The Baltimore Ravens found out their top-ranked defense can’t win games all
by itself in an unexpected loss their last time out.

Coming off their worst offensive performance in nearly four years, the
Ravens will look to bounce back when they host the reeling Arizona Cardinals on
Sunday.

Baltimore (4-2) dropped out of first place in the AFC North with a 12-7 loss
to lowly Jacksonville on Monday night, gaining a paltry 146 yards of total
offense – its fewest since mustering 104 in a 38-7 defeat to Pittsburgh on Nov.
5, 2007.

Joe Flacco(notes) threw for 137 yards, with 90 coming on the Ravens’ only touchdown
drive in the fourth quarter.

The Ravens had a franchise-low 16 yards at halftime and didn’t have a first
down until the third quarter.

“No excuses. It has to be a lot better. Not even close to the way we’re
capable of performing on offense,” coach John Harbaugh said. “Everybody realizes
that. We have to do a better job, starting with me. I got to do a better job of
making some decisions. We all have to do a better job of coaching, playing,
executing, all those different things.”

Terrell Suggs(notes), one of the Ravens’ defensive standouts, questioned Harbaugh
and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron for providing Ray Rice(notes) with only eight
carries, on which he gained 28 yards and fumbled once.

“You go first-down run and you get a yard, now you’ve got to find a way to
get nine yards on the next two,” Harbaugh said. “By the same token, eight
carries is never going to be a winning formula for Ray Rice, there’s no doubt
about it.”

Rice thinks things will change this week.

“I definitely expect to be more involved,” he said. “My involvement with
this offense hasn’t changed since the beginning of the season. I don’t want them
to feel like they’ve got to force me the ball. I’m not that kind of guy. My
carries come when the whole offense has success. I look forward to having that
success.”

Baltimore’s NFL-best defense did its part Monday, not allowing a touchdown
while giving up only 205 total yards. The Ravens are allowing league-best
averages of 272.7 yards and 13.8 points – neither of which may bode well for a
Cardinals team having offensive struggles of its own.

Arizona (1-5) has lost five straight after last week’s 32-20 defeat to
Pittsburgh, which included another lackluster performance from quarterback Kevin
Kolb(notes).

Since a 309-yard, two-touchdown performance in a Week 1 win over Carolina,
Kolb has thrown seven interceptions to only five touchdowns during the skid and
his 66.8 passer rating during that span ranks last in the league.

He was called for intentional grounding in the end zone which resulted in a
safety last week, and 73 of his 272 passing yards came on a dump-off play to
LaRod Stephens-Howling(notes) which resulted in a touchdown.

Kolb is aware his play must improve if he’s to succeed against Baltimore’s
stifling defense – and if he’s to hold onto his starting job.

“You just have to be mentally tough,” Kolb said. “That’s all you can do. You
have to know that you’re doing it right and get a little extra inch. What choice
do you have? There is no simple answer. All you can do is put your head down and
grind and know that you definitely don’t want to move back.”

Coach Ken Whisenhunt was quick to point out, though, that Kolb isn’t the
only one struggling. Arizona has rushed for less than 100 yards in five of its
six games, though running back Beanie Wells’(notes) knee injury isn’t as serious as
first thought.

Wells is unlikely to play Sunday, but after further evaluation he won’t be
lost for the season as Whisenhunt had feared.

Larry Fitzgerald(notes) has only two games of 100-plus yards this season and hasn’t
caught a touchdown pass in three games.

The Cardinals’ defense, which allowed 445 yards to Pittsburgh, ranks 26th
allowing 388.3 yards per game, and is 28th giving up an average of 25.5 points.

“We have to find somebody to make plays,” Whisenhunt said. “If we have to
make changes across the board for the different positions in order to do that,
that’s what we’re going to do. One-and-five, five straight losses is certainly
frustrating. It’s certainly not from lack of effort – we’re working our tails
off to try to win – but we’ve got to look at every position and if they’re not
getting it done, we have to make changes.”

The Cardinals have lost three straight to the Ravens since a 16-13 win Nov.
23, 1997, in Baltimore.

Read More: 2011 nfl power rankings, 2011 nfl power rankings week 3

The second week of NFL action is in the books and we bring you our power rankings for Week 3. This week we saw the Baltimore Ravens flew too close to the sun and got burned. The Carolina Panthers and Cam Newton might just be legit but not legit enough to beat the Green Bay Packers. And in New England we were reminded of the Patriot power of the hoodie. Fear the hoodie. 

So here we go, SB Nation Arizona’s Week 3 NFL power rankings:

1. New England Patriots: When you drop 35 points on one of the better teams in the league, we don’t care if you are at home, you earned a top spot. Enjoy and act like you’ve been here before.

2. Green Bay Packers: The Packers got down early to the Panthers but they pulled out their Super Bowl rings and showed a young and developing team how to get it done. But at least Cam Newton and friends made it close (and covered the spread).

3. New Orleans Saints: The Saints looked very good beating the Bears and hung tight with the Packers in Week 1. Drew Brees is still slinging it so we’re gonna rank ‘em high.

4. Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles lost Michael Vick to concussion (shocking) and lost a tight road game to Atlanta (not shocking).

5. New York Jets: The Jets are tough to rank because…feet!!

6. San Diego Chargers: The Chargers had a chance to keep things close in New England, but like so many others they fell victim to Hoodie Magic. How else do you explain this?

7. Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens went from annihilating their hated rivals to getting punked by Tennessee. They’re still good but not top five good.

8. Pittsburgh Steelers: Lost to the Ravens. Destroyed the Seahawks. We won’t be able to get our hands around this avian erratic team until we see them next week against….wait, the Colts? Nope, that’s not going to tell us anything either. We’ll rank them high on history for now until we see more evidence one way or another.

9. Chicago Bears: The Bears beat the Falcons but lost to the Saints. We think they will be good but can’t say quite yet at what. We also hope Jay Cutler has a good chiropractor and massage therapist.

10. Atlanta Falcons: The Falcons lost to the Bears but beat the Eagles. We think they will be a playoff team, don’t you?

11. Detroit Lions: Yes folks, the Lions might be for real this time.

12. Washington Redskins: The Redskins might not be for real, but they much more real than they were last year.

13. Houston Texans: Wins over the Colts and Dolphins won’t earn you much love but 2-0 is still undefeated.

14. Buffalo Bills: Are you starting to believe? We are. 

15. Dallas Cowboys: Bonus points for playing with broken ribs and a punctured lung. That’s worth at least two extra spots on the power rankings. Enjoy it!

16. New York Giants: Beat the Rams on Monday Night Football and showing some spunk. Good on you.

17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Josh Freeman deserves better and he’ll probably get it soon enough. 

18. Tennessee Titans: We don’t really think the Titans are this good but they did beat the Ravens and no other team can say that (yet).

19. Arizona Cardinals: The Cards could have been about five spots higher had they been able to generate (or prevent) two more points.

20. San Francisco 49ers: We are now at the point where we go from mediocre teams to bad teams. The 49ers are on that cusp.

21. St. Louis Rams: You were supposed to win the NFC West. Instead you are 0-2. Sorry, try again next year week.

22. Carolina Panthers: This team is going places, they just haven’t figured out how to get there yet. Expect to see them climb as the season moves on.

23. Jacksonville Jaguars: Did the Jaguars really think Luke McCown was going to get it done? We didn’t.

The rest of these teams are technically still in the NFL so technically we have to rank them. We don’t, however, have to say anything about them, so we won’t. If you are fan of one of these teams you have our sympathies.

24. Miami Dolphins

25. Oakland Raiders

26. Cincinnati Bengals 

27. Seattle Seahawks 

28. Cleveland Browns 

29. Minnesota Vikings 

30. Denver Broncos 

31. Indianapolis Colts 

32. Kansas City Chiefs