Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco passes against the Oakland Raiders in the second quarter at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland on October 2, 2016. Photo by Pete Marovich/UPI |
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BALTIMORE -- Much of the Baltimore Ravens' success hinges on quarterback Joe Flacco's arm -- and his surgically repaired left knee.
If the offensive line doesn't find a way to protect Flacco better, he could have trouble making it through another season. In Week Four against Oakland, Flacco faced constant pressure and was sacked twice. The Ravens were missing two rookie starters on the offensive line -- left tackle Ronnie Stanley and left guard Alex Lewis -- and their absence kept the team out of sync.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh expressed some optimism about getting those players back for the Week Five game against the Washington Redskins. Harbaugh is also hopeful the offense is ready to break out of an early slump.
"We are playing really hard, really physical, fast football," Harbaugh said Monday. "We are capable of being an excellent offense. We are going to get there. So, our guys are capable of doing it. We're going to keep pushing them and prodding them. We're going to keep encouraging them to get to the point we translate plays and yards into points. That's what we need to do."
Flacco was lost for the 2015 season when he tore his ACL and MCL on Nov. 22 against the St. Louis Rams. Over 10 games last season, Flacco threw for 2,791 yards with 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Baltimore finished the year 5-11 and Flacco aggressively rehabbed the knee to be ready for this season.
While Flacco has appeared healthy, he has dealt with consistent pressure over the first four games. So far this season, Flacco has thrown for 1,072 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions. His passer rating is 79.3.
Flacco acknowledged the offense needs to play better as a whole.
"Everything that we do right now is just probably a little bit tougher than it needs to be," Flacco said. "We need to find some ways to get some easy ones. I think our run game got some chunks for us, I think that got going a little bit, and that helped us out when it did get going. Hopefully, we can find some more of that."
The offense, however, needs to get a better performance from the offensive line. Backups James Hurst and Ryan Jensen particularly struggled against Oakland with penalties and blocking. Oakland linebacker Khalil Mack was constantly in the backfield and burst through the left side of the Ravens' offensive line and got his first sack of the season midway through the fourth quarter.
"Obviously, we want to keep Joe (Flacco) clean," right guard Marshal Yanda said. "He definitely got hit out there too much today. I haven't seen the tape yet, but obviously, we were seeing him down on the ground. We want to keep him upright as much as we can. That makes him play better, that makes all of us play better, and it eliminates turnovers, too. Obviously, we want to limit that as much as we can."
