Ravenous Defense

The Ravens were in top form today when they routed Miami 27-9. It seemed like every time Miami started to get something going the Ravens defense put a stop to it. Chad Pennington had a league low 7 interceptions during the regular season. He had 4 in this game. This was a game where everything went right for the Ravens and everything went wrong for the Dolphins. I mean, they're kicker even missed the extra point after their only touchdown of the day.

I feel a little bad for the Dolphins, but not too bad. While it was good to see Pennington show the Jets that they shouldn't have given up on him for another old gunslinger this season, it was even better to see the Ravens control this game and move onto the next round against Tennessee. I'm still a little in shock. I knew this game was winnable. That's not it. It's that the Ravens are in the playoffs at all. I spent the whole season trying not to get my hopes up. Just waiting for the inexperience to rear its ugly head. Waiting for the magic to end.

And now here we are. The Ravens are headed to the second round of the playoffs. They are playing some of their best football of the year. Ed Reed who started out the season with serious nerve damage to his neck had two interceptions today. One of several two interception games this season. And our inexperience rookie quarterback who didn't even get one vote for rookie of the year is doing the most important thing, he's not making mistakes. Sure his numbers weren't great today, but that's not what matters. Joe Flacco did give Miami a chance to come back in the game. And he topped that off with a rushing touchdown to seal the Dolphins' fate. He just played solid mistake free football.

I think the game next week will be much harder than today. But Tennessee is beatable. One big play or a different call and Baltimore could have won when they faced the Titans in the regular season. But this isn't the same Ravens team. This a team with a much more mature quarterback and a defense that is looking unstoppable. It's going to be a tough game. But not impossible.

I congratulated one of my friends on the Eagles win after the game today. His response...see you on Super Sunday. It's a little too early to start hoping for that. But man did the Ravens play great football today.

Ravens Preview

The Ravens' season starts today so I thought I'd spout out a some general observations and a final record prediction. I think one of the main reasons people write sports blogs besides sports obsessions and wasting time from their real lives of being lawyers is to have proof that they predicted something, in the off chance they are actually right. I don't think I'm likely to get many predictions right so if I do I want to be able to cite when it happened so I'm not accused of changing my story. And screw it, if I'm wrong, maybe I'll just come back and edit this post. It's not like many people read this anyway.

This Raven's season is not looking to promising. Yes, we do have some promising young players that might play a huge part eventually, but they are being thrust into starting positions right away. Let's start with the obvious, Joe Flacco. He is a rookie quarterback out of Delaware, not the biggest football powerhouse. And while he has consistently improved during the preseason, he still doesn't seem quite ready for the big time yet. But with Troy Smith still recovering from possibly the worst case of tonsilitis ever, he got the starting nod. The other promising rookie with a lot of promise is Ray Rice, a running back from Rutgers. Rutgers has been improving its football name recently and he had a lot of yards during college. If Willis McGahee isn't ready to play then Rice will be in there. He's a little guy at only 5'8 so I'm rooting for him to do well. Short people have to support each other.

Other than our "exciting" young prospects, the team has been plagued with injury, and its not even the regular season yet. This does not bode well. Ed Reed, apparently was able to practice without his red jersey, which means he has been cleared for hitting in practice and says he would like to play in the season opener. We'll find out in a few hours. Overall, I'd like Reed healthy in the long run, even if does mean missing the first game of the season. And Chris McAlister had a full practice this week, which means he will also be able to start. So things are looking up a bit for our defense.

John Harbaugh has managed to earn the respect and inspire confidence from the team as the coach. Hopefully this will translate into a better attitude that brings about more wins. We'll soon see if he can face up to the hard schedule this year. Ravens play the AFC South, which sent three teams to the playoffs last year, and the NFC East, which also sent three teams to the playoffs. And of course we play our division twice, and even though the AFC North is not a powerhouse this year, division games are always a little more intense. But maybe we can manage to beat Miami this year.

This preview is pretty short because I don't want to dwell on the negative and there really is not too much positive. I do want to give a quick shout out to Matt Stover, the most reliable person on the Ravens offense. He is entering his 18th season as the starting kicker for this franchise. (He is the only holdover from the Browns) He has been outstanding in his time with the team, and here's hoping he has another great season.

I'm hoping that the new coach John Harbaugh does well in his first season, that Flacco shines and that Smith recovers quickly just in case. I'm hoping that this team will overcome injury and find its form from two years ago. I'm hoping that we win more games than we did last year.

All that being said, I think we'll wind up with the same record as last year, 5-11. I'm hoping I'm wrong.