Joe Flacco Needs More Help for Ravens to Become Competitive

The weapons Baltimore has surrounded Joe Flacco with on offense have been so invisible that it almost looks like a planned experiment to see how little a quarterback can have around him and still win.

If that's the case, the experiment is failing horribly. The Ravens dropped to 1-6 on Monday Night Football, losing 26-18 to the Arizona Cardinals as a nationally televised audience saw first-hand just how much trouble Flacco is in.

The Ravens' gunslinger completed 26 of 40 passes for 252 yards, a pretty remarkable accomplishment considering his only capable receiver is a 36-year-old Steve Smith Sr. is suffering from broken bones in his back. 

Beyond Smith's five grabs for 78 yards, the only noteworthy contribution came on tight end Crockett Gillmore's 53 yards. And both of those players have missed game action over the last couple of weeks.

Out of Flacco's actual wide receivers past Smith, Chris Givens had 31 yards on a single catch. Marlon Brown added 22 on three grabs. Jeremy Ross (who fumbled a punt return) and Kamar Aiken caught one pass each, neither of which amassed 10 yards.

Simply put, the Ravens don't have any weapons on offense that would be getting much run on another NFL roster, as Ken Weinman of 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore painfully noted:

Receiving production was so poor that the Ravens dialed up a pass in the red zone to lineman John Urschel. That worked, but the play didn't even stand.

Flacco did well to spread the ball out to many options—most of whom weren't even wide receivers—and keep the Ravens competitive. But they amassed just 38 total second-half yards before their final drive, which ended in a Flacco end-zone interception that sealed the game.

Smith dazzled as usual, even while being hawked by Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson. But there was nothing to write home about aside from him, as Mark Viviano of WJZ-TV in Baltimore noted:

Flacco's biggest help didn't even come from his offense, but rather a blocked punt that set him up on the 1-yard line and a late defensive stop that gave him one last crack at tying the game.

The Ravens keep getting close as Flacco told Garrett Downing of BaltimoreRavens.com, but it's hard to figure out how considering he's working with a second-rate receiving crew:

“This is where we are,” Flacco said. “We probably didn’t play well enough to win it, but we’re always in them. It’s going to be a fight down to the end. We’re not going to give up.”

All of the Ravens' losses have been by one possession or fewer, but that doesn't count for anything other than added frustration. With a porous secondary ranking in the league's bottom four against the pass, Flacco isn't getting any help from the rest of his team—much less his offensive weapons.

To make matters even worse, Flacco is dealing with his fourth offensive system change in as many seasons, noted by ESPN's Trent Dilfer (via Jamison Henley of ESPN.com):

Now at 1-6, Baltimore doesn't have much of a choice but to look forward to next season. There's one silver lining in that regard, as Bleacher Report's Matt Miller reported the Ravens are currently in line for the No. 1 overall draft pick:

Is there any way the Ravens can flip that and turn it into two, maybe three capable receivers? That may be necessary to save Flacco's career in Baltimore.

The reality is tough to stomach for Ravens fans, not only this season but beyond. Smith will be retired this time next year, and 2015 first-round pick Breshad Perriman doesn't appear any closer to making his NFL debut, judging by his last injury update, courtesy of the team's official Twitter account (not an encouraging one), coming nearly a month ago.

Unless Perriman emerges immediately as the top-caliber receiver the Ravens saw him as back in May, Flacco and the entire Ravens offense is in serious trouble. 

Running back Justin Forsett has proven dangerous when he gets his chances, but those didn't come Monday—12 rushes for 36 yards. It wasn't just against Arizona, either. Aside from a great two-game stretch, Forsett is averaging 2.7 yards per carry.

When it boils down to it, the Baltimore offense is built around Flacco and the aerial attack—or at least it's supposed to be. You can't really tell from the nonexistent weapons Flacco's working with.

Until that changes, Flacco and the Ravens will continue to find themselves on the losing end of games that see resilient performances diminished by wasted opportunities due to blinding weaknesses across the board.