Baltimore Ravens Week 10: 7 Takeaways from Seattle Seahawks Upset

Baltimore Ravens surprised everybody in Week 10 with a huge upset in Seattle against the Seahawks.

In my 7 Keys to Ravens Victory Over Seattle, I outlined several musts for the Ravens but sadly they fell short in nearly every category.

So how did the former division leaders of the AFC North fall to a team that most people consider horrible?

We'll take a look at seven takeaways from yesterday's game.

Ravens Become Overconfident After Big Wins

Let's look at Baltimore's season to date.

After a huge Week 1 beating on the rival Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore goes on to lose 26-13 at Tennessee. They went on to win a less than challenging St. Louis match after the loss.

In Week 4, the Ravens unexpectedly crush the New York Jets with 34 points against their elite defense and then have a bye week to get their celebrating out.

Then Baltimore has a huge win against a vicious Houston Texans team. The following week they go on to lose, scoring just seven points against a pitiful Jacksonville team.

Finally, they play an easy match against Arizona after the loss, then have an epic win in Pittsburgh, only to go lose to the 2-6 Seahawks.

Save for the bye week, every big win is followed by a big loss to a poor team.

I'm not promising that Baltimore didn't take the game in Seattle seriously or that they didn't fear this Seattle team. But let's face it, they probably didn't.

Marshawn Lynch Was Allowed to Run Over Baltimore

Marshawn Lynch rushed for 109 yards on 32 carries with one touchdown for an average of 3.4 yards per carry.

While Seattle's total rushing yards were 119 on 42 attempts, Lynch had a stellar game.

After 135 yards rushed against Dallas, Baltimore knew they had to watch Lynch. They stated they had to stop Lynch. Yet somehow they didn't.

Seattle's offensive line is filled with young players—good young players.

Baltimore needed to expect a much fiercer offensive line than they did and Lynch capitalized on the miscalculation.

Tarvaris Jackson Had Too Much Time

Seattle has allowed opponents to sack Jackson 22 times this season.

Baltimore managed to sack Jackson just one time today.

While that number in itself doesn't matter much, it gives you an idea how little pressure Jackson was under.

Jackson has never been a 400 yards-per-game type of QB, but with the kind of time he had today, it wasn't hard throwing for nearly eight yards-per-attempt.

Again, Baltimore's defense was simply not getting the job done.

If they want to move forward in the season, they need to treat every team, not just Pittsburgh, as a seriously tough match-up.

Pass Coverage Is a Must

Baltimore needs pass coverage in the backfield, especially if they aren't pressuring the quarterback.

The good news is that the Ravens corners have been rapidly improving over the last couple of games.

The bad news is that since Baltimore is leaving them to single coverage, we're seeing 20-plus-yard passes in a lot of drives.

Finding that balance in when to drop the safeties is a small but necessary tweak Baltimore needed to find.

Remember, it wasn't touchdowns that killed them today, it was short hops up the field for five Seattle field goals.

Ravens Dominated Seattle in Penalty Yards

Seattle has a massive home-team advantage for penalty yards against—well, everybody. 

They did an incredible job keeping to just four penalties against Seattle's thirteen.

Baltimore gave up just 34 yards to Seattle's 100 yards, which is unheard of in Seattle.

Despite how much criticism I've given Baltimore's defense, they must be commended here because the noise in Century Link Field is just a nightmare of false starts and off-sides calls.

Baltimore's Offensive Line Has to Improve

Ray Rice was held to 27 rushing yards.

The suggestion of the possibility that Seattle could stop Ray Rice was laughable to most people before this game.

But it didn't stop there.

Seattle was all over Joe Flacco. In fact, Flacco had less time in the pocket than Tarvaris Jackson. How's that for irony?

Baltimore's defense will inevitably put the team in a position where they have to score.

When it happened in Pittsburgh, the only thing that saved them was Flacco getting a second to throw, finding wide-outs, and making passes.

If Baltimore can't make a hole for Ray Rice and can't give Flacco time to throw, where do the points come from?

Baltimore's Offense Cannot Adapt

The Ravens plan of attack is pretty much one and the same.

Give the ball to Ray Rice. If that fails, throw it to Ray Rice. If that fails, throw to the tight ends. If that's not enough, lose.

Okay, it's not that bad, but it almost is.

Look at Seattle's defense and you'll spot two things. The potential to stop any RB and Marcus Trufant, their best CB, on IR for the season.

Solution? Wide receivers. But that's not what happened.

Boldin, Smith and Williams had a combined total of just 18 of Flacco's 53 targets for a measly five completions.

Yes, Seattle's secondary was on fire. Yes, Ed Dickson did a fantastic job today, yet we're not celebrating a Ravens victory over Seattle.

If Baltimore wants to move forward in this league, they need to show that they've got an offense with options, not just an offense composed of Rice, Dickson and Pitta. And they need to be able to use it.