NFL: Ravens crush Oakland Raiders
The Baltimore Ravens continued their unbeaten home run by completing a team record 55-20 over the Oakland Raiders.
Joe Flacco threw for 341 yards and three TDs as the Ravens scored on six of their first seven possessions and also took advantage of a struggling Raiders team with a fake field goal and a 105-yard kick-off return
A team points record powered the Ravens to 7-2 for the season and 5-0 at home – which stretches their league-leading streak to 15 straight wins in front of their home fans at M&T Bank Stadium.
Oakland actually finished the game with more time of possession and more yards gained, but their inability to stop the Baltimore big plays saw them concede over 40 points for the second game running for the first time since 1962.
Flacco himself got the first touchdown on the board as he scampered in from a yard towards the end of the first quarter, before supplying tight end Dennis Pitta with a five-yard TD strike in the second.
Sebastian Janikowski got the Raiders on the board with a 32-year field goal before Oakland found the end zone for the first time as wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey shook off a couple of tackles to go 55 yards from a Carson Palmer pass.
The half ended how it had begun though with a Baltimore touchdown – this time running back Ray Rice being given a huge gap up the middle to stroll to a seven-yard touchdown run to make it 27-10.
Smith exploited more gaping holes in the Oakland secondary with his first TD, from 47 yards, but the Raiders did find some sort of response in the form of a 30-yard TD grab from Denarius Moore.
It was only a temporary reprieve though as Smith hauled in a 20-yarder for his second score, before the Ravens really rubbed salt into the wounds as holder Sam Koch ran in a seven-yard score from a fake field goal attempt.
Jacoby Jones added even more misery in the fourth quarter as the specialist return man took the kick-off 105 yards from his own end zone into the Raiders’ to move the score beyond the half century mark.
