Baltimore Sports Post

Last weekend I picked 3 winners out of 4, so I am going to also pick this weekend then at the end figure out how right or wrong I was.  I like a three underdogs and one favorite:

• 20-14 Ravens beat the Titans
• 33-10 Panthers beat the Cardinals
• 20-17 Eagles beat the Giants
• 16-13 Chargers beat the Steelers

I think the Ravens are a better team than they were when they lost 13-10 to the Titans earlier this year.  I also thing the Ravens are more healthy.  The Panthers should whip the Cardinals who have been bad on the road especially when coming to the east coast.  I think the Giants without Plaxico are a different team and I think the Eagles can beat them again in the meadowlands.  I think the Chargers are hot and their defense will keep the game close so that their offense can pull the game out late.

The Ravens beat the Dolphins 27-9 in Miami this weekend with a dominating defensive effort.  The key to the win was the five turnovers the defensive unit forced the turnover stingy Dolphins to commit.  The Dolphins had won 9 of 10 coming into the game and only given up 13 turnovers all of 2008 (tied for an NFL record).  The  Ravens get no rest as they move on to face the Titans on Saturday in what will no doubt be a slugfest.

The Ravens and Dolphins are set to face off in Miami on Sunday at 1pm.  Vegas has listed the Ravens anywhere from 3 to 3.5 point favorites according to covers.com.  Strange this week that all of the visiting teams have been listed as the favorites.  The Dolphins and Ravens are both very hot over the last 11 weeks of the season going 9-2 over that span.  The Ravens beat the Dolphins 27-13 at Miami in week 7, but both teams have improved and gained significant confidence since that game.  The Dolphins have found ways to win close games, while the Ravens have gotten a significant step up from their offense since their early season woes.  This will be one of the best games of wild card weekend, so I’m predicting that the Ravens will win by a score like 24-17 or 20-14.  Although I’m not predicting that the Dolphins will cover the spread I would expect that they would have the ball with a chance to win or tie before the Ravens defense closes out the game.

I’m also going to call the other games:

• 33-30 Chargers beat the Colts
• 28-24 Falcons beat the Cardinals
• 24-10 Eagles beat the Vikings

The Ravens closed out the regular season in style with a convincing win against the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars 27-7.  The Jaguars put up a fight for the first quarter before the Ravens piled on 21 points in the second quarter behind daring deep strikes by Joe Flacco and solid touchdown runs by the running back duo of Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain.  The Ravens defense also came to play by forcing 4 turnovers including 2 interceptions by Ed Reed and 2 fumble recoveries.  The defense finished the season #2 overall in yards per game ,#3 overally in points allowed per game and had the distiction of allowing 13 or fewer points in every home game this year (first time since the ’62 packers).  The win by the Ravens also clinched the wild card 6th playoff seed for the playoffs which means they’ll travel to the AFC East Champion Miami Dolphins next week in a rematch of a game the Ravens won earlier this season 27-13.

First let me apologize for missing the past two months of Ravens games and Baltimore sports news in general because of some superstitious related things (haha!), but I’m back because I wanted to keep this blog to track the seasons of Baltimore teams. 

With the season on the line the Ravens will face the 5-10 Jags in Baltimore.  If the Ravens win they make the playoffs as the #6 seed.  If the Ravens lose they still have a chance to make the playoffs if the New England Patriots to lose at the Buffalo Bills.

Since the Ravens beat the Raiders at home in late October they Ravens have gone 6-2 beating the Browns, Texans, Eagles, Bengals, Redskins, and Cowboys while losing to two of the best teams in the NFL in the Steelers and Giants.  

The Ravens built up a quick 19 point lead in the first half and cruised to a blowout 29-10 victory over the hapless Oakland Raiders.  The defense was relentless, the offense was imaginative and the special teams played a big roll in what was probably the most complete game the Ravens have played in all phases so far this season. 

Cam Cameron broke out some trickery with Troy Smith lining up in the same backfield as Joe Flacco.  They ran an option type play that was successful, used some of the en vogue spread/wildcat type plays and engineered a little smoke and mirrors in pulling off a long pass from Smith to Flacco.  Ray Rice, who has been playing a larger role in the offense lately, had a very good all around game contributing both in rushing and receiving.  He also showed some dependability in converting several important first downs to keep drives alive. 

Rex Ryan had some added incentive to have a good showing against his twin brother Rob Ryan the defensive coordinator of the Raiders and his defensive players did not let him down.  They flustered young JaMarcus Russel all game long registering 4 sacks and many hurries/hits.  They even started off the games scoring in sacking Russel in the end zone for a two point safety.  Although the banged up secondary played another solid game, like Miami the previous week the Raiders were able to move the ball through the air in the second half.  The Ravens maintained their #2 overall defensive rank now allowing a measly 242 yards per game.

Next week the Ravens play the division rival Browns in Cleveland.  Cleveland has been up and down so far this season looking like world beaters one week and door-mats the next.  The Browns always get up Ravens games and the Ravens always seem to come out flat when playing in Cleveland so I expect a pretty entertaining game next week between the 4-3 Ravens and the 3-4 Browns.

The Indianapolis Colts routed the Ravens 31-3 winning their first game at the new Lucas Oil Stadium.  The Colts were in control of the game from the start as they toyed with the Ravens on offense, defense and special teams.  The Ravens appeared to be lethargic and uninspired while the Colts played fast and pumped up.  The Ravens have never beaten the Colts in Indianapolis and this is the Colts sixth straight victory over the Ravens overall.

The lopsided loss was not an aberration if you consider the Ravens performance against high powered offenses in recent years like the Colts and Bengals (even the Browns in 2007).  On defense the Ravens rely on pressure and their aggressive defensive backs to make plays while the Colts offense is designed to take advantage of pressure and defensive backs that jump routes.  Maybe The Ravens need to go into games against teams like the Colts with a different gameplan, because it seems like they just wait for the Ravens to do their thing and then the Colts do their thing… then game over.

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I saw the picture below posted in the Baltimore Sun and I have to note it here.  In the latter part of the 4^th quarter on 3^rd and 10 to go, the Ravens were called for roughing the passer which turned out to be a very controversial call.  The call was made because of contact to the QB’s head, but Terrell Suggs says he hit Kerry Collins’ arm and shoulder and missed his head (see picture).

There also was a false start called on the play and the referee said that they were trying to blow the play dead.  From my vantage point in the end zone I could see the flag thrown from the Ravens sideline that ended up being the false start flag, but I saw no official on the field blowing the play dead.  I couldn’t hear anything at the moment because it was very very loud in the stadium before and during that play.