Raiders Were No Match for Ravens

Oakland routed 55-20 as secondary is picked apart by Flacco and team TDs on fake-field goal play and kickoff return

By the end of the third quarter, the Raiders were being punched on the field and beaten up on the Internet and airwaves.

As Oakland was on its way to losing its second straight game Sunday, 55-20 to the Ravens in Baltimore, disgruntled Raiders fans could have been called for piling on.

Wrote one ticked-off fan on Twitter, when the game was still going:  “The #Raiders face talent mismatches at nearly every position these days. They are essentially an expansion team.”

Wrote another: “After a while, you’d think you’d run out of feet to shoot.”

And: “These third-string #Ravens look a lot like the first-string #Raiders.”

Plus, Paul Gutierrez of CSN reported former Raiders coach and current radio broadcaster Tom Flores as saying, “This is getting disgusting” as he watched the rout unfold, adding of the Ravens’ passing attack: “They’re having too much fun taking advantage of the Raiders’ ineptness in the secondary.”

Added Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston on the paper's website: “Congratulations, Raiders. You are the worst team in the NFL.”

Baltimore’s Joe Flacco threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns as the now 7-2 Ravens dominated the Raiders from start to finish and dropped Oakland to 3-6 this season. After climbing back to within a game of .500 with consecutive wins over the Jaguars and Chiefs, the Raiders and their defensive unit were steamrolled a second straight week.

Last week, it was the Tampa Bay Bucs and rookie Doug Martin (251 yards rushing and four TDs) in a 42-32 decision; Sunday, it was Baltimore’s usually run-oriented offense that took to the air to cut apart the Raiders’ injury-depleted secondary.

Tampa Bay went up 10-0 in the first quarter on a field goal and Flacco’s 1-yard touchdown run, then went into halftime up 27-10. Over the first half, Flacco was 15-of-21 for 225 yards, including seven completions to his tight ends for 126 yards.

In the third quarter, the Bucs predictably blitzed Oakland 21-7, which included a 7-yard TD run on a fake field-goal play. Oakland continued to play poorly in the quarter following halftime this season, and now has been outscored 109-31 in the period.

The Bucs piled on one last bit of embarrassment late in the game with Jacoby Jones’ 105-yard kickoff return for the final points of the game.

The point total marked a single-game scoring record for the Ravens; it also tied the Raiders’ franchise mark for most points allowed in a game.

An even uglier number for the Raiders: They’ve allowed 97 points in two games.

Though Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer put up big numbers once again – 368 yards passing and two TDs on 29-of-45 passing, the Oakland defense was one-dimensional and largely inconsistent.

The Raiders rushed for just 72 yards, gave up three sacks, lost two fumbles and gave the ball away on an interception and committed 10 penalties for 105 yards.

Head coach Dennis Allen, after last week's loss, said he was looking for answers. Obviously, he didn't find them in Baltimore.

Next up for the Raiders is another high-powered offense, the New Orleans Saints, who come to Oakland next Sunday having just knocked off the previously unbeaten Atlanta Falcons 31-27.

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