Clayton's drop is only part of the Ravens' problem

October 6, 10:20 AMBaltimore Ravens ExaminerTony Wisniewski

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Drop it like it's hot:  Clayton continues to prove he's bust

Six points from last week: 

 1.  Joe Flacco is every bit as good as advertised; and he is well on his way to being one of the premier quarterbacks in the league.

 2.  Mark Clayton epitomized his existence as an NFL wide receiver.  A former first-rounder, Clayton, is the type of player who will feast on lower-level competition and ultimately fail against top-notch teams.  In other words, he is every bit as much of a bust as Travis Taylor.

3.  The Ravens' secondary is not as good without Jim Leonhard.  Ed Reed can't roam free to make plays, simply because Dawan Landry is a liability in pass coverage. 

4.  Dominique Foxworth is not a shutdown corner.  And, it's quite possible that the Ravens over-paid him.  But more importantly, new defensive coordinator Greg Mattison has to do a better job working with the personnel that he has.  To leave Foxworth in single-coverage against Randy Moss is an amateur move that even experienced Madden players wouldn't do.

5.  According to many major media outlets, via the power rankings, the Ravens entered New England as the top-ranked team in the NFL.  Today, they have dropped to somewhere in the range of fourth-seventh.  The media assumed that the Ravens still boasted an elite defense to go along with all-of-a-sudden potent offense.  But that's an oversight by the realm of national media.  Most analysts do not watch the Ravens week in an week out.  The truth is, the Ravens defense is outstanding against the run, but awful against the pass.  Partly because of the secondary, partly because of bad play-calls, mostly because of the lack of pass-rush from the defensive line.

6.  General Manager Ozzie Newsome made the decision to pass on all wide receivers back in April's NFL draft.  And, while drafting Michael Oher in the first-round was a no-brainer, the jury is out on second-round pick Paul Kruger.  Despite the need to provide Joe Flacco with more weapons, Newsome passed on several rookie receivers--Johnny Knox, Austin Collie, Louis Murphy, Mike Wallace--who have produced quite well with their respective teams.  Meanwhile, Kruger, who was inactive for the first three games of the season, played 11 plays in Sunday's game; he was a non-factor.

Three points for this week:

1.  The Cincinnati Bengals are a balanced football team.  Many are writing the Bengals off simply because they were taken to overtime by Cleveland this past week.  The Bengals notched a road win in Green Bay, and they've knocked off the Super Bowl champion Steelers.  They will give the Ravens all they can handle this Sunday, and, if the Greg Mattison does not make some scheme changes this week, there is a good chance that the Bengals leave Baltimore victorious.

2.  The Bengals defense is a lot better than anyone thinks.  The cornerback tandem of Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall is among the league's best.  The Ravens absolutely must run the football effectively to win this week.  That means that Cam Cameron will have to adjust his recent pass-happy mindset and get back to controlling the clock and playing smashmouth football.

3.  If Mark Clayton struggles again this week, and Demetrius Williams is a non-factor, the Ravens may need to start taking a look at the free agent crop again.  Marvin Harrison and Amani Toomer aren't the long-term answer, but they would at least ensure that Derrick Mason isn't triple covered when the game is on the line.