Baltimore Ravens 19 New York Jets 3 Quick Hits

Nov 24, 2013; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens linebacker Elvis Dumervil (58) tackles New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) in the first half at M

The Jets dropped to below .500 and have their first two game losing streak of the year as they lost an ugly game at Baltimore to fall to 5-6. The alternating wins and losses streak has ended. Here are the Quick Hits:

1) Quarterback? What quarterback? – The Jets played so conservatively that not only did they focus on the run but they weren’t even letting Geno Smith do it under center. The Jets ran predominantly out of the wildcat with both Cribbs and Powell running out of the formation with Cribbs completing a pass to Smith. All of this took place during the 1st quarter where Smith had the wind at his back. Smith was 1/3 only connecting with a crossing pass to Salas in the 1st quarter. In the second quarter the offensive plan was to go run, run, pass and it was putting Smith in 3rd and long with the offensive line not holding up against the Baltimore pressure. Smith finished 2/7 for 21 yards in the 1st half and was completely ineffective. He was not helped by a couple of drops. The Jets had 74 yards in the 1st half including 0/6 on 3rd down. The second half was more of the same. Seven 3 and outs on 12 drives. Even with the wind the coaching staff only let Smith take one shot deep and it was in the 3rd quarter and then not again until the game was out of reach. Smith finished 9/22 for 127 yards and two interceptions. The Jets tried to hide the quarterback today and that is one position where you cannot hide someone especially against a good defense.

2) Same secondary, different day – Flacco was able to complete a long pass 60 yard pass to Torry Smith over Antonio Cromartie’s head and throw underneath consistently to open receivers. The Jets had two interceptions in their hands (Milliner & Jarrett) but could not hold on to the ball. The Jets also had a perfect blitz called and Dawan Landry couldn’t stop Dallas Clark from catching a heaved up duck of a pass from a falling Flacco. Ed Dickson was consistently open most times completely uncovered. Cromartie had a red zone interception that kept the Jets in the game early. Jacoby Jones had a 66 yard touchdown pass where he beat Milliner but Reed was where he should have been but butchered the play and allowed Jones to catch it and score instead of knocking it down or intercepting it.

3) Pass rush was better but still not good enough – Muhammad Wilkerson had 2 sacks and 2 quarterback hits, Sheldon Richardson shared a sack with Coples and Calvin Pace added one as well as they consistently hurried Flacco but could not bring him down or more importantly force turnovers. Richardson was dominant with 9 tackles, a 1/2 sack and 3 tackles for loss including a quarterback hit. This was a day that the defense needed to be perfect to help a completely inept offense and they could not shut down Baltimore especially with Baltimore’s leaky offensive line.

Sheldon Richardson

4) Run defense is still excellent – Much like all of the other running backs the Jets have played against Ray Rice had no place to go while running the ball. He was consistently stuffed and had 16 yards on 8 carries in the 1st half. The only time the Ravens were able to run was catching the Jets on draws with Pierce and the option with Taylor. The usual suspects of Harrison, Richardson and Wilkerson were there to make the plays supported by Harris and Davis.

5) Running game good but not dominant – Bilal Powell had 11 carries for 41 yards and had a very effective 3rd quarter. Chris Ivory had 9 carries for 35 and ran hard and well when he was given room. Josh Cribbs was effective in the wildcat running and throwing with 20 yards on 5 carries and 1 completion for 13 yards to Smith. As the Ravens adjusted and saw the Jets weren’t passing they stacked the box and completely stalled the Jets offense.

6) Punt Coverage team was terrible – Jacoby Jones had 5 punt returns for 108 yards and those returns were littered with missed tackles from the Jets. These runbacks were especially crippling because this was a game of field position and allowing these returns cost the Jets field position and eventually points.

7) Injuries – Antonio Cromartie left this game with an apparent hip injury probably exacerbating the problem he has had all year.