even recording a sack on his second pass attempt (The rush was more of a jail-break and Manning actually knelt down to accept the sack instead of risking being hit by at least four Ravens simultaneously.) That effort would not be consistent over the rest of the day, however, and any pressure was more than off-set by the defensive backfield's consistent inability to cover the Colts' wide-receivers. As a result, when Manning was forced to throw the ball early, he was still able to complete his passes more often than not. The only reason that the Colts did not abuse that back-field all day long was because they build such a large early lead, the running game ended up being the focus in the second half.
| QB Peyton Manning, Pass: 19 - 28 - 271 - 3 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - -2 - 0 |
As he has spent much of the early part of the season shaking off the rust resulting from two off-season knee surgeries that kept him out of pre-season action, Manning has not looked like the dominant QB of recent years. That changed against the Ravens. It was the Payton Manning of old that took to the field this Sunday, making his owners -- and those of WRs Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison -- very happy. Deep throws reigned supreme as Manning regularly took long shots down the field, starting with his first pass attempt deep over the middle towards the end-zone and Reggie Wayne -- an incompletion. Manning certainly made up for that early miscue in the Colt's second series as he rifled a long pass down the right side, hitting Harrison (who had cleanly beaten the Ravens' Chris McAlister) in stride for a touchdown. Manning ended the next Indianapolis series in similar fashion as he connected with Reggie Wayne on a 22 yard corner pass for six points. The third of Manning's three TDs on the day came late in the second quarter as Manning fired a 5 yard play-action pass to Marvin Harrison. Having built a 24-0 lead at the break, it was hardly a surprise that Manning's fireworks lessened in the second half, and while he still threw the ball 11 times for roughly 100 yards, none of his throws were of any particular note.
| RB Dominic Rhodes, Rush: 25 - 73 - 1 (2 targets) |
Called upon to replace the injured Joseph Addai starting with the Colts' third series, Rhodes produced a workmanlike performance that was short on flash (though not totally without it) but solid, especially considering he was facing the stalwart Ravens defensive squad. Two plays would end up constituting the high points of Rhode's day. The first came late in the second quarter and saw Rhodes elude a tackler in the backfield and then pinball, spin and blast his way through five tackles en route to a 38 yard gain to the Ravens' 13 yard line. The second capped off the opening drive of the third quarter -- a one yard run for the Colts' fourth and final TD of the day.
| RB Joseph Addai, Rush: 2 - 3 - 0 |
Addai's day ended almost before it began as he left the game due to injury early in the first quarter after only two carries for three yards. On the play where he was injured, it was not immediately apparent what the injury was, and the only indication he was hurt was the fact that he limped of the field and never returned to the game. Later the injury was revealed to be a hamstring issue.
| WR Reggie Wayne, Rec: 8 - 118 - 1 (11 targets) |
As Peyton Manning's favorite target on the day, Wayne was given plenty of opportunities to make plays, and make them he did. While he narrowly missed an opportunity to pull in a TD pass between two defenders on the Colt's first possession, he quickly atoned for that incompletion. During the Colts' third series he hauled in a 22 yard corner route pass over his left shoulder for six points (his 50th from Manning.) Even though Wayne finished with 118 yards in addition to that score, and thus turned in an impressive fantasy day, it could have been huge. On the next series after his score, Wayne almost pulled in a pass at the goal-line pylon that was thrown just out of reach. Then, in the fourth quarter, he did catch a long, 63 yard TD, but the play was nullified by an offensive holding penalty.
| WR Anthony Gonzalez, Rec: 4 - 33 - 0 (4 targets) |
While he played plenty of snaps, Gonzalez was far and away the third option in the Colts' passing game as fellow WRs Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison regularly had success deep. As a result, Payton Manning rarely had to look to the shorter routes Gonzalez was tasked with running, leaving the young wide-out to accumulate only 33 yards on four receptions.
| WR Marvin Harrison, Rec: 3 - 83 - 2 (8 targets) |
Though he was targeted eight times -- second behind only Reggie Wayne -- Harrison was only able to convert three into receptions. Fortunately for Harrison's owners, two of those went for six points each. On the first, Harrison blew by the Ravens' Chris McAlister to get wide open for a 67 yard first quarter touchdown strike. On the second he ran a short five yard route into the end-zone between defensive backs and easily snagged Manning's bullet pass. Harrison could have had yet another touchdown earlier in the game when he was again able to gain separation with a clear path to the end-zone, but QB Peyton Manning overthrew him just slightly. Harrison may be getting on in years, but he demonstrated today that, when healthy, a defense best not underestimate him.
| TE Dallas Clark, Rec: 2 - 17 - 0 (2 targets) |
Clark was not an active part of the Colts' passing game as they were having a lot of success further downfield and the TEs were used as additional blocking to counter Baltimore's pass rush. When Clark was given the chance, however, he converted both of his targets into receptions and 17 total yards.
| PK Adam Vinatieri 1 - 1 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 7 points |
Four extra points and a single 37 yard field goal constituted the entirety of Vinatieri's otherwise unremarkable day.
| IND Rush Defense |
Despite having lost their punishing, run-stopping safety Bob Sanders, the Colts held the Ravens to only 51 yards on the ground. Of course, most of this was due to the fact that Baltimore was forced to go to the air early and often to try and catch up on the scoreboard. Even so, when the longest run by the opposing RBs goes for only seven yards, it's a good day.
| IND Pass Defense |
It has been shown early on this season that an aggressive pass rush can force the Ravens' QB Joe Flacco into making mistakes. The Colts followed exactly that game plan. The Colts were able to generate pressure on virtually every play (and registered four sacks) while also providing solid coverage downfield that gave Flacco no easy outlets. The end result was a day that saw the Ravens complete only one long pass play in fourth quarter garbage time despite the fact they needed quick points to climb out from an early scoring hole. The Colts' pass defense was a big reason for Baltimore's frustration.
