Author: scottiggy

Ravens:
Well, not much will get done until after the super bowl, so all we can do is watch the pathetic excuse for football game being promoted by the No Fun League. In Saturday’s action, the Houston won the battle of depleted QB, while Seattle club the Lions. On Sunday, the Fins should that they can’t stop a crossing route, while the Giants did their best “Ravens” impression. However, the weekend highlight occurred after all the games were over when pittsburgh THUG Joey Porter was arrested for disorderly conduct and assaulting a bouncer and a cop. He has been placed on administrative leave. 🙂

Ravens:
Do you really want me to review that fiasco? Essentially, all our weaknesses were exposed as we struggled in all phases of the game. Question is: Does it matter? Answer is No. It was better to lose than to win since there are no playoffs this year. Our draft order improved to #16, just ahead of wershington. Had we won, we would have slipped to 17-20, as they calculate tie breakers with 3 other teams, and wershington would have picked ahead of us.

What was more exciting (and disappointing) was how the Browns failed to put away the squealors. Couldn’t they just win that one game? Couldn’t they stop that final OT drive? F No!

2017 Scheduling: With the Chefs moving ahead of Oakland, we now have to travel to Oakland next season. Non-divisional opponents are set as Houston, Indy, Chicago, Detroit and Miami at home; and London (Jaguars), Tennessee, Green Bay, Minnesota and Oakland on the road.

Free Agent watch. The following folks have contracts expiring on February 6: WR Steve Smith (declared retirement), WR Kamar Aiken, CB Jarraud Powers, SS Matt Elam, DE Lawrence Guy, FS Anthony Levine, QB Ryan Mallett, G Vladimir Ducasse, DT Brandon Williams, FB Kyle Juszczyk, and RT Ricky Wagner.

Ravens:
Well, I envisioned a different ending, but knew we were in trouble when we scored the go ahead TD with too much time left on the clock. In game failures included: Botched FG, No TD on a short field, penalties (and at the wrong times), 3 and out with 9 minutes left (give or take), and the failure to stop them on their final drive. But that’s not where we really lost it. 0-for-October was the real problem. Losing 4 straight in close games that we should have won is the difference. Take even 2 of those, and Sunday didn’t matter. Every game counts, and they need to play each and every one like there is no tomorrow.

This Sunday… who cares? Harbaugh says they will play to win, but what starter is going to go all out with nothing to gain? The only victory is no injuries.

Draft Watch: Ravens currently sit at #17, in a virtual tie with Tennessee, Tampa, and Denver. I don’t expect that to change much based on the results of Sunday. The Browns currently have the #1 and #10 (Phi) picks, while the Bengals sit at #8.

2017 Scheduling: With the season all but over, the Ravens know 15 of their 16 oppontents for 2017, and have 2 suspects for #16. Outside of the usual Divisional Home/away games, the Ravens will host Houston, Indy, Chicago, Detroit and Miami. On the road, we will travel to London (Jaguars), Tennessee, Green Bay, Minnesota and either KC or Oakland, depending on who comes in 2nd place. With David Carr out, the Raiders could lose the division and force us to travel to the black hole.

Free Agent watch. The following folks have contracts expiring on February 6: WR Steve Smith (possibly retiring), WR Kamar Aiken, CB Jarraud Powers, SS Matt Elam, DE Lawrence Guy, FS Anthony Levine, QB Ryan Mallett, G Vladimir Ducasse, DT Brandon Williams, FB Kyle Juszczyk, and RT Ricky Wagner.

Ravens:
In another game that we tried to lose, the Eagles score with 4 seconds left to pull within 1 point, before putting all the marbles on the line with their 2-point attempt. Our stength’s were not our strength’s, and our weaknesses were still our weaknesses. We were lucky to win. Harbaugh credits “Heart.” Well, Heart won’t get us to the promise land. Next week, we face the evil squealors for the division title, and we need more than heart. We need to bring our “A” game. We need to bring our “Miami” game, and not this slop we have been delivering all season. A win and we have the edge for the division title. A lose and we are out. Playoffs are NOW.

Porphyrophobia (from Greek porphyros, “purple”) is fear of the color purple, a subclass of chromophobia, fear of colors. Like all other phobias, including all of color phobias, the original cause of porphyrophobia traces back to a traumatic experience involving the color purple in the past.

Ravens:
In the first “complete” game in almost 2 years, the Ravens demolished the Fins. It was quite clear that the scouting report on Miami indicated that the zone coverage schemes had lots of seams, and Flacco exploited them as we pushed the passing game hard, to set up the occasional run play. The hurry-up (relatively speaking) offense puts Joe in a more comfortable zone, and wore out the Miami defense throughout the game.

Bigger question, can this work Monday night against the Pats. Answer is Yes, it can, and it will have it. Running in unfamiliar territory, the Ravens will need to outpace the Patriots in a shoot out. Tom Brady (who is no Ryan Tannehill), will torch our secondary like there is no tomorrow, and they will carve out lunch chunks of real estate by dinky passes. This could be a long night, but with the extra preparation, we could make a decent game of it.

Looking at the playoff picture, the Ravens advertised “toughest remaining schedule in the NFL,” and we need to win 3 of the final 4 games to take the division, but 2 of those wins have to be against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. New England is currently a tie-breaker behind Oakland for top seed. This game means something to both teams, but hopefully it means more to us.

Ravens:
Wacky ending, but it all looks the same in the end. However, we cannot expect to play like the over the next 5 games and expect to win. The offense needs to find pay dirt (and stop kicking things around), and the secondary needs to find a way to play defense. We have a decent shot at the division title, but we need to step it up, or watch the playoffs from the couch. Cincinnati didn’t have their 2 biggest play makers and we barely won. What does that mean when we finish the season in Cincinnati? They will remember that final play of the game, and it won’t be a fond memory.

Someone was talking about going to Green Bay next season, but rumor on the street is that we could play Jacksonville in London.

News and Personal Thoughts:
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Ravens:
Well, the better disciplined team won, but that wasn’t us. The worst stat of the game was 12 more penalties for 136 yards, but the other glaring problem was our failure to run the ball more, especially after averaging 6.3 yards per carry (101 yards on 16 carries). The Ravens failed to make a statement against the leagues best team, but the Cowboys didn’t “roll” us in their first ever victory over the Ravens, and other may have noticed that we stayed with them for most of the game. Next up is the fading Bengals who are only 1.5 games back in the worst NFL division. Keys to victory should be obvious: Discipline, run the ball, and win the turnover Battle.

News and Personal Thoughts:
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Please credit Ichniowski with any orders, and let me know if you need assistance with the pick up, which is scheduled for Saturday, 12/17.

Ravens:
Easy part of the schedule is done with an easy (relatively speaking) win over the directionless Browns, who are my new favorite team for 1 week (since they play the squealors). The game had it’s ups and downs, and in the end, the Browns lost the game, giving us the win (again), but this week’s Raven’s match-up will prove to be much more challenging. Going on the road as 7 point underdogs, the Cowboys could run all over us if they go to the air. On the ground, the Ravens look tough as ever. Offensively, we are still not giving Flacco enough time to make good decisions (and sometime when he has enough time, he still doesn’t make good decisions). As the dust is settling, the truth remains, the Ravens are in 1st place, and will remain there for another week. Go team!

Ravens:
Who wanted that game less? In a game where both teams scored 25% 3rd down efficiency and 10+ penalties for about 100 yards, the steelers gave that game to us. Not only did they give us a 3 quarter head start, they also gave us 8 MORE points to start the 4th quarter to make sure it was enough, before the worst botched on-side kick in NFL history. Were they paid to throw that game? Unbelievable. In the end, we are in first place, and still can’t get the ball into the end zone. No, I don’t count a club record 95-yard catch and sprint as an offensive TD. That’s called a failure to tackle.

Seriously, what this game was about, was improving Ben’s record in games started after an injury to 2-6 by having the steelers run the ball into the jaws of death for 3 quarters to protect his surgically repaired leg, before throwing in the hat and dissecting our secondary.

Can this tiny bit of momentum get us through the rest of the season? Doubtful. Ineptitude on offense will lead to our eventual demise. We cannot continue to play like this and win. Next up: The Cursed Browns. Can we keep them 0-fer? Remember, this is their Super Bowl each year.

Ravens:
Great news! The Ravens are 1 game out of first and play the evil pittsburgh steelers for a share of the division lead. Bad news is that if we blow this opportunity, the team will be totally demoralized, 2 games out of first, and for all intents and purposed done for the season. Rumor has it that Ben will be playing, but I still think it is a publicity stunt to keep the Ravens off balance. We shall see.

In order to win, the Ravens generally need to play better in all aspects of the game. If they can’t figure that out this week, then start counting the days until Spring Training.