Tuesday

Recap: Ravens help Packers to ugly win

This Monday-nighter featured two teams vying for the playoffs, but you wouldn’t know it by the play on the field.

Packers 27, Ravens 14

The two teams combined for 23 penalties for a total of 310 yards, tying a record for the second-most penalty yards in a game in NFL history.

And if that wasn’t ugly enough, both teams combined for seven turnovers as well, three in the first quarter alone. Green Bay, entered the game having turned the ball over 10 times in their first 11 games, but committed three on the night. Luckily for the Packers, Baltimore was worse, handing the ball over four times, including two interceptions on consecutive passes by QB Joe Flacco in the 4th quarter. The first of those picks came on 2nd and goal at the Packers’ goal line, as the Ravens were threatening to pull to within a field goal, trailing just 24-14 at the time. Green Bay took advantage of Baltimore’s generosity, cashing in 14 points off turnovers, which staked them to the win.

Both teams were dreadful in the first 15 minutes, managing just three points between them, but Green Bay came alive in the 2nd quarter with two TD passes from QB Aaron Rodgers — one to TE Jermichael Finley and the other to WR Donald Driver. Finley’s TD catch was his first of two on the night, and Driver’s TD was the 50th of his career, making the Packers the only franchise in the history of the league to have 10 players having scored 50 TDs or more.

The 17-point deficit at the end of the first half matched the Ravens’ largest deficit of the season, but they got back into the game in the 3rd quarter, scoring two TDs within 30 seconds.

But the Packers began to pull away in the 4th quarter, making it a two-score game on Finley’s second TD of the night, giving him three on the season, all of which have come Monday Night Football.

The Ravens’ secondary struggled all night without Pro Bowl S Ed Reed, who was forced to sit out with hip and ankle injuries. They missed his talent and leadership as they got called for five pass interference penalties, giving them 13 on the season (highest in the league), and becoming the first time a team to get five such flags in a game since the 2001 New York Giants.

The Packers committed four pass interference penalties of their own, but overcame those as they outgained the Ravens 350-185, as Baltimore gained only 50 more total yards than what they racked up in penalty yardage.

Flacco finished with just 136 yards, going 15-36 with one TD and three INTs, and RB Ray Rice was held in check, rushing 14 times for just 54 yards, 21 of those on one play.

Rodgers went 26-40 for 263 yards, with three TDs and two interceptions, including his first pick in 133 pass attempts, the second-longest streak of his career, and Finley added 79 yards on seven catches to go with his two TDs receptions as the Packers won their fourth game in a row and rolled to an easy cover of their three-point spread.

The win improves Green Bay to 8-4 and helps to solidify a spot in the wild-card race as the Packers get ready to travel to Chicago next week, while the Ravens failed to take advantage of the Steelers’ upset loss to the Raiders, and fall to 6-6 as they travel back home to host Detroit.