Rams vs. Ravens: Postgame Grades, Notes and Quotes for Baltimore
The Baltimore Ravens entered Week 11 without much to play for other than pride and respect.
As for the St. Louis Rams, they actually were still in the playoff race in the NFC and needed this game badly to keep their postseason hopes alive. For three quarters in this game, it looked like the Rams were the team playing for something, as the Ravens floundered in mediocrity.
As the fourth quarter opened, St. Louis had the ball, a 13-3 lead and seemingly the game in hand. That's when Baltimore woke up and dominated the final quarter of play.
The Ravens forced a Rams fumble on the second play of the quarter to get the ball in Rams territory. Seven plays later, Joe Flacco hit Kamar Aiken for a seven-yard score to help narrow the Rams' lead to just 13-10.
The Ravens defense would then force a Rams punt after just four plays, and Flacco led the offense right back down the field. However, they would settle for a field goal this time around after getting down to the 3-yard line, and Justin Tucker's 20-yard field goal tied it up at 13 with 5:12 left.
After both teams' kickers missed field goals, the Rams got the ball near midfield with 1:13 to play. Three plays later, Courtney Upshaw busted through the line and strip-sacked Case Keenum before Lawrence Guy recovered the ball at the Rams 41-yard line.
After two Javorius Allen runs put the ball at the 29-yard line, Tucker would come on and hit the game-winning 47-yard field goal as time expired to give Baltimore an improbable 16-13 win.
Postgame Grades for Ravens
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| Position | Grade |
| QB | D+ |
| RB | C |
| WR | C+ |
| TE | B+ |
| OL | B+ |
| DL | B+ |
| LB | B+ |
| DB | B |
| Special Teams | C+ |
| Coaching | D |
This was a game to forget for Flacco, who threw two terrible interceptions that put the Ravens in a hole. His second pick led to a Rams touchdown to help give them a 13-3 lead in the third quarter.
While Flacco was without many of his top weapons, that's still no excuse for those turnovers. He has to make better decisions for this depleted offense to succeed and not put his struggling defense in a bind.
The running backs didn't do much in this one mainly due to Justin Forsett's injury that knocked him out of the game in the first half. He was having a good game before the injury knocked him out, and rookie Buck Allen didn't do much in his place.
As for the pass-catchers, tight end Crockett Gillmore was the big performer with five grabs for 101 yards. Aiken performed well with five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Receiver Jeremy Butler chipped in four grabs for 45 yards. Coming into the game, Butler had just one catch for 21 yards this season, so seeing him step up was a nice plus.
Against one of the better pass-rushing defenses in the NFL, Baltimore's offensive line held up well against St. Louis. The line gave up just one sack and kept Flacco clean for the most part.
The defense played outstanding in this game, and it all started in the front seven. Against a Rams offense that relied heavily on star rookie running back Todd Gurley, Baltimore made sure he never got going.
Gurley finished the game with just 66 yards on 25 carries. The defensive line and linebackers bottled him up almost every time he touched the ball and made sure he wasn't the one who beat Baltimore.
The secondary also played well, though it came against a woefully bad Keenum at quarterback for the Rams. Keenum finished the game just 12-of-26 passing for 136 yards and had trouble completing the easiest of passes.
The secondary did a good job of keeping his receivers covered, but even when it got beat, Keenum was incapable of getting them the ball more often than not.
Joe Flacco Suffers Torn ACL
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In a season full of close losses and disappointments, this win over the Rams was the kind of feel-good win the Ravens desperately needed...
That is, until it was revealed in the postgame press conference that Flacco had suffered a torn MCL and ACL, one of the worst knee injuries a professional athlete can sustain. The injury happened in the final minute after Flacco attempted a slant pass and came up gimpy.
"Joe Flacco just had a season-ending knee injury," head coach John Harbaugh revealed after the game. "He tore at least his ACL and I think his MCL as well."
As brutal as the loss of Flacco is for the Ravens, even Harbaugh didn't look too distraught as he reported news of the injury, something he's had to do far too often for many of his players this season.
This will be the first time Flacco has missed time in his NFL career due to injury. Since the Ravens drafted him out of Delaware in the first round of the 2008 NFL draft, Flacco has never missed a regular-season or postseason start.
"That's been a great blessing, to have Joe every single game for eight-and-a-half years," Harbaugh said of Flacco's durability. "He's an iron man. I told the team he's an absolute iron man, a warrior type of player out there."
In a season full of tough losses on and off the field, this is easily the worst of them all. That's the case any time a team loses its franchise quarterback.
With Flacco out, the Ravens will now turn to backup Matt Schaub for the rest of the 2015 season.
Justin Forsett Suffers Broken Arm
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Injuries have hit the Ravens hard this season, and that continued in this game.
Late in the first quarter with the Ravens driving in Rams territory, Forsett injured his arm after defensive tackle Aaron Donald hit and drove Forsett hard into the ground.
That left Forsett lying on the field for several minutes before his right arm was put in an air cast as he walked off the field. It was immediately clear the injury was serious, and it didn't take long for Baltimore to announce Forsett's arm was broken, and he was out for the rest of the game.
It's another brutal loss for the Ravens, especially on offense with virtually no proven playmakers now to help keep the load off the quarterback's shoulders. Baltimore has already lost backup running back Lorenzo Taliaferro to a season-ending foot injury.
With Taliaferro and now Forsett out, rookie running back Javorius "Buck" Allen will get the bulk of the carries. He's shown flashes at times this season, including in Sunday's game, but it's unclear if he's ready to shoulder the load for nearly half of an NFL season.
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Brutal Penalties Plague Ravens
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Penalties have plagued the Ravens far too often this season, and it happened again versus the Rams.
Coming into Week 11, Baltimore had the eighth-highest penalty yardage of any NFL team, according to NFLPenalties.com. The Ravens have given up big plays too often to opposing teams thanks to penalties, which has helped Baltimore lose many close games.
Against the Rams, the Ravens once again committed several brutal penalties on both sides of the ball. On offense, it was holding and offensive pass interference penalties that killed several drives and were big reasons why they had just three points through the first three quarters.
As for the defense, it also made several gaffes that kept Rams offensive drives alive. Frankly, the St. Louis offense is a mess that should have done little against Baltimore, but its lone touchdown drive came after a pass interference penalty committed by Jimmy Smith.
That play moved the Rams from their own 41-yard line down to the Ravens 10-yard line. Two plays later, St. Louis punched it in to take an early 7-0 lead. While the Ravens were able to overcome them this time and win, these mistakes cannot continue to repeat if this team is ever going to get back to its winning ways.
Eugene Monroe Injured Again
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Another week, another Eugene Monroe injury.
This time around, the oft-injured left tackle suffered a shoulder injury in the third quarter that caused him to miss the rest of the game. Monroe had already missed four games this season due to various injuries, so losing him is nothing new for the Ravens.
Still, losing your left tackle hurts, especially since Baltimore was already without starting guard Kelechi Osemele and starting center Jeremy Zuttah in this one. Osemele was a late scratch against the Rams due to a knee injury, while the team placed Zuttah on injured reserve this week due to a pectoral injury.
If Monroe misses any time, this will leave Baltimore down three starting linemen for the rest of the season. After losing Flacco and Forsett in this game, losing Monroe only adds to what's already been a brutal Week 11 of setbacks for Baltimore.
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