Quarterback Joe Flacco led the Ravens to an easy, 17-10 victory against Cincinnati in their season opener on Sunday — and really didn’t use his arm to do it.
The rookie used his shoulder and legs to power his team on a sun-swept afternoon in front of a sellout crowd of 70,978 at M&T Bank Stadium.
Flacco was the lead blocker for receiver Mark Clayton on a 42-yard touchdown run in the first quarter before the quarterback scrambled for a 38-yard scoring run in the third quarter that proved to be the decisive score.
“It was a hell of a time out there,” Flacco, who won in his first NFL start, said. “I started running and was thinking ‘first down, first down,’ and it was like there was no one out there.”
With just over two minutes left in the opening quarter, Clayton took a reverse handoff from receiver Derrick Martin and dashed down the far sideline. Flacco, out in front, got a piece of linebacker Dhani Jones, knocking the linebacker to the ground and allowing his teammate to cut back to give the Ravens a 7-0 lead.
Flacco struck again late in the third quarter. With the Ravens leading, 10-3, and facing first-and-10 on the 38-yard line, Flacco took the snap and after seeing the Bengals blitz, sprinted down the sideline. He picked up a great block from center Jason Brown, enabling him to weave behind another from Clayton before diving into the end zone as two would be-tacklers lunged at his feet.
But Flacco, whose longest run at the University of Delaware was for 25 yards, had his share of struggles.
On a third down attempt early in the second quarter he overthrew Mason and was late on another toss down the seam to an open Clayton that could have resulted in a long touchdown.
But still, the 19th overall pick finished 15-of-29 for 129 yards, becoming the first rookie to win a season-opening game since the Texans’ David Carr in 2002.
His performance wasn’t enough to make anyone forget Johnny Unitas, but it was enough to elicit cheers of “Let’s go Flacco,” from the crowd multiple times.
“That was a big game for Joe,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who won in his head coaching debut, said. “Now we have an idea where he is at.”
The Bengals’ offense was stymied for much of the first half as the Ravens were energized by the return of safety Ed Reed, who was questionable with a nerve impingement in his neck. Cincinnati gained just 84 yards in the first half, but answered a 21-yard field goal from Ravens kicker Matt Stover with a Shayne Graham 43-yard field goal as time wound down in the first half to cut the lead to just 10-3 at intermission.
The Bengals finished with just 154 total yards and standout quarterback Carson Palmer was just 10-of-25 with an interception.
Baltimore running back Ray Rice fumbled a pitch from Flacco early in the fourth quarter, and Cincinnati defensive back Johnathan Joseph scooped up the ball and returned it 65 yards untouched into the end zone to cut the lead to 17-10 with 10:15 remaining. But that’s as close as the Bengals would get. The Ravens, who ran for 235 yards compared to just 63 for the Bengals, controlled the ball from the final seven minutes, 15 seconds.
“That’s how you win football games,” said Flacco, who is just the fifth rookie quarterback to win season-opener since 1982. “You get your offensive line and backs going.”
Dave Carey covers the Ravens for The Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected]
