St. Louis Rams vs. Baltimore Ravens: Previewing Baltimore's Week 11 Matchup

The Baltimore Ravens will look to get back to their winning ways when they take on the St. Louis Rams this week.

They'll do so coming off yet another debilitating loss that came right down to the wire. This time, it was a 22-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars at home that sent Baltimore to a 2-7 record and effectively out of the running for a playoff spot, or even as much as a winning record.

As for the Rams, they're still in the playoff hunt in the NFC, and even their own division. They're just three games behind the Cardinals for first place in the NFC West. St. Louis also has won in Arizona and still hosts the Cardinals later this year.

It's hard to make a case for the Ravens having much to play for, but this is a proud franchise that doesn't tolerate losing. Putting together a string of victories and getting back to the franchise's winning ways is absolutely something this Ravens team will be motivated to do.

Game Time: 1 p.m. ET

Location: M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore

Date: Sunday, November 22

TV: FOX

Week 11 Results and Recap

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

As mentioned earlier, the Ravens lost in gut-wrenching fashion last week as the Jaguars came into Baltimore and escaped with a 22-20 win.

This came thanks to yet another blown lead in the fourth quarter, though this one can be attributed to the entire team. The offense had the ball with less than three minutes in the fourth quarter and could have run out the clock with just one more first down.

However, Baltimore couldn't get it and had to punt the ball away and give Jacksonville's offense one last shot. The defense would then have two chances to put the game away but ultimately failed to do so. 

The first came as safety Kendrick Lewis broke on a pass and appeared to have the game-clinching interception but dropped it. Then, with no time expiring and the ball at midfield, Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles dropped back to pass on what should have been the final play of the game. 

Ravens linebacker Elvis Dumervil broke through, sacked Bortles and appeared to end the game, but he grabbed the facemask in the process and was flagged for a 15-yard penalty.

That gave the Jaguars the ball at the Baltimore 35-yard line and an untimed down to attempt a 53-yard field goal that kicker Jason Myers would hit to give the Ravens another brutal loss. 

Here's a look at the rest of the division standings heading into Week 11: 

AFC North Standings

Cincinnati Bengals (8-1)
Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4)
Baltimore Ravens (2-7)
Cleveland Browns (2-8)

News and Notes

Gail Burton/Associated Press

Referees Admit Mistake That Cost Ravens Win

It turns out the Ravens should have won Sunday's game vs. the Jaguars for more reasons than one. 

The referees actually missed an illegal formation the Jaguars were in on their final offensive play that Elvis Dumervil ended up being flagged for a facemask on. With 14 seconds left in the game, the Jaguars ran a play that saw Blake Bortles complete an 11-yard pass to Julius Thomas, who was tackled inbounds to keep the clock running.

Jacksonville was out of timeouts, and because Thomas didn't get out of bounds the clock kept running. The next offensive snap came with one second left, but Jacksonville didn't have all 11 players set, which should have resulted in a false start and 10-second runoff. 

Via John Breech of CBS Sports, "Inside of one minute remaining of either half, with the game clock running, when the offense is not set simultaneously prior to the snap, it's a false start," the NFL said in a statement. "This results in a 10-second runoff, which can only be avoided if a team has a timeout remaining."

The correct call in this case would have been to penalize the offense for a false start because all 11 players were not set, and whistle to stop the play. The ensuing 10-second runoff should have ended the game."

So Baltimore should be 3-6 right now, but a bad call prevented that from happening. Still, Baltimore can't allow games to come down to the final play against an inferior team like Jacksonville and not risk letting one bad call cost them a game like it did here. 

Ravens Place Breshad Perriman on IR 

In an unsurprising move, the Ravens placed rookie wide receiver Breshad Perriman on season-ending IR. The No. 26-overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft never appeared in a preseason or regular-season game as he dealt with knee injuries that essentially cost him his rookie season. 

The Ravens spent their top pick in this year's draft on Perriman in hopes he could upgrade a receiver position that has now become a weakness on this team. 

Still, Perriman has a bright future ahead of him if he can just get healthy. He'll be counted on heavily next year to contribute at receiver with Steve Smith Sr. possibly retiring. 

Jeremy Zuttah Also Placed on IR

The Ravens suffered a major loss this week when they sent starting center Jeremy Zuttah to IR due to a partially torn pectoral muscle, according to BaltimoreRavens.com. 

Head coach John Harbaugh said the injury, which happened this past week, was something that could have possibly healed enough for Zuttah to play again this year but thought it best for him to have surgery now. 

“We can’t say 100 percent that it would heal like they want it to if we took time and waited, so we’re going to go ahead and get that done,” Harbaugh said.

With Zuttah out, the Ravens will now go to second-year backup John Urschel, who has played mostly at guard to this point. However, it was Urschel who replaced Zuttah in Week 8 when Zuttah went out with his pec tear. 

It's not ideal to have a backup guard starting at center, but then again, not much about this season has been ideal for the Ravens. 

Injury Report

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Elvis Dumervil

After Breshad Perriman and Jeremy Zuttah going on IR, the injury report is fairly light thus far. However, one notable player on the Wednesday injury report is outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil.

The veteran sat out Wednesday with a knee injury, though it's unclear when he sustained it or how bad it might be. He played to the end of Sunday's loss to Jacksonville, so this may be just a precautionary rest day to get Dumervil good to go in Week 11.

Nick Boyle

With the Ravens lacking depth in terms of pass-catchers, tight end Nick Boyle is someone who's been stepping up in recent weeks. The rookie fifth-round pick out of Delaware has caught six passes over the past three weeks.

Boyle is apparently dealing with a foot injury that caused him to miss practice Wednesday. Considering he's the third-string tight end, it wouldn't be a big loss for him to miss Sunday. 

Kelechi Osemele 

The Ravens offensive line has already lost one starter to IR this week in Jeremy Zuttah. Losing another with the Rams' vaunted defensive line up next would be very bad. 

That's what Baltimore is facing as Kelechi Osemele is dealing with a knee injury that led to him sitting out Wednesday. He wasn't on the injury report last week, so he suffered this injury sometime during Sunday's loss to the Jaguars. 

Considering it wasn't serious enough to force him out of the game, it doesn't appear it's serious enough to put his availability vs. the Rams in serious jeopardy. 

Matchups to Watch

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Kelechi Osemele and Marshall Yanda vs. Aaron Donald

How good is the Rams defense? According to Pro Football Focus, St. Louis enters Week 11 with the second-highest graded defense in PFF's grading system. 

A big reason why is the dominance of its defensive line, which is arguably the best in the NFL. Aaron Donald leads the way at defensive tackle, where he's a force who alone can destroy offensive game plans.

Per PFF, Donald is the highest-graded defensive tackle and the second-highest graded overall player behind only Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt. A big reason why is Donald having 30 stops (tackles causing an offensive failure) to go with six sacks. 

He is having a season worthy of Defensive Player of the Year consideration. The two guys who will largely be tasked with keeping him at bay are offensive guards Kelechi Osemele and Marshall Yanda. 

Those two form one of the better guard tandems in the NFL, and if anyone can slow down Donald, it's those two. How well they win this battle will go a long way in determining how well the offense does. 

Eugene Monroe and Rick Wagner vs. Chris Long and Robert Quinn 

As good as Donald is, he's not the only defensive lineman Baltimore has to worry about. Robert Quinn is a terror off the edge and ranks as PFF's sixth-best defensive end. 

Quinn and fellow end Chris Long have a combined eight sacks and 20 QB hurries this season. Those two alone are a force to be reckoned with, and Baltimore has its work cut out for them. 

Offensive tackles Rick Wagner and Eugene Monroe aren't having good years by their standards, but they must play well this week to keep Quinn and Long at bay. 

They've held up well against many defenses but have occasionally faltered this year. They'll have to be on their best game to hold that Rams line at bay and do enough for the Ravens offense to have success. 

Prediction

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Ravens may be 2-7, but the Rams are almost in as much disarray, as evidenced by their QB change this week. 

Baltimore's biggest weakness is in its secondary, but its strength is its run defense. The Rams offense is geared more towards the ground game, while getting almost nothing from their passing game.

St. Louis may have a good defense against the pass, but its run defense is very suspect. Baltimore will have success on the ground against the Rams and should do enough to find some offensive rhythm.

John Urschel filling in at center for the injured Jeremy Zuttah will make things tougher for Baltimore. Urschel and the rest of the Ravens offensive line are up against arguably their toughest test of the season.

In the end, Baltimore does just enough to win a close defensive battle that comes right down to the wire, as every Ravens game this year has. 

Final Score: Ravens 20, Rams 17