Baltimore Ravens: Thoughts vs. Philadelphia Eagles

By Phil Naegely | Aug 23, 2015

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Aug 22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on the sidelines during the second half against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles defeated the Ravens, 40-17. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

1. Ravens Undisciplined All Around

In short, it was a rough game for the Ravens defense and there’s one explanation for it; the Eagles no-huddle, fast tempo offense tore the Ravens apart. It catches opposing defenses off guard and out of breath and that was evident in the first quarter. In addition, the Ravens starters were undisciplined in their play and that’s partly due to the Eagles’s strategy, but it’s no excuse.

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Looking back to a week ago, the Ravens team was the exact opposite of what they were against the Eagles. If the AFC North favorites want to make the playoffs and find their way to the Super Bowl, they will have to play more disciplined. Some of the penalties were ticky-tacky, but most of them were due to the Ravens not being mentality in the game and then trying to recover.

John Harbaugh won’t be pleased with the defense in the penalties column or the scoreboard. The score doesn’t matter in the preseason, but the Eagles offense made the defense look like Swiss cheese play after play and drive after drive. They have a lot of work.

However, the defense isn’t the only ones who racked up the yellow flags. The offense was sloppy when it came to false starts, illegal formation, and other penalties. All of these little calls on both offense and defense add up and hurt a team’s performance when the games matter in a few weeks. The preseason is the time to lay a solid foundation and be disciplined on all side of ball. It was clear that they failed miserably at that against the Eagles.

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