Oct 13, 2008 7:43 pm US/Eastern
Ravens Lose Yanda, But Harbaugh Maintains Optimism
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) ―
Three weeks into the season, the Baltimore Ravens were unbeaten and atop the AFC North.
Rookie quarterback Joe Flacco was lauded for his rapid adjustment, the defense was ranked No. 1 in the NFL and John Harbaugh appeared quite comfortable in his first season as a head coach.
Two close losses to Pittsburgh and Tennessee did nothing to blunt the optimism.
Then came Sunday's 31-3 debacle against the Indianapolis Colts, which left the Ravens and Harbaugh to wonder: Just how good -- or bad -- is this team?
Indianapolis outplayed Baltimore in almost every way imaginable.
The Colts harassed Flacco, who looked very much like a rookie while throwing three interceptions. Peyton Manning made a mockery of the Ravens' top-ranked defense with three touchdown passes.
"We allowed the Colts to play the way the Colts wanted to play," Harbaugh said Monday.
The damage was more than just a lopsided defeat. Starting right guard Marshal Yanda was sidelined with a right knee injury that occurred in the fourth quarter.
"My guess is he's going to be out for the season. It's a big blow," Harbaugh said. "He's been an anchor for our offensive line. Whoever ends up going in there and taking that spot is going to have some big shoes to fill."
Adam Terry, Chris Chester and Oniel Cousins are potential replacements for the second-year lineman.
One of them will have to step up to protect Flacco, who was sacked four times and forced to throw quickly on several other occasions.
After a solid start this year, Baltimore's top draft pick has tossed seven interceptions compared to only one touchdown pass and is averaging only 5.86 yards per attempt.
Harbaugh intends to exercise patience with Flacco, no matter how painful watching games like Sunday's might be.
"It's just an issue of him learning from those mistakes," Harbaugh said. "We're going to press real hard, and he's going to work hard to make it sooner rather than later."
But offensive coordinator Cam Cameron said, "This season is not about Joe Flacco's growth. It's about us having an opportunity to win. Whether he's a rookie or not, he's out there to help us win the football game."
Even if it doesn't happen this Sunday in Miami, Flacco is not in danger of losing his job to backup Troy Smith.
"Joe is our guy. I'm never been a guy that's going to say never, ever, but I don't envision a scenario today where Joe's not going to be our starter this year, save an injury," Harbaugh said.
If quarterback was the only problem, the Ravens would focus exclusively on correcting the shortcoming. But the running game managed 51 yards against Indianapolis, the defense yielded 258 passing yards and kickoff returner Yamon Figurs was stuffed inside the Baltimore 20 on all three of his attempts.
"We just need to get better all across the board," Harbaugh said. "We're going to be doing this for the next three or four years here. To say that the result was last Sunday is not true. The result is where we're going and what we're becoming."
But what about now? What is to become of a once-promising season?
"This situation, like any situation, is what we make of it," Harbaugh said. "We can be sitting here undefeated and we'd be talking about the 100 things we need to do to get better. We've lost three games in a row, two close and one by a large margin, and there are 100 things we need to do to get better, just to use a general term. That's how we have to approach it."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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