vmax Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I love it!....I'm posting a lot of the article because there's a lot to digest.... The Ravens have done this all season, outscoring teams 26-6 in the fourth quarter. It's a major turnaround from last year, when that was the soft spot for Harbaugh's team. A year ago, Baltimore surrendered nine leads in the fourth quarter, including three that were double-digit ones. The Ravens allowed 119 points in the final quarter last season, the second-most in team history. The reason why the Ravens struggled to finish off teams in 2010 was their conservative style. The offense went into a shut-down mode, and the defense went into a prevent one. No one can describe the Ravens as going into cruise control. After Baltimore fell behind 14-13 midway through the third quarter, Flacco found rookie Torrey Smith for passes of 19 and 51 yards on back-to-back plays. That led to a Billy Cundiff 25-yard field goal, putting the Ravens back up 16-14. The Ravens could've played it safe after turning the ball over twice already (Flacco had a fumble and interception), but they didn't. The next time the offense got onto the field, Flacco's first pass was a perfectly thrown 56-yard pass that went beyond the reach of cornerback Johnathan Joseph and into the hands of Anquan Boldin. That turned into another field goal as the Ravens extended the margin to 19-14 early in the fourth quarter. None of the Ravens would say it, but Baltimore didn't take those shots last year. "We're not trying to hang on to win games," Flacco said. "We're going after it. We're saying: 'This is how we're going to win football games.' We're going to continue to attack teams and try to put points on the board to make it not a close game. I think at times, we can rely on our defense a little bit and try to let them close out games. I think the main thing to do in this league is put teams away when you can. That has to be done offensively. So, that's where our mindset is."http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/33494/ravens-discover-knockout-blow The coaches made the winning adjustments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.