Brian Billick primarily blamed miscommunication for the first blocked Ravens punt of the season in the first quarter of yesterday's 37-25 home loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Apparently, that miscommunication still existed well after that game, when Billick had his opinion as to what should have happened and punter Dave Zastudil had another.

The Ravens were forced into a fourth-and-seven from the 50-yard line on their second possession and decided to fake a punt for the second time this season (the first time also was unsuccessful). The play called for Zastudil to pass to Ron Johnson 10 yards past the line of scrimmage.

But Zastudil froze after seeing Johnson covered by a Saints defender, then scrambled a couple of steps to his left and punted the ball into the back of Bart Scott, who was being pushed back by the Saints' rush.

A quarter later, another punt by Zastudil was blocked -- this time courtesy of an old-fashioned special teams breakdown, but the Saints turned the ball over on the next play.

On the first block, Billick said, Zastudil should have optioned out of the fake because the defender was covering Johnson, and then punted the ball immediately.

Zastudil said he should have just gone on with the pass to Johnson despite the coverage.

"We had a fake in," Billick said. "Their configuration [was what we expected]. And he should have just punted the thing away. It was a mistake between two rookies [Zastudil and Johnson]."

Two plays later, Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks found Donte' Stallworth for a 28-yard touchdown that gave New Orleans a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

"What I didn't expect was the outside guy stopped and went up on Ron, and that was a tendency we weren't expecting," Zastudil said.

"It was a designed fake, 100 percent pass. If I could go back, maybe I would have thrown it just to try and see if there was pass interference. Clearly, in my mind, it wasn't open, so I tried to punt it and get it out of there. My instincts told me not to throw it."

Zastudil had no such time to make a decision on the second block. New Orleans safety Mel Mitchell came through the middle of the Ravens' line and took the ball off Zastudil's foot.

Running back Deuce McAllister lost a fumble on the first play of the ensuing possession, but Jamal Lewis fumbled for the Ravens on their first play and the Saints eventually scored a touchdown to go up 20-7 at halftime.

Scott said the first block had nothing to do with the second.

"The second one was just a mental breakdown, and in games like this you can't have mental breakdowns," Scott said. "That was our first mental breakdown on a punt this year, and it happened at the wrong time."

In the previous two games, the Ravens used blocked punts returned for touchdowns to make up for offensive struggles and gain momentum.

"A blocked punt is the most dramatic turnover in a game emotionally," Billick said. "That's hard to overcome, but our guys fought through it."

Said safety Chad Williams, who blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown a week ago, sparking a fourth-quarter comeback against Cincinnati: "It's a momentum changer whenever there is a punt block. The last weeks, we were on the other end, blocking punts. This week, it kind of came back and bit us on the butt."