Reviews & Grades: Packer Beat Ravens

Jclombardi reviews & grades Packers victory over Ravens.

Summary: In an ugly so-so win, QB Rodgers threw for 263 yards and three touchdowns while the Packers held on to beat the Ravens 27-14. TE Finley had two big catches for touchdowns. In the big 4th quarter, CB Williams and LB Hawk came up with key interceptions to ice the game.

Video Highlights: NFL.com.

Game Reviews: Finley Plays Role of Hero. Packers Defeat Ravens 27-14. Packers & Ravens Combine For Eye-Popping Penalty Totals. Rodgers, Defense Lead Pack Over Ravens. CB Williams makes key play in end zone.

Game Balls: 1. TE Finley 2. CB Williams 3. LB Matthews.

Quotes:

1. Coach McCarthy: “We’re winning games, and I felt like we improved today. That’s our goal every week, to do whatever it takes to win the football game and play a certain style of football, especially against the opponent we had in here tonight. I felt we improved, especially overcoming adversity.”

2. CB Williams: “I guess if the [officials] were consistent with it, it’s cool,” Williams said. “But for me, it was frustrating. I’m not going to lie. It was frustrating.”

3. QB Rodgers: “Those will happen from time to time. We’ve done a nice job this season of kind of eliminating some of those drops. We were very close tonight. It was a very choppy game, I think. We just really couldn’t get into a rhythm.”

4. WR Driver: “It wasn’t pretty out there, but a win is a win. We had to get this one to stay ahead in the playoff race.”

Report Card–Good, Bad, & Ugly: LA vs SE.

Pass Offense—B vs B-.  QB Rodgers had a good game completing 26 of 40 passes for 263 yards, 3 passing touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and 87.8 passer rating. TE Finley led the receivers with 7 receptions for 79 yards and two touchdowns. WR Jennings had 6 receptions for 77 yards.  WR Jones had 4 receptions for 44 yards.  WR Driver had 3 receptions for 31 yards and 1 touchdown, but he fumbled two potential catches away.

Rush Offense—C- vs C-.  Against a tough Ravens defense, the Packers had only 97 yards on 27 carries. RB Grant had 18 carries for 41 yards averaging just 2.3 yards. Effective RB Green had 5 carries for 23 yards.

Pass Defense—B+ vs B. The Packers 3-4 defense stopped the Ravens with big plays including 3 interceptions, three sacks, and 1 forced fumble. Ravens QB Flacco completed 15 of 36 passes for only 137 yards, 3 interceptions, 1 touchdown, and a poor 27.2 rating. Although flagged for three passing interference calls, CB Williams got a key interception to ice the game.

Rush defense—A- vs A-. The short-yardage defense continued their stout performance against the rush. The Ravens had 21 carries for only 66 averaging only 3.1 yards. RB Rice rushed 14 times for only 54 yards averaging a poor 3.9 yards.

Special teams—D vs D-. The coverage team had a mixed day allowing a 154 kick return yards, but only allowing one punt return for 6 yards. K Crosby missed an easy 38 yards field goal. P Kapinos had 3 punts averaging 43 gross yards in tough conditions, but a poor 34.3 net yards with 1 inside the twenty.

Coaching—B vs B-. For the good news, the Packers had 25 first downs and 350 total yards. However, the rushing game still struggled to get tough yardage. In 3^rd down efficiency, they were a mixed 6 for 13. Those two fumbles by WR Driver were momentum killers. In the red zone, they were only 3 for 6. Finally, they had an awful 11 penalties for 175 yards.

Overall Game—B.  In a home game against a tough Ravens team, the Packers held on to win the game.

Rodgers vs Favre series: week 12. “Silver Fox” Vikings 10-2.  Packers 8-4.

Commentary: On Monday night football, the Packers got an ugly win against a tough Ravens. The Pack has to learn to put these games away. After 4 straight wins, the Packers are in the playoff race with the Eagles.

Preview:  A tough road game against the Bears.