Garrett Downing: This was a better showing for the Ravens, especially the offense. Joe Flacco looked in command and moved the offense down the field. They need to clean up the mistakes and score touchdowns on some of those drives where they get in the red zone, but overall the group showed improvement in the no-huddle offense. Defensively, the secondary struggled with stopping Calvin Johnson once safeties Ed Reed and Bernard Pollard came off the field. Johnson is arguably the best receiver in the NFL, but the cornerbacks have had a tough time stopping the pass in consecutive weeks. And finally, the kicking battle between Justin Tucker and Billy Cundiff continues to stay interesting as they were both perfect on Friday night. That is a competition that could come all the way down to the wire.

Sarah Ellison: That’s what a successful up-tempo, no-huddle offense is supposed to look like. What a difference from last week. The starters didn’t come up with a touchdown because of a few mistakes in the red zone, but they moved the ball between the 20s and Joe Flacco looked in command at the line of scrimmage. The fast pace was taxing on the Detroit defense and factored into two Lions offsides penalties in the first quarter. Just imagine it with Torrey Smith, Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson in the lineup. Unlike the offense, the secondary’s performance was not an improvement from the Atlanta game. The unit struggled with Julio Jones last week and wanted redemption against Calvin Johnson, but didn’t get it. “Megatron” finished with 111 yards and a touchdown on five receptions. Fans finally got to see running back Bernard Pierce in action for the first time and he looked impressive, showing explosiveness with some (correctable) rookie mistakes. Rookies Deonte Thompson and Asa Jackson had special moments to savor even though their touchdowns were brought back. Others who stood out: Matt Birk, Paul Kruger, LaQuan Williams, Omar Brown (again). Room for improvement: Jimmy Smith, Cary Williams, Courtney Upshaw, Nigel Carr and Tyrod Taylor (throwing, not rushing).

And he’s come to a decision…

“I think I know who was right,” John said Monday eliciting laughter from the gathered media.

“But whoever was right or wrong, I know whose side I’m on. I’m taking sides, the same side I’ve always taken.”

Celebrating a 25-19 win in Detroit over the previously undefeated Lions, Jim joyfully bounded to the middle of the field to shake hands with Schwartz.

He clearly gave a strong handshake, which Jim later admitted was “a little too hard.” Schwartz claimed he was cursed at.

The Lions coach then went at Harbaugh, yelling at him and bumping him with his shoulder as the two coaches and teams exited the field. You can watch the fracas here.

John said he has spoken to his brother, but told reporters that he wasn’t going to share the details of their conversation.

“Everybody’s got a lot to learn,” John said. “Right now he’s 5-1. If the biggest lesson he has right now is how to shake hands postgame after a victory, he’s doing okay.”

Strangely enough, Jim and Schwartz worked together for the Ravens in 1998. Harbaugh was Baltimore’s starting quarterback and Schwartz was a defensive assistant coach.

Wideout Mark Clayton (knee), left tackle Jared Gaither (foot) and safety Ed Reed (groin/foot) were all scratched prior to kickoff, with Clayton’s status known on Friday. 

In Gaither and Reed’s cases, it was more of a last-minute decision.

But it was no big deal for the Ravens in their dominating victory.  Oniel Cousins was elevated for Gaither, and Tom Zbikowski got the nod for Reed. 

And while Kelley Washington went with the first team for Clayton, he left with an ankle injury, making room for Demetrius Williams to make some plays.

“That’s what we talked about in the locker room,” said head coach John Harbaugh.  “We talked about the O-line and we talked about the secondary. We had guys out. For Ed Reed to be out and for us to be able to stay on top of a player like 81 [Lions receiver Calvin Johnson].”

Johnson, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound monster, was limited to only four receptions for 37 yards, in part because of Zbikowski’s center-fielding.  Zbikowski logged the second interception of his career when he picked-off Lions quarterback Daunte Culpepper in the fourth quarter.

“I’ve gotten what every back-up or special teams player can ask for—an opportunity,” Zbikowski said.  “You’ve just got to make the best of it when you get in there.”

The performance of the offensive line was also a main factor in the win.  Subbing for Gaither, rookie Michael Oher slid from the right to the left side, opening a chance for Cousins to have his first-career start.

Not only did the Ravens keep Detroit from sacking quarterback Joe Flacco all game, the Ravens logged 308 rushing yards, the second-most in franchise history.

“That right there just shows that it’s next man up, but for us, we have guys like Michael [Oher] who can move from right [tackle] to left,” said running back Ray Rice, who posted a career-best 166 yards on the ground.  “Not many guys can do that. I haven’t seen it done. It’s usually another guy that’s played left tackle. Mike moving from right to left, we didn’t miss a beat.

“Oneil Cousins really did a great job today. If you watch the guy, he’s physical, he just got after it. We didn’t miss a beat in the running game, passing game. One thing we wanted to say was, ‘Keep the guys off Joe [Flacco].’ And I’m not sure Joe got touched too many times today, but it’s great when you’ve got guys that can move around like that, that’s on the whole offense.”

And Williams, a target of much consternation among fans for not being able to get on the field, set up a third-quarter touchdown when he wrestled the ball out of cornerback Phillip Buchanon’s hands for a 34-yard gain.

“I have confidence that they’re going to beat the guy one-on-one, so all I need to do is put them in a position to beat that guy and worry about the other guys,” Flacco said.  “And today we did a good job of doing that. Our guys did a good job of going up and making plays.”

In scaling back the workload for his right arm, however, Flacco turned in a solid performance that helped move past last week’s three-interception night against the Green Bay Packers.

The second-year signal-caller completed a humble 13 of 20 passes for 203 yards, one touchdown and no picks before he was pulled in the fourth quarter with the outcome essentially decided.  And, his 120.8 quarterback rating marked a career-high.

Flacco was aided by a ground game that racked up an impressive 308 yards, the second-most in franchise history.  But when he was called upon, Flacco made plays.

“I don’t know how much easier it makes it, but it just makes everything go,” Flacco said of the Baltimore’s running attack.  “Today we just had everything going.  I don’t know how much easier it makes it for me, but it makes it a lot of fun.  It makes it a lot of fun for everybody on the offense, and that’s what it was like today.”

Flacco did have two beauties that helped the Ravens blow the game open in the third quarter.

On the Ravens’ first series after halftime, Flacco threw a bomb to receiver Demetrius Williams, who leapt high and wrestled the ball out of cornerback Phillip Buchanon’s hands for a 34-yard gain.  Le’Ron McClain then ran it in from three yards out on the next snap.

Flacco returned later with a 31-yard rainbow to tight end Todd Heap, who didn’t have to break stride as the ball dropped over his shoulder on the left sideline. Two plays later, Willis McGahee ran it in.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh praised offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson for working with Flacco in preparation for Detroit.

“Joe bounced back,” Harbaugh said.  “I thought it was gutsy. He fought through, and they got to him maybe once. He made some good throws. I thought Cam and Hue Jackson, especially, did a nice job this week working with Joe. It was a good performance.”

Joe Flacco took the bench after three quarters of successful work.  He completed 13 of 20 passes for 230 yards and a touchdown.

In addition to Smith, tight end Edgar Jones came off the bench, and Demetrius Williams, Justin Harper and David Tyree saw action at wideout.

We’re going to head down to the field for post-game interviews.  This was had Ravens written all over it.

Thanks for reading the blog today.

And the scaled-back attack continued to work.  Baltimore shoved the ball down the Lions’ throats with a steady dose of Willis McGahee and a mauling offensive line to take a 41-3 lead.

McGahee reeled off a 20-yard run to start the Ravens’ last series of the third quarter, then ended it with a 16-yard touchdown run.

It was McGahee’s 50th-career touchdown, and the Ravens’ fourth of the day set a franchise record for the most rushing touchdown in a single game.

With the opening possession of the second half, the Ravens marched 74 yards in 11 play.  Fullback Le’Ron McClain punched the ball across the goal line from 3 yards out.

The Ravens were able to get down there on a 34-yard bomb to wideout Demetrius Williams, who had to make a leaping grab in the red zone. 

On the following series, after the Ravens forced a three-and-out, Flacco launched a rainbow to tight end Todd Heap down the left sideline.  Heap made a difficult over-the-shoulder grab to set up Willis McGahee’s 8-yard touchdown run.

Rice has been absolutely spectacular.  He had a 59-yard touchdown burst in the period, and followed that with a 15-yard rush and a 30-yard reception on the Ravens’ ensuing series.

Baltimore got the ball back quickly after Rice’s score when Lions quarterback Daunte Culpepper underthrew a deep ball to Calvin Johnson and cornerback Chris Carr ran under the floater.

Rice then went to work, going off right tackle Oniel Cousins for the 15-yard gain and taking a short pass from Joe Flacco through Detroit’s defense for 30 yards.

The Ravens tried to give the ball to Rice so he could get the touchdown, but he was stopped on run up the gut and overthrown to by Flacco.

At halftime, Rice already has 204 total yards, the second-most in Ravens history in a single half.  Qadry Ismail racked up 210 yards on four receptions in a half in 1999.

Something to watch for in the second half is Detroit running back Kevin Smith and his quest to top the century mark.  Smith owns 79 yards on 19 carries.  The Ravens have only allowed three opposing rushers to get to 100 yards.  Cedric Benson did it twice, and Adrian Peterson made that once.

Rice took a handoff up the middle of the offensive line, bounced off two defenders and took off for the end zone for a 59-yard touchdown run.

The run, coupled with a 52-yarder earlier in the game, gave him 133 total rushing yards, the biggest day for a Ravens this year.   Rice did it on six carries, giving him an average of 22.2 yards per attempt midway through the second period.

Credit also deserves to go to wideout Derrick Mason, who made a key block downfield to take out a pursiung Lion en route to the end zone.

But, he refused to go down and turned a small gain into a 62-yard touchdown. 

Shaking off a sandwiching hit from two Lions defenders, Mason accelerated out of the tackle and sprinted to the end zone to highlight a four-play scoring drive in the second quarter. 

After crossing the goal line, Mason doubled over in pain and was attended to by Ravens medical staff on the bench.  No. 85 will be fine, however, as he just got the wind knocked out of him and is expected to return.