BALTIMORE — On the day the Ravens rediscovered the joy of victory, everything came together for coach Jerry Rosburg’s inconsistent special teams.
Steve Hauschka didn’t miss, Eddie Royal didn’t run and Lardarius Webb weaved like a champion.
“We were playing like our hair was on fire,” Jameel McClain said about the smothering effort of the Ravens’ special-teamers in Sunday’s 30-7 rout of the Broncos. It was as apt a description as any.
Indeed, the Ravens swarmed to Royal, one of the NFL’s most dangerous kick returners. He was stopped three times inside the Denver 20 on kickoff returns and got only 5 yards out of two punt returns.
The description fit for Hauschka, who cost the Ravens a comeback victory in Minnesota when he missed a 44-yard field goal at game’s end. But he nailed three consecutive field goals at distances of 43, 35 and 31 on Sunday to cool the fires of discontent.
But the player whose hair was burning most may have been Webb, the slender rookie from Nicholls State who gave the Ravens a charge to start the second half with an electric 95-yard kickoff return for a TD.
Webb weaved the last 20 yards while glancing over his shoulder at the Broncos’ pursuit. His first NFL TD gave the Ravens a 13-0 lead. It was only the fourth kickoff return touchdown in team history and the first since Yamon Figurs went 94 yards against the Indianapolis Colts in 2007. Webb credited his teammates.
“I just ran,” he said. “They blocked so good on that, it was like all 10 men got their man. They blocked so good, there were holes everywhere, and I just hit one of them.”
On what was supposed to be an angle return, Webb saw an opening up the middle — “instinct,” he called it — and wasted no time getting through. He was never touched, even though the Broncos were closing at the end.
That run was validation of the Ravens’ decision to put Webb in on kickoffs, even though they had signed veteran Chris Carr for the job in the offseason.
“The design (of the return) gave him some freedom, and he saw the opening and took it,” Rosburg said.
“I thought he set it up real well. He did a nice job of running to a point, then bent it back where the crease was. That’s where the vision comes in. That’s what great returners have. They have the ability to bring the ball one direction and see what’s happening behind them.”
Webb wasn’t ready for a coronation.
“No mark made,” he protested. “I’m just a rookie. This is just the beginning. I hope for many more. I’ve just got to go back to work.”
Counting a 17-yard return later in the third quarter, Webb is averaging 30.3 yards on kick returns. He also got a handful of plays at nickel back spelling Carr, who got his first NFL sack.
