Ravens Reprise

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 6, 2013- The Ravens deserved better.  There is a ton of post-game braggadocio by those who once again have made Peyton Manning the doyen of their football dreams.  And you will get no criticism of the master here.  But if you actually watched the game, you know that the game started to turn even as the Ravens retook the lead at the end of the first half, and then really turned when the referees once again screwed up what should have been an easy call.  The Ravens were on the march in the waning seconds of the first half and looked for all the world like they were going in for their third touchdown.  On third and goal Joe Flacco deftly tossed a soft and perfect pass to usually sure-handed Dallas Clark, who was wide open and in a position to waltz in for the score.  If you were watching, you know ole Dallas dropped the ball.  I love Joe Flacco, but I'm not going to like a new, more expressive Joe.  He put his hands up on his helmet as if he'd seen a ghost, adding to Clark's humiliation.  Stoic, Joe, be stoic.  You are too good not to be. (Justin Tucker did convert a chip shot field goal to put the Ravens ahead at the half, but it wasn't what it should have been.)

And then in the second half, on Denver's first drive, they faced a third down around the middle of the field.  As he is want to do, Peyton Manning threw very low to Wes Welker and a national television audience saw the pass bounce off the ground before slippery Wes got his hands on it.  But ole Wes rolled over and came up with the ball, and the refs bought it.  This is a basic call.  Welker is the number one receiver for Manning and why the officials got fooled is beyond me.  Making matters worse, the replay was never shown to John Harbaugh and his coaches in the press box didn't inform him of the rotten call.  And so a drive that should have stalled was kept alive and led immediately to a Denver TD.  The TD gave the Broncos their first lead of the game. On the next drive the Ravens couldn't get out from under the shadow of their own goal post and had to punt.  For only the third time in his long career, Sam Koch had a punt blocked and the Broncos immediately scored again. Two or three years from now that absurdity will leave the game.  As with all officiating and all rules concerning officiating, the aim has to be to get it right.  If the call is goofy - like the one we discuss here - and the officials have at their disposal a video showing it is goofy, changing it to a correct call shouldn't depend on the coach on the field - without access to the video - getting word of it before the other team races up to the line and runs a play, ending any chance of correcting the screw up.  It is such a tawdry scene anyway: the Broncos, knowing that the officials screwed up, start acting like a bunch of ants scurrying up to the line and snapping the ball to seal the steal.  Shades of obama!