You can't blame it all on Flacco... can you?

The Ravens fall to a 1-1 record after a dismal offensive showing and a few strong defensive stands on the Ravens part. A few things went wrong for the Ravens in this game but the most obvious being Joe Flacco’s pathetic play.

Ray Rice finished the day with 16 carries for 87 (5.4 yards per rush), one of his runs being a 30 yard momentum-changing run in the fourth quarter when the Ravens were still down 10-9. 

The Ravens defense kept Carson Palmer to only 167 passing yards and Terrell Owens, Cincinnati’s lead receiver today, to only 57 yards. The Bengals offense drove down to the redzone several times this afternoon but scored no touchdowns partly due to Palmer's erratic endzone passing. Most of that credit however goes toward the Ravens defense that prevented their opponent from moving the ball through the air and on the ground when having their backs against the wall. The pass rush was existent although not evident on the stat sheets that show Ray Lewis being the only one to sack Carson Palmer.

Penalty calls tended to move in the Ravens favor as Cincinnati collected nine penalties for 56 yards often putting them in third-and-long situations and staggering a productive drive accept the abysmal “roughing the passer” call on Terrell Suggs. Otherwise, the yellow flags were thrown Cincinnati’s way. How could the Ravens still come up as the losers?

Well evidence points to Joe Flacco's poor performance finishing the day with a career high four interceptions. In his defense, the Bengals' cornerbacks were having a tremendous day keeping Boldin, Mason and Houshmandzadeh under control for most of the game. The only slip up they had was Derrick Mason's 31 yard touchdown reception. Boldin only had five catches for 35 yards and Todd Heap followed with 3 catches of the same amount of yardage.

Flacco however has to find the open man when the game is on the line and even though one of those interceptions wasn't really his fault (a tipped pass intercepted by linebacker Brandon Johnson). When you watched Tom Brady play against this same defense last week he was decisive and quick to get the ball out of his hands resulting in his offense putting up 38 points on the Bengals. Flacco played this way on the first drive of the second half, hitting tight ends Ed Dickson and Todd Heap for consecutive first downs, eventually finding Mason for the touchdown. Unfortunately, the magic disappeared and the offense didn’t score another touchdown the rest of the game.

If Flacco does not throw four interceptions, it is fair to assume the Ravens head back to Baltimore a 2-0 team. 

Raven fans, I implore you not to panic. No the Ravens have not scored more than 10 points in a game so far this season and no the passing game has not shown signs of dominance they are capable of. However, a large number of Flacco's targets were not on this team last year. It is going to take some time before he gets comfortable with his new tight ends and receivers.

Next week the Ravens open up their regular season at home versus the underrated Cleveland Browns. This divisional game is not to be overlooked as they are still division opponents and know the Ravens very well.