At the halfway point in the NFL season, the Baltimore Ravens have a 3-5 record. At two games below .500, the defending Super Bowl champions find themselves in third place in the AFC North behind the Cincinnati Bengals (6-3) and the Cleveland Browns (4-5). And in the overall AFC standings, they currently sit behind the New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders as well, ranking 12th out of 16 teams.
The Ravens are riding a three-game losing streak and have lost four of their last five. They are currently 2.5 games back in the AFC North and 1.5 games out of the last AFC wild card spot.
If you told any Ravens coach, player, or fan at the beginning of the season that the team would be 3-5 after the first half of the year, you would've gotten a unanimous chorus of "Unacceptable." So for a team with such high hopes for the 2013 season now on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff picture, many are searching for answers. What's going on? What's wrong?
The run game is non-existent. The most obvious flaw in the 2013 Baltimore Ravens thus far is the lack of a productive running game. Baltimore has the fewest rushing yards per attempt in the NFL (2.8), and ranks 29th in the league in rushing yards per game (71.6); only the New York Giants, Jacksonville and Atlanta have fewer. The major problem with this is that New York's top three running backs have been out due to injury for most of the year, Atlanta's Steven Jackson has suffered a similar fate, and Jacksonville is, well... Jacksonville. The Ravens, however, rank this low having had a healthy backfield for the majority of the season.
Offensive Coordinator Jim Caldwell isn't calling enough run plays. In the Ravens' three wins on the season, they're averaging four more rush plays than pass plays per game. In their five losses? 28 less rushes than pass plays plays per game. I know that Baltimore has had to play catch-up for much of the season, which calls for more passes; and I know that Jim Caldwell loves Joe Flacco and his big arm. But it's obvious: The playcalling needs to emphasize the run game much more than it has.
Bernard Pierce is being used too much. During Baltimore's three-game losing streak, Pierce has gotten six carries in each game, netting 11, 13, and 9 rushing yards in those contests. In games in which both Pierce and starter Ray Rice play, Pierce is averaging 8.7 carries for 46.1 yards per game. While Pierce has provided a spark and a change of pace in a few instances in the past, there is no way he should be getting the ball as much as he does with his lack of production this year. Plus, he's being inserted into games at times that don't allow Rice to get his footing and get any momentum going. Rice has proved in past seasons that he and the Ravens offense can be successful without a solid number-two option taking a decent amount of carries from him, let alone nearly half of them.
The offense can't get going early. Being a second-half team is one thing, but it sure would be nice to go to the locker room at halftime with some more points. The Ravens have only scored 63 total points in the first half of games this season, and more than half of those points came in just two games (17 at Denver, 17 vs. Houston). They've been held scoreless in the first half twice, kept out of the endzone four times, and have just six first-half touchdowns total.
The offensive line has taken a step back. The Ravens had to trade for a new left tackle, center Gino Gradkowski is showing his inexperience in his first year as a starter after the retirement of verteran Matt Birk, and right tackle Michael Oher is playing with the inconsistency that fans have come to know and love in recent years. The O-line isn't making the necessary holes for the running backs, and isn't giving Flacco enough time to make quality plays. And things may go from bad to worse with left guard Kelechi Osemele, one of the bright spots on the offensive line, out for the season with a back injury.
Inconsistent targets are on the field too much. Can anybody tell me why John Harbaugh lets Ed Dickson and Tandon Doss go on the field anymore? While Doss himself had shown some success on special teams as a returner, he and Dickson have combined for just 23 catches, and seem to drop or miss multiple balls a week that they should catch. Come back quickly, Dennis Pitta. Quickly.
The secondary is too vulnerable. The pass rush has been ferocious this year, collecting 27 sacks this season; but even this level of success can't quite mask the weaknesses in the secondary. We've seen quarterbacks from Peyton Manning to Jason Campbell pick apart the Ravens defensive backfield. Only three teams in the NFL have less interceptions than the Ravens' four; and only two of those four picks have come courtesy of a member of the backfield. Corey Graham is not playing like he did during the Super Bowl run, Jimmy Smith is once again not taking advantage of an opportunity to be a starter, and, while safety Matt Elam has shown promise, he's also reminded fans on more than one occasion that he's just a rookie.
They're losing to teams they shouldn't be losing to. Losses to 1-2 Buffalo, 1-4 Pittsburgh and 3-5 Cleveland are all disappointments, as the Ravens were both favored and expected to win these games. The worst part? In every one of their five losses, the Ravens have not only been beaten, but have been flat-out outplayed.
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