Ravens vs. Jaguars: Bad Offense Dooms Baltimore's Chance to Control AFC North

So much for the Baltimore Ravens going into Jacksonville and whooping the Jaguars 10 ways to Los Angeles on Monday Night Football. What should have been a walkover against a one-win team turned into a national embarrassment for Baltimore's still-struggling offense and a 12-7 decision that deposed the Ravens from their perch atop the AFC North.

The defense did its job quite well, holding rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert to just 93 yards passing while keeping the Jags out of the end zone the entire game. Maurice Jones-Drew's 105 yards rushing might seem like reason enough for concern, though it still took him 30 carries to reach that mark, with his longest single run going for just 12 yards.

The same cannot be said for the offense, no matter how you slice it.

Joe Flacco looked flustered all night, hitting just 21 of 37 pass attempts for 137 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Ray Rice struggled to find running room, with 28 yards on eight carries, though he did chip in 35 yards on five catches from Flacco. What's more, Ricky Williams and Vonta Leach provided very little in relief—six yards on four attempts.

Flacco, in particular, looked terrible and has yet to really find his footing in his fourth NFL season. Take away his two good performances this season—Week 1 against Pittsburgh, in which his defense set up him up for success by forcing seven Steelers turnovers, and Week 3 in St. Louis against an awful Rams defense—and you're left with a quarterback who's been mediocre at best, a quarterback with just two touchdowns against five interceptions.

Leave it all together, and you've still got a guy who's completed just around 52 percent of his passes, well below his career average of 60.9 percent.

Clearly, something has gone awry with Flacco this season. That "something," or rather those "somethings," would seem to be Derrick Mason and Todd Heap. Both were reliable safety valves for Flacco, who has long struggled to throw the deep ball despite having a strong arm. Both were among the first players released by Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome once the lockout was lifted.

Mason signed with the New York Jets and was recently traded to the Houston Texans. Heap joined the Arizona Cardinals, whom the Ravens will play in Week 8, but has been in and out of the lineup with injuries this season.

Where once the Ravens had a surplus of short-yardage receivers, guys who could keep the chains moving, now they have a deficit, one that isn't likely to change at all over the course of the season.

But, before we get too carried away with what's wrong with Flacco and the Ravens offense, let's give credit where credit is due, to Jacksonville's defense. The Jaguars spent $115 million on free agents to turn what was one of the NFL's worst units into a solid, if not surprising, group.

Linebackers Clint Session and Paul Posluszny and safety Dawan Landry, a former Raven, put every penny of that to good use, terrorizing the Ravens from sideline to sideline. Each has played a crucial role in turning a unit that ranked 28th in total defense in 2010 into one that currently checks in at ninth in the NFL.

A big turnaround, to be sure, and one that leaves the Ravens' offense to do a bit of soul searching once again.

Now, Baltimore has a short week to pick up the pieces before facing another solo-win squad, the Arizona Cardinals, on their home turf at M&T Bank Stadium. Luckily for the Ravens, they'll have a chance to do so against a Cardinals defense that ranks 26th in total yardage and 28th in scoring.

If offensive coordinator Cam Cameron can't figure out a way to get Flacco and the offense on track against a defense that bad, then it may just be time for a shake-up among the coaching staff and perhaps, just perhaps, a tap or two on the proverbial panic button.

Realistically, though, it's hardly time to scrap the whole darn thing in Baltimore and start from scratch. The Ravens still have as much talent across their roster as just about any team in the NFL.

They have a fantastic head coach in John Harbaugh, an experienced defense that's as dominant as ever and an offense that, despite its inconsistencies, has proven that it can be prolific under the right circumstances and with a well-constructed game plan.

The AFC North crown remains within range for the Ravens. The question remains: Can the offense put Monday night's embarrassment behind it and hold up its end of the bargain?