Almost nothing went right for quarterback Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense Sunday.
The group struggled to move the football against the Houston Texans, and Flacco had his worst outing of the season. He had pressure in his face all day and was consistently off the mark. The offense never settled into a rhythm, and Houston's defense controlled the game to hand Baltimore a 25-13 defeat.
Things got so bad that reporters asked Flacco after the game if he was injured. He was not.
"We got our [butts] kicked. It's really simple," Flacco said. "We just got whupped. "No other way about it. The defense played well. Special teams played well and we didn't do a single thing on offense. We just got beat up and whupped."
The problems were wide-ranging for the Ravens.
A relentless pass rush led by Defensive Player of the Year candidate J.J. forced Flacco out of the pocket or to get rid of the ball quickly nearly the entire game. . The Ravens also had no running game and fell behind early, forcing the offense to a pass-heavy system in the second half.
"I think they did a good job creating that disruption up front and making me feel uncomfortable. It just threw things off," Flacco said. "We never really got anything going or got into a groove of any kind. We couldn't move the ball, couldn't make first downs, couldn't get any completions, just couldn't get ourselves going and moving forward. It just wasn't good."
The Ravens got off to an anemic start to the game, punting on their first five possessions. Baltimore punted or turned the ball over on their first nine drives.
The slow starts have been a concerning trend for the Ravens lately, as the offensive unit has combined for 56 yards and one first down in the first quarter of the last three games.
"Obviously I'm not happy about it," Flacco said. "They got me on my back foot, they had good coverage, they took away the main two guys. They did a lot of things. They were disruptive. They got to me. They got us off our spot. Nothing was easy."
At halftime, Flacco had completed 3-of-18 passes for 27 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He also had a sack and fumble, and had a career-worst 0.0 quarterback rating.
Flacco finished the day completing 21-of-50 passes for 195 yards, with two touchdowns and three interceptions for a quarterback rating of 41.7. He picked up 120 of his passing yards in the fourth quarter when he was throwing nearly every play.
The Ravens had just 74 total offensive yards entering the fourth quarter, and finished with 211 on the day.
"The bottom line is that offensively, we just got out [butts] kicked," veteran wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. said. "I hate it say it that way, but that's what happened."
Flacco was only sacked twice, but the Texans also hit him 10 times.
The rough overall showing for Flacco and the offense came as the Ravens try to make a push for the playoffs. They have now lost control of their own destiny to gain a postseason bid, and they have to quickly recover from Sunday's loss by beating the Browns in the regular-season finale in Baltimore next week.
"That's part of being an NFL football player, is being able to take this and move on," Flacco said.
