Better than this, don’t leave

The Baltimore Ravens just ended the Denver Broncos’ six-game, season-long winning streak with a dominating 30-7 victory at M&T Bank Stadium.

All season long Broncos fans have asked themselves: how good is this team, really? The Broncos have won close games against tough opponents and dominated bad ones, suggesting they’re among the NFL’s elite. Today they were annihilated by a Ravens team outplaying them in seemingly all phases of the game.

But the Broncos aren’t as bad as they looked. A few things I noticed during the game:

1. The Ravens have to be one of the worst teams to play coming off a bye week. It’s not like there’s some big secret to Baltimore’s defensive prowess over the past decade: just that the Ravens are, even by NFL standards, a very physical team. Even in the first quarter the sound and violence of their hits stood out. While we had an extra week to prepare for the Ravens (as they did for us), it’s hard to scheme around getting smacked in the face time after time, especially when they’re fresh, too.

2. Knowshon Moreno is for real. As it quickly became clear that the Ravens were going to amp up the hitting, Moreno showed no interest in backing down, even though he lost a fumble in the first quarter on a perfectly-timed blow from Ed Reed for the game’s only turnover. He ran and dove without fear.

On the opening drive of the third quarter, we had that fourth-and-one deep in Baltimore territory, and I really wanted to see Moreno get the ball right in the teeth of that defense. Fortunately the success-free screen we threw instead to Brandon Marshall was negated by Ed Reed jumping offsides, and Moreno scored easily a few plays later to cut the lead to 13-7. You could tell he relished playing in this game. I just wish he would have had more than ten carries.

3. Kyle Orton has limits. I noticed before the game how many of our statistics are completely ridiculous and can’t possibly hold up throughout the season. For example: Orton’s one interception all year, which he threw to Randy Moss on a Hail Mary. There’s no way that continues. Actually, it did today, despite Orton’s best efforts; he threw at least two passes that went off Raven hands. It’s not a shot at Orton to say he’ll throw more picks, because any quarterback would. (Similarly: Curel had a 6.7 yards per carry average before the game; he carried eight times for sixteen yards today.)

More concerning was Orton’s inability to bring the Broncos back or move the ball consistently at all, though part of that was how quickly the Ravens took over in the second half and could sell out on the pass. Still, that doesn’t explain why we had so much trouble moving the ball in the first two quarters.

4. The defense isn’t invincible, either. The Ravens’ offense is pretty tough to face in your first week back, too—power running and a versatile, strong-armed quarterback. Joe Flacco was impressively sharp against our defense and, as always, spread the ball around. Five receivers had at least three catches today, though the leader had just five; those five Ravens each have at least 23 catches this year. Since the Ravens are so democratic in their aerial game, Champ Bailey can’t have his usual impact. Their massive line, with Michael Oher playing right tackle, held Elvis Dumervil without a sack.

It’s almost as though Baltimore’s offense was purpose-built to destroy our D; they’re definitely our worst matchup so far this season. If our offense had killed any clock in the second half, surely the defense would have played better. So I’m tempted to shrug it off. But if we’re going to make any noise in the playoffs, there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing the Ravens again this year.