Ravens at Jets: 3 things we learned

The Baltimore Ravens weren’t able to overcome an offensive funk on Sunday, as the New York Jets defeated the Ravens 24-16 on Sunday.

Despite playing both Geno Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick on Sunday, the Jets came out on top Sunday. The Jets defense came to play, and their secondary that came into the game struggling, but gathered themselves for this one.

Fitzpatrick came into the game as the backup, and got his spot back on the field with the injury to Smith, who sustained a leg injury and didn’t return. An early blocked punt that resulted in a touchdown for the Ravens didn’t stop the Jets from storming back. Smith hit Quincy Enunwa on a 69-yard catch and run that sparked the offense.

Matt Forte finally had himself a good game, running for 100 yards on 30 carries, averaging 3.3 yards per carry but also picking up a score on the ground. He added to the offense with four catches out of the backfield for 54 yards and a receiving touchdown. In a relatively sloppy game, here’s what we learned.

1-Darrelle Revis returned to vintage Revis

It was just for a week and it was against a Baltimore team that didn’t have Steve Smith, but Revis fought hard on Sunday. Actually, he did a pretty good job last week too against Lary Fitzgerald but they were on the losing end of that effort.

According to PFF, Revis allowed only one single reception on Sunday for 11 yards. In total, the Ravens picked up 248 yards through the air, but picked on other corners (Buster Skrine and Marcus Williams) to do so.

Revis had a pass deflected too. In 46 coverage snaps, his yards per route was just 0.24, much better than his average coming into the game which was 1.72. The Jets defense needs a bit of a makeup this offseason, but Revis still has three years remaining on his contract after this, so he’ll be a part of the Jets future.

2-Where has old Joe Flacco gone?

After starting out 3-0 despite average play from Flacco, the Ravens looked solid enough to contend down the stretch. But four games later, and four losses later, this is no longer the case. He had two interceptions, both in the second half, that really set the offense back.

Of course, the Ravens didn’t muster up much on the ground, finishing the game with just six yards collectively. Anytime you rush for just six yards as a team, you probably won’t win many games (unless Tom Brady is your quarterback of course). So where did it go wrong for Flacco this week?

Well, as I stated Revis took away basically whatever side he was on, so Flacco was really only targeting one side of the field for a majority of the game. The Jets only notched one  sack on him, but they were able to pressure him enough to get an interception and some negative plays. Here is his pressure chart courtesy of PFF.

3-The Jets have a QB dilemma

In his limited action Sunday, Geno Smith finished 4/8 passing for 95 yards and a touchdown. He also was sacked twice. Fitzpatrick came in and was 9/14 passing for 120 yards and a touchdown. But he also made an ill-advised throw that was in the chest of a defender, who should have intercepted it.

What do the Jets do now? Fitz made it clear that he thinks he should be, and should have been named the starter in his post game press conference.

Next: Highlights from Week 7

But he can’t (in my opinion) be named the starter next week just based on his performance in this game. Smith didn’t look that bad before he got injured. And, if healthy, he deserves a shot to show himself again next week. At this point, Fitzpatrick is stealing money from the Jets and bringing him back for another year appears to have been a huge mistake by the Jets.