By Derek Arnold 

Maybe former Baltimore radio personality Anita “Sports Chick” Marks was right all along about the whole “Ravens need a big-name WR thing.”

Excuse me while I rinse the vomit from my mouth

While I’d still maintain that the addition of just one player cannot take an offense instantly from mediocre to dynamic and dangerous, Anquan Boldin made quite an argument for himself Sunday afternoon in Charm City. Boldin hauled in 8 passes for 142 yards and 3 touchdowns from Joe Flacco, the last of which put the Ravens ahead for good. For “Q,” it was his second 100+ yard performance in three tries for the Ravens, and his best game since a spectacular 13-catch, 186 yard game in week 11 of 2008.

As far as Flacco, the 22/31 262 yard day should help erase the memories of the debacle in Cincinnati, and for a week anyway, quiet the moronic calls of some Baltimore fans for Marc Bulger. However, things could have started a whole lot worse, as Joe’s very first pass (a back foot floater while he was getting crushed, of course) should have been picked off and taken to the house by T.J. Ward for an early 7-0 deficit. After that one though, Flacco got his act together.

Boldin’s second touchdown grab, a 12-yard strike from Joe Cool, put the Ravens up at a seemingly comfortable clip of 14-3 with just under six minutes to go in the first half. With a defense that was working on their tenth consecutive quarter of not allowing a touchdown to start the 2010 season, and facing a Browns offense that was without their starting quarterback, running back, and one wide receiver, the rout appeared to be on in B’More.

That’s when things started to get interesting, though.

The Browns took possession and methodically marched 83 yards, most of them on the legs of running back Peyton Hillis. The drive culminated in a touchdown with only a few ticks left on the clock, pulling Cleveland to within 14-10, and the halftime feeling was quite an uneasy one at M&T Bank Stadium.

Things didn’t get much better in the second half, as the Ravens offense stalled in the third quarter, twice going three-and-out, and seeing a Billy Cundiff 51-yard field goal attempt clang off the left upright. The Browns took advantage early in the fourth, scoring again on a 1-yard pass from Seneca Wallace to tight end Ben Watson on the first play of the quarter.

Now trailing 17-14, the Ravens’ offense put together arguably their most impressive drive of this young season. They drove 69 yards (+20 of offensive penalties) on 10 plays, culminating in a beautiful rainbow of a 27-yard touchdown pass from, of course…Flacco to Boldin. The Ravens went up 21-17, and would never relinquish the lead again. Only an uncalled pass interference in the end zone prevented Flacco-to-Boldin from hooking up for the FOURTH time on the afternoon, and Baltimore settled for a Billy Cundiff field goal to round out the day’s scoring.

Speaking of Cundiff, he was much more than just a 1 or 3-points at a time kind of typical kicker weapon against the Browns. Cleveland boasts one of the best return men in the NFL, Joshua Cribbs, but Cundiff drilled both of his fourth quarter kickoffs so far into the end zone that Cribbs had no choice but to down them for touchbacks. After hearing that Cundiff won the kicking job over Shayne Graham mainly due to his kickoff strength, it was good to see the evidence of that on full display. With the game as close as it was, a big return by Cribbs there in the fourth could have resulted in a much different final score.

It wasn’t the blowout that many, including this blog, had predicted, but a win nonetheless. The Ravens are now 2-1, and more importantly 1-1 in the AFC North after two of their early season three-in-a-row against division foes. Since it wasn’t a blowout though, many fans are all too happy to search out the negatives, and there were a few to pick apart on Sunday.

First, the run defense was gashed by relative unknown Peyton Hillis (maybe it’s just something about guys named Peyton?), who racked up 144 yards on 22 carries, and carried Ravens defenders with him for a good chunk of that 144. Kelly Gregg and even Haloti Ngata were pushed around up front, and the linebackers didn’t do much better. Browns’ offensive linemen Alex Mack and Joe Thomas had great days, and made big lanes for Hillis. The Ravens’ defense also failed to force a turnover for the second straight game, and still has only one on the year. When it finally seemed like the offense was finding a rhythm and could move the ball at will, the D couldn’t get them the ball back, either by forcing a 3-and-out or getting a turnover. Had the D put the ball back in the hands of Joe Flacco to end the first half, rather than allowing that long touchdown drive, it probably would have been a much less stressful second half for Ravens fans. And, although Seneca Wallace appeared to have all day to survey the field on many of his dropbacks, Greg Mattison’s defense did at least record two sacks on the day.

The run defense should immediately improve once Terrence Cody finally gets on the field, but at this point who knows when that will be? Despite practicing all of last week, Cody was a game-time scratch, and has still yet to see the field in his pro career. Fellow tackle Cory Redding suffered a concussion though, and his availability for next Sunday is unknown. Brandon McKinnie played well in his stead, but no Redding in Pittsburgh could force the coaching staff’s hand a little bit on “Mount” Cody.

A much more troubling injury occurred with about 10 minutes left in the game when Ray Rice caught a short pass for a 4-yard gain. It would be Rice’s last action of the day, and the early diagnosis is a “significantly” bruised knee. While Rice and John Harbaugh seem optimistic at the moment, Ray Rice’s knee is sure to be a hot topic of conversation all around B’More (and Pittsburgh, for that matter) all week. There is no chance the Ravens will come out and say that Rice is definitely out (if that is indeed the case) until they absolutely have to, so that kind of gamesmanship in a critical division rivalry such as this could lead to us not really knowing #27’s status until right up at 1:00 PM Sunday.

Let’s hope it really is just a little bruise that will heal quickly. Against that Pittsburgh defense, the Ravens are going to need all offensive hands on deck.

http://www.bmorebirdsnest.com/ 

By Derek Arnold 

Just like they always seem to do, the Denver Broncos rolled in and promptly rolled over at M&T Bank Stadium yesterday afternoon. Their defense put together an impressive goalline stand on the Ravens’ opening drive, stopping the Ravens on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at 1 on what should have been an 89-yard touchdown drive, and you thought, “hey, maybe Denver came to play today…”

That would be the end of that, though.

The Broncos punted the ball back to the Ravens after picking up just 14 yards on their first drive, and Joe Flacco easily moved the ball down the field again, going 73 yards on 9 plays. Not to be denied this time around, Flacco punched the ball into the end zone himself, giving the Ravens a 7-0 lead. Denver managed just 18 yards on their second drive before again punting. This time, it was a 5-play, 72-yard touchdown march for the good guys, capped off by a 1-yard Ray Rice touchdown run, and the rout was on.

On the ensuing kickoff, backup linebacker Jason Phillips blew up Denver kick returner Demaryius Thomas, Edgar Jones stripped the ball out, and Ken Hamlin fell on it to give the ball right back to the offense. Though they went 3-and-out, a Billy Cundiff field goal made the score 17-0 Ravens with 9 minutes to play in the first half. While the game could have easily been 28-0 at this point, and REALLY over, for all intents and purposes the 17 point lead was plenty to seal the Broncos’ fate for the afternoon.

Though Denver would score on a 42-yard touchdown strike from Kyle Orton to Brandon Lloyd with just under a minute left in the half, the game was never close. It was the longest pass play against the Ravens this year (until a 44-yard Orton-to-Lloyd TD in junk time – a play that never happens if Ed Reed is in the game), and it was safety Dawan Landry who was victimized, getting caught flat-footed as Lloyd raced past him and beat him to the spot in the back of the end zone. It was a disappointing end to a half in which the Ravens’ secondary had, to that point, kept the Broncos’ high-flying aerial attack in total check. Even if it was disappointing that his stone hands couldn’t pull in at least one interception, cornerback Fabian Washington had perhaps his best game as a Raven, batting down several passes. At one point in the first half, Baltimore had outgained Denver by a 219-42 margin.

Sure Kyle Orton ended up with yet another 300-yard passing performance, which is likely to knock the Ravens out of their #1 pass defense ranking, but they don’t truly belong there anyway. And more importantly, the majority of Orton’s yards came long after the Ravens had jumped out to a three-score lead and the game was well in hand.

Perhaps the most promising development of the game for Ravens fans and fantasy football players around the country was that Cam Cameron remembered he has Ray Rice on his team. Rice had 31 touches (27 carries, 4 receptions), 159 total yards and two touchdowns, showing that his bruised knee suffered against Cleveland is fully healed, and that, when “fed the rock,” Rice can be every bit the dominating back he was in 2009. Not only that, but he may (should) have taken Willis McGahee’s job as the goalline running back. On the aforementioned failure from just outside the Broncos end zone, McGahee was twice stopped dead at the line of scrimmage. When given the same opportunities later in the game, Rice was 2 for 2. Not to be completely outdone though, McGahee showed that he still has some home runs left in him, racing for a 31-yard touchdown scamper to round out the Ravens’ scoring.

As a team, the Ravens rushed for 233 yards, with McGahee totaling 67 and Le’Ron McClain adding 13 in addition to his crushing blocks opening holes for the other guys all day. Even Flacco got in on the act, showing Tim Tebow who’s boss, rushing for 20 yards on 5 carries, at least one of which was a designed quarterback draw. He ran with power, lowering his head and punishing Denver linebacker D.J. Williams on one play, and finesse, giving Renaldo Hill a Mike Vick-esque ball-fake and leaving the Broncos’ safety in the dust.

It was an encouraging thing to watch, as the running game showed up to carry the offense through a stretch during which, in most of the 2nd and 3rd quarter, Denver decided that they were going to do everything they could to stop the pass, and Flacco missed on 9 or 10 consecutive throws. Anquan Boldin had only one catch for 8 yards, Derrick Mason and T.J. Houshmandzadeh were largely invisible for most of the day…and the Ravens still won going away.

The balanced attack that we all know the Ravens have the potential to possess, with all their weapons complimenting one another beautifully, may be starting to materialize (although, after giving all of Baltimore a huge scare when he went down momentarily in the end zone, perhaps Haloti Ngata shouldn’t be used as one of those “weapons” too much going forward).

Also meriting mention was that the Ravens again played a very clean game. Their 5 penalties for 66 yards were dwarfed by the Broncos’ 10 for 90, on a day where the officiating crew on the field was the most flag-happy bunch in the league coming into the matchup. The Ravens have had fewer penalty yards than their opponent in every game so far in 2010, an encouraging sign that the days of undisciplined play costing the teams wins are now firmly in our rearview. John Harbaugh’s emphasis on proper technique and his practice of bringing in officials to watch training camp and practices seem to be paying very tangible dividends.

A final word on the game: Billy Cundiff = BEAST. Four of his six kickoffs on the day were touchbacks, and another was ran out from a few yards deep in the end zone. He has become a great Ace-in-the-hole for B’More’s special teams unit.

Some Ravens fans will be perturbed about losing the #1 pass defense ranking, but we need to get over that mindset as a fanbase. Think back to the New York Giants game in 2008, where they ran for nearly 300 yards on the Ravens, but some fans still hung their hat on the fact that no single Giant ran for more than 100 yards. The true irrelevance of the streak of not allowing a 100-yard rusher was on full display that day, and Orton’s 314 yards Sunday are an equally empty statistic. Hanging our hat on #1 rankings and statistics are thing that we had to do when we had a team that ran hot-to-cold from one year to the next, a team that would contend one season and be doormats the following. With Harbaugh and Flacco, and the perennial contenders that they look like they are, and that we hope to have for years to come, a team that routinely dominates lesser teams, we can instead point to much more significant numbers: wins and losses.

Yes, it was Orton, not Flacco, who had the big “fantasy” day, throwing for over 300 yards and a couple touchdowns.

But whose team won the game? Whose team is currently 4-1?

The team in purple and black.

Recalibrate your expectations. Expect to win. When you win, you don’t have to pull out other numbers to convince yourself that your team is good. Point to the scoreboard. Point to the standings. That’s where the important numbers lie.

4-1 after three extremely tough road games and now with a half-game lead along with a head-to-head win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, and a full two game lead on the now 2-3 Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC North. It’s a good place to be, much better than say, 3-2 with the #1 pass defense or #1 run defense or best turnover ratio or blah, blah, blah.

http://www.bmorebirdsnest.com/

By Derek Arnold 

When the Denver Broncos roll into M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday, history will not be on their side. Denver is 0-4 all time in B’More, the last loss being the 30-7 shellacking the Ravens put on them last season. Again the Broncos come into town with an apparent “house of cards” number attached to them. In 2009, it was their 6-0 record, which made them look much better than they actually were. This year, I’m thinking it’s their top-ranked passing attack.

You read that right.

It’s not Drew Brees’ Saints, Peyton Manning’s Colts, or even Matt Schaub’s Texans that own the top aerial attack in the NFL through four weeks…its Kyle Orton’s Broncos.

The same Broncos that are now without their leading receiver from 2009, one of the best in the game, Brandon Marshall. The same Broncos that are now throwing the ball all over the field to guys like Jabar Gaffney, Brandon Lloyd, and Eddie Royal. That’s the team that leads the NFL in passing yardage.

Again, I’m not terribly impressed.

Though those three have each had a 100-yard game already this season, the secondaries Denver has faced are not exactly the cream of the crop: Jacksonville – 30th against the pass in 2010, Indianapolis – 15th, Seattle – 29th, and Tennessee – 13th. This week, they’ll face a Ravens secondary that, despite being told all offseason that they were going to be the team’s Achilles heel, are the best unit in the NFL at the moment. Even without Dominique Foxworth or Ed Reed, the Ravens currently boast three cornerbacks playing extremely well – Lardarius Webb, Fabian Washington, and Chris Carr – another who has a track record of strong performances and should see plenty of the field this week – Josh Wilson – another who had a great preseason and appeared ready to step in and contribute – Cary Williams – and a backup safety who has proven that he can come in and cover one-on-one in a pinch – Haruki Nakamura. The Broncos don’t have a true #1 wideout, as Orton has shown that he can spread the ball around very evenly, but that could play right into the hands of the Ravens, who have 5 or 6 players who can adequately cover, despite not having a big-name “shut down” cornerback.

I could be way off base here (wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last), but it just looks like a good matchup for B’More to me.

Another thing – the reason the Broncos have had to fling it around so much is that they cannot run it. At all. At 55 yards per game, the Broncos own the NFL’s worst rushing attack by more than 10 yards per game (The 31st ranked team, The Bears, average 68.8 ypg.) Their #1 running back, second year player Knowshon Moreno, has missed the team’s last two games with a hamstring injury. Moreno practiced Wednesday, but not Thursday, and will be, at best, considered questionable for Sunday (though if you tell him Ed Reed isn’t playing, that may change to probable.) Filling in for Moreno has been former Patriots’ first round pick (and eventual bust) Lawrence Moroney. Moroney, though, has just 29 yards on 23 carries (not a typo) through his two starts.

Moreno, Maroney, whatever. It doesn’t matter – this game proves a great opportunity for the Ravens’ run defense to move up from their slightly misleading 23rd overall rank.

Now that Denver has spent all week looking at film trying to figure out how to block Haloti Ngata (hint: give it up; can’t be done.), there should be plenty of opportunities for guys like Cory Redding (who missed the Pittsburgh game due to a concussion), Kelly Gregg, and Brandon McKinney to make a few plays. Unfortunately, just as one lineman comes back, another goes out. Paul Kruger suffered a sprained MCL in Pittsburgh, and will miss 2-4 weeks. It’s a shame, as Kruger (if you excuse his penalties as a symptom of rust) showed some things last week, pressuring Charlie Batch several times and recording what would have been a sack-fumble were the play not negated for offsetting penalties. As long as those forementioned D-linemen, along with linebackers Terrell Suggs and Jarret Johnson, can find ways to get pressure on Orton, it should be a very long day for the Broncos’ offense.

As for the other side of the ball, we’ve heard this week that Ray Rice is ready to reclaim his starring role in the Ravens’ offense, after a disappointing first four weeks for Mighty Mouse. Denver, though, is not likely to be the team that he breaks out against. After allowing Maurice Jones-Drew 98 yards on the ground in Week 1, the Broncos have buckled down. In Week 2, Justin Forsett of Seattle had just 44 yards, though he did average a hefty 5.5 ypc. In Week 3, Joseph Addai of Indy managed just 29 yards and a 2.2 average. And, most impressively, they held Chris “I’m going to run for 2500 yards this year” Johnson of the Titans to a measly 53 yards on 19 carries last week. While Ravens fans are clamoring for a more balanced offense, and more touches for Rice, Denver just looks much more vulnerable against the pass.

And so, we could very well be in for another week of 200+ yards and multiple touchdowns from Joe Flacco like we saw the last time the Ravens played at home. Last year against Denver, Flacco was 20/25 (80%) for 175 yards and 1 score. While Denver may elect to put their best cornerback, Champ Bailey, on Anquan Boldin all day long, Flacco is showing more and more comfort with T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and should have all the confidence in the world in T.J. after last week. Throw Derrick Mason, Flacco’s all-time favorite target and the Ravens’ leading receiver in Pittsburgh a week ago, into the mix, along with Todd Heap and Rice out of the backfield, and the Ravens should have plenty of success moving the ball through the air even if “Q” has another relatively quiet afternoon.

The guys on the NFL Network’s great program, Playbook, were discussing how they feel the Ravens’ offense will “break out” against the Broncos. They pointed to Flacco’s 5-0 lifetime record against the AFC West, and predicted a big day from Anquan Boldin, while also forecasting that the Ravens will shut down the Broncs’ high-flying offense.

Some are making a big deal about the fact that the Ravens are just 1-3 in their last 4 games coming after a win over Pittsburgh.  That’s a combination of emotional letdown and physical beatdown after those intense rivalry matches, but let’s remember – fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it – this is just the second such occurrence during the Harbaugh/Flacco era, as last week was just their second victory against Pittsburgh.  Flacco said this week that, if the Ravens can’t put the emotion of last week behind them and move forward quickly, then they aren’t the team that they think they are.

The Ravens have a history of slapping around the Broncos, a team that our favorite columnist Mike Preston (of the Baltimore Sun) likes to describe as “soft,” when they come to town, and this week should be no different.

http://www.bmorebirdsnest.com/

By Derek Arnold 

On Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, the Ravens honored the 2000 Super Bowl team with a “homecoming” of sorts.

Maybe they should have let those guys play a bit. Even though most of them haven’t stepped foot on a field in nearly a decade, they certainly couldn’t have been any worse than the current Ravens were yesterday.

I’m pretty sure Tony Siragusa could have plugged up the middle and slowed down Buffalo’s rushing game more aptly than Haloti Ngata, Kelly Gregg, and co. were able to.

I’m fairly certain that Duane Starks would have held his own against the Bills’ wide receivers better than Fabian Washington and Lardarius Webb did.

And I’m damn positive that Kim Herring could have stepped in and given Dawan Landry an absolute clinic on how to make a tackle.

On a day when members of the greatest defense of all time were in the house, the Ravens did little to make the former Super Bowl champs proud.

The Buffalo Bills came into Baltimore and ran roughshod over the Ravens’ defense, doing pretty much anything they wanted to all afternoon. They entered the game averaging just 251 yards of total offense per game, and had more than doubled that output (506 total yards of offense) by the time Billy Cundiff’s 38-yard field goal gave the Ravens the 37-34 victory. In overtime. Against, of all teams, the freaking Buffalo Bills.

Buffalo also sported the worst 3rd-down conversion percentage in the NFL entering the game. At the end of the day, one of the two teams was just 2/11 on 3rd downs, while the other was a stout 11/17 on their way to holding the ball for more than 38 minutes. The latter, of course, however inexplicably, was the Bills.

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick put an end to the Bills league-worst 58 consecutive games without a 300-yard passer, and did so emphatically; he threw for 374 yards and FOUR touchdowns. Not to be outdone, receivers Lee Evans and Stevie Johnson ended Bills streaks of their own, as each surpassed 100 yards receiving, something no Buffalo Bill had managed in 11 games.

Not that it was a complete aerial assualt – Buffalo also put up 132 yards on the ground for the day.

And yet…as bleak a picture as all of those numbers paint – not only on the day, but moving forward as well – the Ravens still eked out the win.

It was up to the offense to bail the defense out yesterday, and Joe Flacco, Anquan Boldin, Todd Heap, and company were up to the challenge. Finding themselves in a 24-10 hole after Evans’ second touchdown with 5 minutes remaining in the first half, the Ravens’ offense – with an assist from the great Ed Reed (more on him later) – ripped off 17 points in just 71 seconds of game clock to take a 27-24 lead.

The final 7 of that 17 came on a beautiful flea flicker, a play that I would bet the Ravens haven’t hit on in at least five years. From the Buffalo 34, Joe Flacco handed to Willis McGahee, who lateraled back to Flacco, and Joe launched a gorgeous touchdown rainbow to Anquan Boldin.

While Joe didn’t have his best day, he made enough plays to win the game. He connected on just 16 of his 31 throws, but the ones he did hit, he made count: 250 yards through the air was the final result, with three touchdown strikes of 26, 14, and 34 yards.

Ed Reed. The man just makes plays. Even though Reed looked a half-step slow at times during the day, his uncanny nose for the football just will not be suppressed. On the Bills’ first series, when it looked like they were about to pick up a 3rd-and-8 from the Ravens’ 32, Reed came up and put his helmet right on the ball, jarring it free from wideout Roscoe Parrish. The Ravens didn’t recover, but Buffalo lost 12 yards on the play, and the ensuing punt set the Ravens’ up to take their short-lived 3-0 lead. On Buffalo’s very first snap of the second half, Reed, off a tipped pass from Ray Lewis, intercepted Fitzpatrick to set up the aforementioned flea flicker score. And, at the end of the third, with the Ravens holding a 34-24 lead, just a single play after he came up a little lame and CBS analyst Steve Beuerlein noted that Reed looked a little slow, #20 AGAIN intercepted Fitzpatrick, this time returning the pick 40 yards to the Buffalo nine.

That play should have effectively won the game for the Ravens. Unfortunately, Willis McGahee and Joe Flacco botched the handoff on the ensuing snap, and gave the ball right back to the Bills. Instead of a 17-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the defense was faced for the second straight week with a 10 point lead at the same juncture in the ball game. And, just like in New England last week, they would cave.

Buffalo put together a 63-yard touchdown drive and a 59-yard field goal drive – the latter starting at their own 9 yard line with just 3:26 to go in the game – in the fourth quarter, while the Ravens managed just a single first down in the final period. It’s distressing that just a week after blowing a fourth quarter lead, both units – offense and defense – again choked when given the chance to put the game away.

Facing the worst run defense in the league, and having gained nearly 5 yards per carry all day, the Ravens’ fourth quarter play selection was the following:

1st drive: Run (fumble)

2nd drive: Pass (incomplete), Run (6 yards), Pass (1 yard), Punt

3rd drive: Pass (incomplete), Pass (36 yards), Run (1 yard), Run (3 yards), Pass (incomplete), Punt

And in overtime (the drive that didn’t START in field goal range): Run (5 yards), Pass (incomplete), Pass (sack), Punt

Five runs, seven passes.

Now, some will argue that Cam Cameron was just doing exactly what Ravens fans were blasting him for NOT doing after last week’s New England loss – that is, being aggressive and not “going conservative.” To those people, I’d offer this rebuttal: the difference is, in both instances, Cam went AWAY from what was working. Last week in New England, it was the intermediate passing game that was having success – and in the fourth quarter the Ravens decided they were going to play it safe. Against Buffalo – again, the WORST run defense in the league – Ray Rice was having a fairly good day and Willis McGahee was outstanding (besides the fumble), averaging nearly six yards per carry. Add in that Flacco, as mentioned earlier, was erratic on the day (he should have been intercepted at least once, if not twice), and the decision to skew the playcalling towards the pass in the fourth quarter and overtime becomes even more perplexing.

I suppose I just don’t understand NFL playcalling. I’ll leave it at that for now, so I don’t drive myself insane.

Two additional points I’d be remiss not to address: First up, Ray Lewis. With his former teammates watching, is it any surprise that #52 would say, “enough of this bullshit, we’re not losing,” and just straight up maul the football from Bills tight end Shawn Nelson? Make no mistake about it, Ray won the game with that play, as the Ravens had very little hope of stopping the offensive juggernaut that stole the Buffalo Bills’ jerseys and wore them in Baltimore.

The second point, which piggybacks right off of that one – the officials. I’ve complained about the refereeing enough on this blog over the years that I’d be quite hypocritical to not acknowledge that the Ravens were aided monumentally at least once yesterday by the guys’ in stripes. So, referee Pete Morelli and crew: thank you for not blowing the whistle on that play.

In fairness, former NFL VP of Officiating Mike Pereira says the refs made the right call.

The other curious ruling came two plays before Flacco found Heap to pull the Ravens to within 24-20 at the half. Flacco had appeared to have found Bills cornerback Reggie Corner (great career choice BTW Reggie!) for an interception that would have kep the deficit at 11 points at the break. However, luckily, Corner was ruled out of bounds even after review – and Boldin was not flagged for offensive pass interference (though either player could have been called for P.I.)

The Ravens have problems on both sides of the ball, and on special teams, and we’ll get into those problems deeper here during the bye week. But for now, let’s just thank our lucky (after yesterday, that word bears repeating) stars that the Ravens go into the off date at 5-2 and right where they need to be…record-wise, anyway.

http://www.bmorebirdsnest.com/

Go back to Ravens Fan Spot 

By Derek Arnold 

Damn Bengals.  They seem to have perfected this whole “beat the Ravens by only kicking field goals” thing. 

In an effort to avoid wrapping my laptop’s power cord around my neck, or just throwing the whole thing through the television, let’s first take a look at the positives from Sunday’s game. Trust me, there actually were a few.

The Ravens’ much talked-about (in a “they’ll be the weak link this season” way) defense has yet to allow a touchdown in 2010 in 8 quarters of play.

The secondary in particular played well, holding Carson Palmer to just a 45% completion percentage and 167 yards.  Now, if they could only catch…

Lardarius Webb made his first appearance of 2010, and contributed to the aforementioned strong play of the secondary.

Ray Rice looked strong after being bottled up by the New York Jets, picking up 87 yards on 16 carries (5.4 average) and 30 yards on 4 receptions (7.5).  He also had a key block on Joe Flacco’s lone touchdown pass of the day.

Cedric Benson, who gashed the Ravens for 227 yards in the two games last year, was held to just 78 yards on 23 carries.

From a “big picture” perspective, most of the AFC is 1-1 along with the Ravens.  Only Houston, Miami, the not-really-for-real-at-all Kansas City Chiefs, and those who shall not be named are 2-0.

There are still 14 games to play.

Reluctantly moving on to address the REST of Sunday’s action…

On the Ravens second play of their second drive, a 2nd-and-10 from their own 28, Flacco dropped back, scrambled around in the pocket a bit, and ended up diving forward for a 2-yard gain, barely avoiding the sack.  On the replay though, when analyst Rich Gannon was trying to describe how well covered the Ravens’ receivers were…there he was: Anquan Boldin, streaking down the right sideline, nary a Bengal within 15 yards of him, hand waving frantically in the air calling for the ball.  Of all the terrible plays that Joe made Sunday, THIS play may be the one that makes him slink lowest in his seat when the team reviews film this week.  If Joe even LOOKS to his right at any point during the play, he would have had the easiest 70-yard touchdown throw of his career.  Instead, the Ravens would punt two plays later, and the play was an ominous harbinger of plenty more terrible things to come for #5 and the B’More offense.

With all the talk about the Ravens’ new offense and all its fancy toys, they have now managed just 20 points in two games.  Granted, those 20 points were against the #1 and #4 defenses in the NFL in 2009.  However, the degree of ineptitude that Cam Cameron and his charges showed against Cincinnati was far higher than even the most pessimistic Ravens fan could have predicted.  Flacco was horrific against the Bengals in 2009, throwing four picks in two games.  After one game against them in 2010, he has already matched that interception total, and it’s easy to just say that Cincy has Flacco’s number.  Joe has played far worse against the Bengals in his career than he has against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Sunday he appeared to be playing scared and timid right from the start.

In fact, I’d have never thought I would grimace and say “ew” so many times in one game watching Joe Flacco.  His mechanics are dreadful – his signature move now seems to be what I’ve deemed the “back-foot floater,” a pass that he throws high in the air while leaning back, hoping his target can run under it.  So far this year though, he has not shown near the level of “touch” needed to consistently complete these kinds of passes.  I hated on Mike Preston earlier this week for saying that Flacco needs to step up in the pocket more like a Brady, Manning, or Elway, but I couldn’t agree more with the spirit of the argument (I just thought it was funny how he pulled a few Hall of Fame names out of his hat).  Joe DOES need to step up and put some zip on the ball.  We’ve seen him do it before, so I’m as confused as the rest of you at his seeming regression.

In both games so far in 2010, there has been one play where you can see Joe just get fed up and step into a throw and put it right on his receivers’ chest, giving them no choice but to catch it – against the Jets, it was a sideline out to Derrick Mason; against Cincy, he slammed the ball into Anquan Boldin’s chest on a play where he lined up in the slot.

Where are those passes the rest of the time?

What the hell is up with this new back-foot floater?

Can I get a Ra-Ven? (Get it…”can I get an amen?” No? Ok, fine.)

Staying on Joe for a minute: Another wildly exasperating facet of his play so far this season is that he is seemingly completely unwilling to audible at the line of scrimmage.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’ve seen him check out of one play in the two games to date.  In New York is one thing, but the Cincinnati crowd isn’t exactly known around the league for being one of the loudest; there is no noise-related excuse for never changing the play.  It’s especially maddening when the Ravens have some sort of slow-developing running play called, and the opposing defense walks 7 or 8 guys to to the line of scrimmage – that play is dead in the water.  Still, Joe makes no effort to change the play.  We saw him do it a couple of times in the preseason (think of the touchdown pass to Boldin in the Giants game), so why has it suddenly stopped?  I’m not suggesting Joe needs to be Peyton Manning up there, diagnosing every defensive player’s assignment, along with his fears, goals, and ambitions…but a check-off here and there would be a sight for sore eyes.

Its all a bit too disappointing to delve into too deeply.  I’m much more inclined to chalk it up to a combination of factors, including the short week, consecutive road games, Cincy “having his number,” poor offensive line play, and the failure of the Ravens’ receivers to create separation (the aforementioned Boldin play notwithstanding) or haul in catches that we’ve seen them make a hundred times before (seriously…anybody else get the feeling the T.J. Houshmandzadeh is still a closet Bengals fan?) Let’s all cross our fingers that a full week of preparation, along with a home game against a sorry Cleveland team, will be just what the doctor ordered to heal up our sputtering offense and suddenly shaky quarterback situation.

Moving on from Flacco, but sticking with the offense in general…

Cam Cameron needs to stop buying into the hype about his offense.  I don’t know if its a symptom of trying to keep all of the receivers happy or what, but on a day where his quarterback is having the worst game of his young career, and his running back is ripping off over 5 yards a carry in a 1-score game…man, come ON.  RUN THE DAMN BALL.  Rice had only 16 carries.  Willis McGahee had three.  Le’Ron McClain had ONE.

I completely understand that the days of the “three-headed-monster” in the Ravens’ backfield are pretty much over, even if I don’t 100% agree with it.  The Ravens have these highly paid guys on the outside and a young quarterback who they are trying to develop, but sometimes the game has to dictate what you’re doing as an offense.  Especially with a makeshift offensive line that is struggling mightily to pass protect, while at the same time showing that they can open holes in the running game.  Moving the ball through the air against the Bengals wasn’t happening, and the Ravens were never down by more than 6 points, so the fact that Rice had only 8 carries per half is absolutely criminal.

Goob already addressed the bogus officiating calls that cost the Ravens 6 points, so I won’t get into it.  Fact is, the key play of the game yesterday wasn’t any of Flacco’s four picks, nor was it either of those two costly penalties.  It was the kickoff return by Bernard Scott with just under 6 minutes remaining.  The Ravens had just taken a 10-9 lead, but the 60-yard kickoff return set the Bengals up in near field goal range to start the drive.  It was a hugely deflating letdown from a unit that had been solid all day, with Billy Cundiff’s two kickoffs to that point both resulting in touchbacks.

The Ravens now have a full week of preparation for their home opener against the Browns.  Identifying and correcting the plethora of offensive mistakes we witnessed on Sunday will be tantamount to not only a victory against Cleveland, but absolutely critical if this team has any hope to realize the lofty goals they have set for themselves in 2010.

http://www.bmorebirdsnest.com 

By Derek Arnold 

Next up in the “teams whose head coach owes their job to Ray Lewis” are the Cincinnati Bengals. Now we just need the Jacksonville Jaguars (Jack Del Rio) and the 2005-2008 San Francisco 49ers (Mike Nolan) to complete the “#52’s head coach’s tree.” Marvin Lewis’ team is still licking their wounds from that 38-24 drubbing at the hands of the New England Patriots (a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score) in Week 1, and will look to rebound against a team that they had plenty of success against in 2009. 

Those 2009 losses to Cincy were especially surprising for the Ravens and their fans not necessarily because of the outcomes, but because of the manner in which the Bengals were victorious. Running back Cedric Benson rad roughshod over B’More’s usually stout run defense, breaking their streak of 40 consecutive games without allowing a 100-yard rusher on his way to 120 yards in Week 5, and duplicating the feat with 117 yards just four weeks later. Benson managed just 43 yards on 15 carries in Week 1, but his opportunities were quite limited due to his team getting blown out of the water early and being forced to play catch-up.

The Ravens will be looking for some revenge against Benson Sunday. If rookie defensive tackle Terrence Cody is able to suit up (he practiced this week), it will go a long way to exacting said revenge. Along with Haloti Ngata and Cory Redding up front, Benson will be hard pressed to find even a sliver of daylight. Even without Cody, the Ravens did well against the Jets’ vaunted rushing attack last week, as RBs Shonn Green and LaDainian Tomlinson managed 80 yards on 16 carries.

“Well, wait a minute, that’s 5 yards per carry,” you might be saying. The stat is a bit misleading, as Tomlinson ripped off two 21-yard runs in the game. Take away those two, and the numbers drop to 38 yards on 14 carries, a 2.7 ypc average. Of course, you can’t just “take away” big plays – the Ravens need to avoid giving up similar big plays to Benson and Bengals’ “change-of-pace” back Bernard Scott.

Which of course, isn’t to say that stopping the run = Ravens win. Quarterback Carson Palmer has always done well against our Ravens, putting up a career record of 8-3. Even after throwing a pick-6 to Ed Reed last year, Palmer bounced back and led his team to a last-minute game-winning touchdown in Baltimore.

Palmer threw for 345 yards and 2 touchdowns last week in New England, but again – they were in catch-up mode all day after falling behind 31-3. He again has a full compliment of weapons to throw to, including two reality TV stars.

Along with those two, rookie WR Jordan Shipley is dangerous, and Andre Caldwell (though I ripped Mike Preston earlier this week for bringing him up) is set to return from a groin injury and has hurt the Ravens in the past.

Just as getting Cody back could help the run defense, a return from injury in the secondary could greatly improve the Ravens’ chances Sunday. Lardarius Webb has been removed from the injury report, but is still “working out the kinks,” after ACL surgery. With Webby in there, the much maligned Ravens’ secondary is instantly better. Without him, newcomer Josh Wilson and safety Haruki Nakamura will be forced to line up against the Bengals, a matchup that favors Cincy.

The Bengals also gave the Ravens fits on defense last year, holding them to 14 and 7 points, respectively, in the two meetings. This despite Ray Rice racking up 143 and 135 yards from scrimmage (mostly receiving). The problem was that Rice was the team’s leading receiver in both games, as cornerbacks Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph gave Joe Flacco and the Ravens’ wideouts fits.

2010 is a new year, though, and now Hall and Joseph have to deal with Anquan “Q” Boldin and former teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who weren’t there last year. Hopefully Housh can also bring some “insider info” to the Ravens in practice this week – the offense and defense could both use all the help they can get after being swept last season. Tom Brady had no trouble finding his wideouts last week, as both Wes Welker (8 catches, 64 yards, 2 TD) and Randy Moss (5, 59, 0) had better days than any Ravens WR had against the Bengals in 2009.

Of course, he’s Tom Brady. While Flacco looked like Brady on occasion last week, skillfully avoiding the Jets’ pressure and converting key 3rd-and-long situations, but looked downright awful at other times, holding the ball too long in the pocket, overthrowing a wide open Le’Ron McClain in the end zone, and throwing from his back foot. To show that he really is ready to step into the next tier of NFL quarterbacks, as so many experts see him doing, Joe needs to start beating quality QBs – not just the likes of Mark Sanchez and Jay Cutler – in head-to-head matchups. He has the weapons to do it now, so the time for excuses is over. In his defense, he had a perfect touchdown pass dropped last week (by Todd Heap) and another likely touchdown just flat out missed (by Derrick Mason). But he also underthrew Mason on another deep route, underthrew Boldin from his back foot, and missed Ray Rice on a slant that would have given the Ravens a 1st-and-goal inside the 5. We know he can make the throws. What we need to see now is consistency from #5.

The Ravens have revenge on their minds after being embarrassed by Cincy in 2009. The Bengals have redemption on theirs, after being blown out in Week 1.

I think the Bengals do bounce back this week…just not quite high enough.

Ravens 24 Bengals 20

http://www.bmorebirdsnest.com/

By Mike “Coast”

So, we are back from the Ravens road trip and if you would have told me on Friday that the Bills were going to go to M&T Bank Stadium and take the Ravens to overtime and absolutely light up the Ravens top 5 defense, I would have suggested you get a mental examination. As it turned out, that is exactly what happened. The Bills torched the Ravens all afternoon but when it was all said and done, the outcome was the same another loss 37-34.

The Bills offense racked up 506 total yards. Fitz had the best game of his NFL career throwing for 374 yards and 4 touchdowns. Steve Johnson had 8 catches for 158 yards and a TD. Lee Evans had 3 touchdown receptions on 6 catches for 105 yards. The running game was adequate enough to keep the defense off balance. For a while, I had to remind myself this was 2010 and not 1990. The Bills looked unstoppable on offense.

Unfortunately, the positives for me end there.

Fitz had a great game, no question about it. Again though, how can Chan Gailey go through OTAs, mini camp, training camp and an entire preseason and not see the difference in ability between Fitz and Edwards? Trent has never looked anywhere in the vicinity of this good in any game of his career. It isn’t like we are talking about Kolb vs. Vick here, but we are talking about Fitz who may be a career backup vs. a guy who insults the entire sport of football every time he puts on a helmet in Trent Edwards. Would it make a difference if Fitz played the whole season? Probably not…the only difference would be that we would have beaten Miami at home.

I mentioned on the way home that I was going to spend 1,000 words absolutely tearing Donte Whitner apart on this blog. I spent the entire 3rd quarter thinking about going to the tunnel at the end of the game and threatening Donte Whitner’s well being (not literally). This guy is HORRIBLE. He needs to be taken off the field. Seriously, do we still have Coy Wire? John Wendling? Anyone, really. In all honesty though, we would lose nothing by putting George Wilson in the game and just benching this waste of life. Whitner was drafted in the top 10 of the NFL draft. He makes zero big plays. He had the game on his fingertips yesterday an easy pick 6(taint) a play that a top 10 player should make with his eyes closed. He makes this play, it is 31-10 in the 2nd quarter and lights out on Baltimorei Instead he drops it and the Ravens go on a 24-0 run. I really, firmly believe that this single missed pick 6 is the reason for the 1.5 quarter tail spin.

Also, how does Todd Heap run a streak to the goal line, turn around and is still wide open? Heap was completely uncovered on his 1st TD pass. This was Whitner’s guy. The Bills should bench Donte Whitner for George Wilson. Gailey should send a message saying that I don’t care how long you have been here or where you were drafted or how much you make, if you suck, you will be benched.

The officials didn’t do us any favors yesterday either. Reggie Corner’s interception in the end zone before the last minute touchdown by the Ravens was an interception. I don’t care what anyone says. Yeah, his foot landed on Boldin’s leg and then Boldin threw him out of bounds. Reggie Corner intercepted the pass, landed on Boldin who was laying in the field of play, got one foot down and the other foot landed on Boldin’s leg and then Corner basically bounced off Boldin and was propelled out of bounds. This is an interception. If it isn’t, then that is the most ridiculous rule ever. He landed on a player who was laying in the field of play and you tell me that isn’t being in bounds? That play KILLED us.

In overtime, Shaun Nelson fumbled. You can make the argument that you shouldn’t fumble and I agree, Nelson needs to somehow hang onto the football. At the same time, Nelson’s forward progress was stopped for a solid 2 seconds. The whistle should have blown. He was being help up by a handful of Raven defenders and because of that, Ray Lewis was able to strip the ball. How long can the Ravens hold Nelson up for? Bogus call, should have been forward progress whistle blown play over…period.

Here is another interesting officiating fact from the game. Before the Spiller fumble, the Ravens made a 48 yard field goal. The funny thing was, there was a review of the play before the kick and the ref announced over the loud speaker that the ball was to be spotted at the 25 yard line. The officials then spotted the ball at the 30. No one said anything and the Ravens proceeded to attempt the kick, and make it. How do you mess that up. That shows the refs are lost. Also if they missed could that have been challenged?

So what about the game/weekend experience in Baltimore, Maryland? Ravens fans were not too harsh on us…all they really said to us was “you guys suck” or “we would talk trash but you guys are just so bad.” Basically, they felt bad for us…which is usually the case when we go to road games. A ten year old kid with a Ray Lewis jersey on actually told me that I sucked when I went to give him a high five. I was kind of pissed…but then again, he was only ten.

The Bills are going to go 3-13 hopefully. They will still get the number 1 pick, and yes, they still need to draft a QB. If Fitz throws 30 touchdowns and less than 10 interceptions along with 3,300 yards or more, then I will entertain the thought of drafting a defensive player in the first round. Otherwise, I am still going QB in round 1 and then defense with every single other pick I have. 34 plus points in 5 straight games? That is unheard of. They allow 4.4 more points per game than the 31st ranked defense in the league. George Edwards, keep your resume updated buddy if we don’t see some improvement you will be unemployed on the first Monday of January.

Go back to Bills Fan Spot 

http://wnywatercooler.blogspot.com/ 

2010 Record: 10-6

Draft Position: 26

2010 Season Recap: Click Here

Offseason Needs: Click Here

Free Agents/Team Transactions: Click Here

Draft Grades: Click Here

Key Offseason Moves: None

Ravens Blogger: Derek Arnold

2010 Posts: 

Ravens/Texans Recap, Ravens/Buccaneers Recap, Ravens-Bucs Preview, Ravens-Panthers Preview, Ravens-Falcons Preview, Ravens/Bills Recap, Ravens-Pats Recap, Ravens/Patriots Preview, Ravens-Broncos Recap, Ravens-Broncos Preview, Ravens/Steelers Recap, Ravens/Steelers, Ravens-Browns Recap, Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens, Ravens/Bengals Recap, Ravens/Bengals Preview, Ravens 10 Jets 9 (The Most Lopsided 1 Point Game Ever), Ravens-Jets Preview, Baltimore Ravens 2010 Season Preview

Cornerback 

Virginia

6-1 198

Draft Board Overall Cornerback Rank: #5

Draft Board Overall Prospect Rank: #22

Rating: 84 (late 1st) 

40 time: 4.37

4/16/11: Dowling finally finished a workout! He didn’t just finish. He lit it up. After running a 4.40 at The Combine, despite pulling a hammy, he ran a 4.37 at his Pro Day. He also had a 10-8 broad jump and a 38 inch vertical. He looked great in the drills. Health problems are there, but he’s still got a first round grade in my book, and he has had for 2 years. He’ll probably go in the 2^nd round, but several draftniks have given him a first round grade, as I have. 

3/30/11: Dowling is hurt again. After missing most of the season with injury, missing the Senior Bowl with injury, and pulling his hammy running at The Combine, Dowling couldn’t do anything at Virginia’s Pro Day. He’ll have own more shot at it with his own Pro Day next month, but the injury red flags are there. He’s a first round talent, but can he stay healthy at the next level?

2/14/11: Ras-I is an extremely big and athletic cornerback with 3 years of experience in a zone style defense at Virginia. He has thrived playing zone, but also has the ability and athleticism to mirror receivers well in man-on-man coverage. He’s very tall, about 3 or 4 inches taller than the average cornerback, and that well help him as a corner in the red zone.

He can blitz and run support and he’s not afraid to take on a block. He has a great motor and is very instinctive. He doesn’t have great straight line speed and can be burned occasionally by speed receivers. He could be more fluid in backpedal, especially when covering someone man-to-man.

He’s most likely best suited for a zone or cover 2 defense because of his athleticism, closing speed, and awareness and experience playing in the system. He has good hands, both for intercepting passes, and for use in run stopping. His hands are very strong and physical for a cornerback. Dowling has all the tools to be a top cornerback in the right scheme.

NFL Comparison: Ike Taylor

Mathis struggled in 2009 and 2010, allowing a 61.2% completion percentage, 7.7 YPA, and 8 touchdowns to 3 interceptions in 2009 and a 59.1% completion percentage, 9.0 YPA, and 5 touchdowns to 1 interception in 2010. In 2011, he allowed a 66.7% completion percentage, 8.5 YPA, and 3 touchdowns to 1 interception before tearing his ACL in November. 32 in August, Mathis is not fully recovered from his ACL tear yet. So basically he’s an aging, declining, injured cornerback. However, a 1 year, 2 million dollar “prove it” contract with 3 million in incentives makes some sense for the Jaguars, who have all sorts of other needs. Still, I think they need a young cornerback for the long term.

Grade: B