It was worse than the final score indicated— the Ravens dominated the Colts in every phase of the game, 24-10, in Baltimore on a crisp sunny afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium.
Just one of Terrell Suggs’ 3 sacks to go along with 3 forced fumbles in the Ravens big win at home…
During the Ravens’ 24-10 victory over the Colts on Sunday, Suggs sacked quarterback Dan Orlovsky three times and forced three fumbles. Now, Suggs leads the Ravens with a career-high 13 sacks with three remaining games and has also intercepted two passes.
“Terrell Suggs was just a game-wrecker,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said . “He was a game-wrecker in the run. He was a game-wrecker in the pass rush. He’s playing great football.”
Suggs dominated rookie offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo, the Colts’ prize first-round draft pick from Boston College. And the Ravens limited the Colts to 50 rushing yards.
“We shut the run down early, and they had to start passing the ball,” defensive tackle Haloti Ngata said. “That’s when Terrell Suggs went crazy.” This marks the third game this season that Suggs has recorded three sacks.
“It only counts if we get to Indy (for the Super Bowl) and the confetti drops,” Suggs said. “Right now, we are all just doing our parts holding levees until the general gets back. This is still Ray Lewis’ team. He is still the general of this team. We can’t wait until he gets back out there doing the things that he does great.”
Suggs hit Orlovsky so often that he became visibly gun-shy. “He’s as good a pass rusher as I’ve played against,” Orlovsky said. “I can’t say anything more about him as a football player.”
About the only thing that didn’t go right was the Ravens’ failure to recover any of the three fumbles that Suggs caused.
“We have to start finding them,” Suggs said. “It’s chaos out there. It’s like ‘The Matrix’ out there with a little bit of ‘The Inception.’ It’s a little bit crazy. We’re just going to keep striving to get better.”
What does it look like from the vantage point of the secondary with Suggs leading the charge as the Ravens lead the NFL with 45 sacks? “Any time you get the front seven eating like they’re eating, those jokers want their supper,” strong safety Bernard Pollard said. “It’s exciting for us.”
Rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith tied running back Jamal Lewis’ franchise rookie record for touchdowns with his sixth scoring catch of the year. The former University of Maryland standout is second in the NFL among rookies for touchdowns behind Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green, who has seven. Smith finished with five catches for 48 yards.
“Every route is an important route,” Smith said. “It’s part of being a receiver. I’ve only run past guys a couple of times this year. The majority of my catches have been underneath. It’s something I’m learning to d, and I want to be great at.”
Joe Flacco eclipsed the 3,000-yard passing mark Sunday, his third consecutive year he’s hit that milestone. Flacco now has 3,122 yards, 15 touchdown passes and nine interceptions this season.
The Ravens were well-balanced in terms of run to pass against the Colts. “We did well,” Flacco said. “We had some success in both. It wasn’t like we were getting stoned in the passing game and stoned in the running game, and had to pick between one. We were actually able to be successful in running the ball and in throwing the ball, and we did both of those.”
Flacco was intercepted by cornerback Joe Legefed in the end zone. He was also almost picked off by safety Antoine Bethea, but Bethea dropped the potential interception. “If I would have caught it, I would have been off to the house, but you have to finish those,” Bethea said. “That play right there was big. It could have changed the game. They went in and scored. It was a big play. I should have had it.”
The Ravens converted 3 of 4 red-zone opportunities Sunday and have 10 touchdowns in their past 17 red-zone shots over the past five games. “It’s something that we can definitely get better at and it goes back to our overall killer instinct,” center Matt Birk said. “When we get teams down, we have to put them away. There’s no reason for us to keep it within striking distance.”
Dannell Ellerbe started again at middle linebacker, and inside linebacker Jameel McClain led the defense with eight tackles. “Everybody is just depending on each other,” McClain said. “We’re making sure we depend on each other to do what we have to do.”
Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney sacked Flacco twice, beating offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie once. McKinnie has been playing against Freeney since he was at the University of Miami and the Colts star pass rusher was at Syracuse. “We go way back,” McKinnie said. “He got one on me, but it was still a great battle. We know we both have to bring our ‘A’ game. His specialty is the pass rush. I’m a shot putter and he’s a sprinter.”
For the second time in three games since growing a Fu Manchu mustache also sported by Flacco and Koch, tight end Dennis Pitta caught a touchdown pass. “The magic continues,” Pitta said.
QUICK HITS: Cornerback Chris Carr missed his third consecutive game with a back injury. … The Ravens also scratched rookie wide receivers LaQuan Williams and Tandon Doss, nose guard Brandon McKinney, rookie running back Anthony Allen hamstring) and rookie linebacker Chavis Williams. … The Colts deactivated quarterback Peyton Manning (neck surgery), wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez (groin), defensive back Mike Holmes, linebackers Kevin Bentley and A.J. Edds, offensive tackle Quinn Ojinnaka and defensive end Jerry Hughes. … The Ravens’ game captains were running back Ricky Williams, outside linebacker Jarret Johnson and strong safety Tom Zbikowski. Zbikowski had a 30-yard kickoff return, his longest of the season. … Former Ravens and Colts coach Ted Marchibroda attended the game. … Wide receiver Lee Evans caught his fourth pass of the season, a 21-yard sideline pattern. “It’s good to be out there,” said Evans, who now has 381 career catches for 6,008 yards. “I think we did a good job. We completed some passes outside and ran the ball effectively all game. We got into a good rhythm.”
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