Don Markus of the Baltimore Sun is reporting that Ravens head coach Brian Billick and all-pro LT Jonathan Ogden are ‘cautiously optimistic’ about JO’s return to the lineup against the Browns in Cleveland.

“It feels better, a little better than last week,” Ogden said after the Ravens practiced indoors today at their facility in Owings Mills. “We’ll see. I might go out there and run around [before the game]. I don’t know.”

Said Billick, “He moved around very, very well. We’ll see how Sunday looks. I was very pleased with the way he moved.”

If JO is back… that’s excellent news.  But don’t rush that toe.  We’ll need a fully healthy Ogden for the playoff run.

Sunday is the day after my bachelor party, so I can’t guarantee that I’ll be around come gameday. I can, however, guarantee you that you’ll enjoy what I’ve got in store for all the Ravens Touchdown readers. Y’see, I’m heading out to a shooting range with some friends to kick off the bachelor party (guns? booze? hell yeah!) and I’ve got some custom AFC North targets to put holes in. Steelers, Bengals and Browns fans… beware: this place lets you shoot machine guns (no kidding). I’ll have a YouTube video of the shells flyin’ up some time early next week.

That said, here is the Ravens Touchdown game preview you’ve all been waiting for (with baited breath, I hope).

Walk, dont’ run

Heading into week 4 of the season, Baltimore’s defense ranks #1 in the NFL against the run. With 61.7 ground yards per game and 0 rushing touchdowns allowed, the Ravens are poised to make Jamal Lewis and company take to the air (just please, not in the 4th quarter). Even more impressive, the Ravens have only allowed 3 runs of 10 yards or more, tying them with the Houston Texans.

In the last 6 games, the Ravens have held opponents to less than 70 net yards (dating back to ‘06). The unlucky opponents are averaging 59.2 rush yards per game with a 3.2 yards per carry average. Suffocating!

Since 2005, the Ravens have allowed an NFL-low 13 rushing TD’s in 35 games. You know who’s the next closest? Chicago, with 18 allowed. Even more impressive, you’ll have to go back to 11/12/06 against the Tennessee Titans to see an opponent score a rushing TD against the Ravens defense.

Run, don’t walk

With 205 punt return yards (and 75 glorious touch down-y goodness yards from rookie WR/RS Yamon Figurs in week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals), the Ravens are tops among special teams units in the NFL. The Ravens have a 17.1-yard average on 12 returns. Don’t let anyone tell you that the field position game isn’t important…

Reasons for optimism

• The Ravens have shutout the Browns twice in Cleveland (12-0, 10/1/00 and 35-0, 12/21/03). The third time’s a charm!
• The Ravens have been able to pressure the hell out of the quarterback in Cleveland, producing 13 sacks against the Browns last season.
• Steve McNair torches the Browns. He’s completed 177 of 230 passes for 1,586 yards and 9 TDs in 10 games against the Cleve. In his only game as a Raven in Cleveland, McNair posted an 83.8 QB rating (23-of-41, 264 yards, 1 TD).
• Derrick Mason, of “McNair to Mason… TOUCHDOWN!” fame, has 39 receptions for 694 yards (17.8 average) with 3 touchdowns in 10 games. He also has 2 100-yard receiving games against the Browns.
• Willis McGahee, while having only played the Browns once, blew up the Cleveland defense for 105 yards on 27 carries and 2 touchdowns. He picked up 9 1st downs and exploded for 3 runs of 10-plus yards.
• Ray Lewis has played Cleveland 14 times in his career. Lewis has recorded 164 tackles (102 solo), averaging 11.7 stops per game. In the 14 games, he’s notched 6 sacks, 7 PD, 3 INTs, 2 FR and 1 FF. Look for more of the same on Sunday.
• Not to be outdone, Ed Reed has played the Browns 8 times in his career. Reed has intercepted Cleveland QBs 5 times, and has made good on the swipes by motoring for 243 return yards and 2 touchdowns. Reed’s 106-yard interception return for a touchdown is the longest interception in NFL history.
• The Browns have compiled a 5-11 record against the Ravens (.313 winning percentage) in the lifetime series.

Former Ravens making a new roost

• QB Derek Anderson (6th round draft pick, 2005 draft)
• RB Jamal Lewis (1st round draft pick, 5th overall, 2000 draft).
• DB Gary Baxter (2nd round draft pick, 2001 draft)
• TE Darnell Dinkins (played for the Ravens from 2004-05)
• P Dave Zastudil (4th round draft pick, 2002 draft)

All in the family

Browns DB Brandon McDonald and Ravens QB Steve McNair are cousins.

“I really didn’t want to come back, honestly.”

Like Dewey over at Blogimore Ravens, I was (and still am to an extent) a Jamal Lewis fan. He was easily my favorite offensive player during those lean offensive years (and really, who else could anyone possibly like? Jeff Blake?).

The Baltimore Sun has a transcript of the conference call Jamal had with the press earlier this week, and frankly, some of the stuff he said was kind of off-putting. Like what he had to say about his relationship with all-around good guy Ozzie Newsome:

“He is a great guy and I appreciate what he did for me, bringing me into this league and taking a chance on me when nobody else did at that pick in that draft. I appreciate that. That’s all I can really say about him.”

So I guess getting millions of dollars for being a feature back or having the general manager staying behind you after the sentencing isn’t enough…  The bottom line: it’s selfish. The team wanted to move in a different direction, so they acquired Willis McGahee, a back with a lot less miles and a lot more upside.

I hate to throw the blog into full-on media storyline mode, but after reading the full transcript of the conference call, I just couldn’t help myself.

As the Ravens look to take on the Cleveland Browns in a week 4 matchup, let’s take a look at what everyone is buzzing about: the first of two reunion grudge matches between Jamal Lewis and the Ravens.

• According to the Baltimore Sun, Jamal enjoys throwing some smack around. In the conference call to the media, he mentioned that he might have an edge over the other running backs who’ve faced this Ravens squad because he knows what they do best and “what they don’t do best.” Hm. Okay. Best of luck, Jamal. [Baltimore Sun]
• The Tribune Chronicle (you know, the Mahoning Valley’s first online newspaper!) mentions that Jamal Lewis is ready to face his former team. ORLY? [Tribune-Chronicle]
• The Canton Repository mentioned that Jamal Lewis has been tossin’ around the talk (among other things). He also feels that “The NFL has wussed down the game.” Holy crap, I totally agree. [The Repository of Canton]
• Finally, and not really Jamal Lewis-related, Tony Grossi scouted the Baltimore Ravens for the Plain Dealer. Did you know that Brian Billick is an offensive ‘Genius’? Well, Grossi sure does! [Cleveland.com]

Quotable

“It’s not that I know the scheme; [it’s that] I know the personnel and the players,” Lewis said in a conference call with Baltimore reporters. “I know what they do best and what they don’t do best. I think that gives me a little bit of an edge.”

- Jamal Lewis

“I do know this: If he touches the football, it’s going to be more than one person hitting him. Jamal knows there are no weaknesses. You can pretend there’s a weakness if you want to run at our corners and our secondary. Jamal knows who he has to deal with, so if there’s a weakness, tell him to come and find it. We’ll be waiting for him Sunday when we get there.”

“I think a lot of people draw up more than it is. It’s football. The bottom line is he’s not a Raven anymore. He’s a Brown. When the ball is snapped, he’s got to be hit.”

- Ray Lewis

Bart Scott has got to be the greatest trash-talker of all time:

“Isn’t the stadium next to a junkyard? … Oh, that’s the [training] facility. The stadium is on a landfill. That’s what it smells like. It [the turf] never dries. It’s built on a landfill and it’s toxic, and I think it gets to some of the fans’ heads a little bit.”

The Mad Backer strikes again.

There was a great excerpt in ESPN the magazine about the Kelly Gregg and the Baltimore Ravens defense:

“Baltimore keeps a stat called ‘Attaboys,’ for play above and beyond what’s expected. Last year Kelly Gregg had 13 ‘Attaboys,’ the only Raven in double digits. ‘You can see why I love this guy,’ Rex Ryan says.”

Speaking of Rex Ryan… he chimed in on using technology to steal signals, a la New England Patriots:

“I’m not sure sports are supposed to be about who can cheat the best. I should be worrying about how to beat a team, not spending hours figuring out how to disguise what I’m doing. I hope this gets us back to football the way it should be.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Matt Stover became the 5th highest scoring player in the NFL last week after kicking 4 FG to lead the Ravens to a 26-23 victory over the visiting Arizona Cardinals. How does he do it? Well, he likes to compare it to golf:

“I used to have a 3-wood on a field goal. I’ve backed it down to a 5-iron and now a 7-iron. It’s all about getting it up and getting it straight. A 150-yard, 7-iron short is my 48-to 50-yard field goal.”

In two completely unrelated items of note, rookie return specialist Yamon Figurs was honored by the NFL as the AFC Special Teams player of the week and CB Samari Rolle will sit for Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns.

Poor BJ Sams — in the week he’s injured, Ed Reed has the big return for a TD. The following week, Figurs rips one off and wins the Special Teams player of the week. Talk about rubbing salt in the ACL wound. Yikes.

As for Doorknob, apparently the medication he was taking for his illness last week left him very lethargic (like our 4th quarter pass defense) and will keep him in the sidelines for Week 4.

“I’m off,” Rolle said today after practice. “I can’t play. As far as being straight and balanced and coordinated, I’m not.”

“It’s evidently something that he is going to have to monitor for a while,” Billick said. “I hesitate to make comparisons because everybody will go, ‘Oh my God, you mean he has –.’ No. But it takes medication, and you have to have the right balance. That’s the best I can offer you.”

Here’s to a speedy, Figurs-like recovery for Rolle.

I know what you’re thinking — “Oh, another Will Demps story about how he likes to get down.” I’m sorry to disappoint…

I was scouring the web looking for Ravens news and stumbled across an Examiner story that lavishes attention on the female Ravens fan base. I was shocked to know that it sits at 46% — one of the largest in the NFL.

The Examiner has some nifty data, courtesy of ESPN/Chilton, Scarborough Sports Marketing:

Female fans nationwide

Which team boasts the most female fans nationwide? (including fans who live in one city but root for another team)

1. Pittsburgh: 34
2. Green Bay: 29.4
3. Buffalo: 22.8
4. Kansas City: 22.4
5. Jacksonville: 21.7
6. Baltimore, New England and Denver (tie): 21.5
7. Tampa Bay and Washington (tie): 20.9

What women watch

1. NFL: 22.1 percent
2. MLB: 13.6 percent
3. NBA: 12.6 percent
4. Ice Skating: 6.5 percent

Women rocking the NFL

• 40 percent of fans at games are female.
• 375,000 women attend games on the weekend.

First, I’m not surprised at all that Pittsburgh and Green Bay boast the highest number of female fans. They also happen to have two of the largest fan bases in the NFL, spread out all over the damn place. But Buffalo, Kansas City and Jacksonville? Who woulda thunk it?

From the Examiner story:

They play great defense. They wear purple. And for an added bonus, they’ve got cute players.

So is it any surprise that the Ravens boast one of the largest — and most vocal — sections of female fans of any team in the NFL? Guys, if you are surprised, don’t tell the ladies. The 12th man of the Ravens just might be a sophisticated lady who can talk trash with the best of them.

“You do not want me to sit in on a game with those boys,” said Gwen Johnson, a 49-year-old lawyer from Baltimore who would trade a “cute” benchwarmer any day for one who can smack the daylights out of Peyton Manning. “I know what a crossing pattern looks like, and I know what a skinny post is. We do not wear pink halter tops with ‘52’ on them.”

For the record, Gwen Johnson is my kind of gal.  I also want to see someone smack the daylights out of Peyton “Sprint PCS/Mastercard/DirecTV/Walking Billboard” Manning.

I’m in the process of educating my soon-to-be wife about football. She can pick up on a cover-2 defense, understands the role of the fullback and can appreciate why I scream at the TV when Billick doesn’t run the ball on first down late in a game with the lead. By the end of the season, that 46% will soon be a fraction of a percentage larger… she’s coming with me to the Steelers/Ravens game on December 30th.

Big story today in the Washington Post — apparently Brian Billick is considering platooning Steve McNair and Kyle Boller, citing Boller’s play and McNair’s health as the two contributing factors.

I’ll have to admit, it’ll be really strange seeing Billick make that call to the bullpen for the hammer to put away games.

From the article:

Kyle Boller’s career as a Baltimore Ravens quarterback has taken several turns over the past five years, from first-round draft pick to oft-criticized starter to valued backup. Now, Boller appears to have a new role: late-game reliever.

One day after Boller replaced starter Steve McNair in the fourth quarter against the Arizona Cardinals and led the Ravens to a winning field goal, Coach Brian Billick said he has no qualms turning to Boller in late-game situations as McNair continues to recover from a strained groin.

There is no question McNair, who was injured in the season opener and missed the second game, is Baltimore’s starting quarterback. But considering his age (34), the beating his body has taken over 13 NFL seasons, and the way Boller has performed this month, Billick said he would consider using a similar platoon even after McNair is healthy.

“It depends on the continuity of the team, what Steve’s doing and, you know what?, I got the sense that Steve would be okay with that under the right circumstances,” Billick said during his weekly news conference. “That’s 20 fewer plays, five fewer hits, whatever it may be. There was a freshness to Steve’s arm in the [Arizona] game, because of the week he had off previously. We’re lucky to have that latitude with Kyle.”

Last week McNair said that he agreed with Billick’s decision to remove him from the game after he aggravated his groin. If you were Steve McNair, how would you react to being taken out of a game in favor of a backup — even if you were efficient at moving the offense down field?

Well, according to Billick, everything is gravy:

“It can be a huge problem if you let your egos get involved,” Billick said. “But Steve has one agenda, and that is to win and to get through the season and be the quarterback he has shown he has been for us. . . . The numbers, the stats, he doesn’t care. He’s all about winning, and I appreciate that. It could become more of a problem if a guy didn’t have the right character and the right ego.”

As long as this doesn’t turn out to be a locker room distraction, I’m all for it. Replace wonky crotch with working crotch late in games and let ‘er rip. Personally, I think the mystical collapsing 4th quarter defense is more of a concern than a McNair/Boller platoon, but I’m sure Rex will get all of that sorted out soon enough.  Hopefully the QB situation will find that same natural resolve.

Much like the once mighty Baltimore Ravens defense, I hate what I’ve become. I was wrapping up my meeting, sitting in a Manhattan coffee shop (leechin’ WiFi), when I started to feel too comfortable about the outcome of the game.

I had my CBS Sportsline game tracker open, I just (virtually) saw Yamon Figurs rip off a special teams touchdown… life was good. I was confident that we’d just demolish the Gridbirds — after all, the Ravens were up by a suffocatingly large margin. Last year, leads were safe — especially when Baltimore was up by two scores or more.

I closed my laptop and ‘disconnected’ from the game, the internet, everything. I walked across the street from the cafe to grab a burger and watch some of the Jets/Dolphins game (it sadly was the only football I could watch). Surely the Ravens be able to hold the hapless Arizona Cardinals, a sophomore-slumpin’ Matty Leinart and fumble-prone, washed-up hack of a backup QB to maybe… MAYBE another field goal. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? The Ravens would be 2-1, the Cardinals would be humiliated and Billick would grind out the rest of the game on the ground, showering me with more fantasy points for Willis McGahee.

But no.

For the second week in a row, winning a game that was dominated from the get-go was almost too much to ask.

You know what the worst part of the game was? During the Arizona comeback I had absolutely no way of checking the score. None. When I finally got my Blackberry to hook up to the slow-as-moleasses-in-January ESPN mobile bag ‘o crap, I was shocked to see the Cardinals were about to send 70,000 plus home disappointed, angry and confused. For the second consecutive week, the Ravens wanted to make us sweat out a win.

So here I sit, hacking out this post at Gate D10 in the worst airport in America (that’s LaGuardia, for those of you keeping track at home), wondering both why and how the secondary is managing to play air-tight defense in three quarters of football, then systematically take a huge crap down both legs in the final 15 minutes of the game.

Like I said last week - a win’s a win. But winning ugly, as the Ravens have done two weeks in a row by almost choking away a decent lead, isn’t the way I like to see the team rack ‘em up in the W column.

Can we please have a blowout in the Mistake by the Lake? I need my faith in the Purple and Black restored.

Although not football related, I wanted to let everyone know that posting here on Ravens Touchdown may be spotty the next few days. I’m flying out to NYC for business (and pleasure).

The business end of the deal will be a lot of fun — I’m hiring the Sports Cartel’s first ‘official’ manager, Justin Allen. Justin writes on the Sports Cartel at Pinstripes Daily, so I urge you to check it out if you’re a Yankees fan. Personally, I’m not, but he does a great job getting me interested in the best team money can buy.

The pleasure end won’t be too shabby, either. Serendipitously, my favorite band is playing a show at the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night, which means that this hayseed from St. Louis will be lucky enough to see Les Savy Fav for the third time. The previous two occasions were in St. Louis… and I can’t wait to see what the ‘Fav do with home field advantage.

I’m leaving in a few hours, but with all of the other administrative stuff going on (and packing! ah, the packing!), I wanted to put out a post today to let everyone know why the game isn’t getting the usual Ravens Touchdown treatment.

(I can assure you that it’s not because I think it will be a cake walk.)

One quick Ravens-related tidbit I’ll pass along - I’ve read all over the freakin’ internet that McNair is going to start on Sunday. Personally, I’m all for letting him heal another week. Let’s make sure his groin is healed before rushing him back into action… after all, Boller did a better-than-adequate job filling in for Steviepoo last week. If McNair starts, I would at least hope that Billick could put him on a short leash. Once the balls start sailing over Demetrius Williams and his freakishly large vertical leap because that groin is bothering him, I hope it’s Boller-time*.

I’ll be back with a complete game recap on Monday morning, if not a gameday post on Sunday. They’ve got to have WiFi in NYC, right?

* file this under things I never thought I’d say… ever.

As I eluded to in yesterday’s post, this game will be kind of bittersweet. I intently followed the St. Louis Football Cardinals before they migrated South(west) to the Arizona desert. Since then, I’ve completely washed away my allegiances to the Gridbirds and followed the Browns — that is, until they moved to Baltimore. That’s my team now, and I’m proud to be a die-hard fan… the only one, I think, living in St. Louis.

I remember when the Arizona Cardinals left St. Louis. Everyone hated Bill Bidwell. Some still do. Baltimore, I can understand how you felt when the Colts left town. Cleveland, I can understand how you felt when the Browns bolted for Baltimore. (In fact, I still feel sorry for Cleveland. Not because of the success the Ravens have enjoyed, but because of the lack of success Browns fan have had to suffer through.)

But enough about the past. Let’s look to the future, and the Week 3 game between the Arizona Cardinals (1-1) and the Baltimore Ravens (1-1).

Why the Ravens will win:

1. The Cardinals head coach is green. No, not Denny Green, but ‘new’. Ken Whisenhunt is in his first year as a head coach in the NFL, having coached Baltimore’s TEs from 1997-98 before moving on to Pittsburgh as the Steelers’ TE coach from 2001-03. He finally settled in as the offensive coordinator from 2004-06 before accepting the head coaching gig with the Gridbirds. Hopefully the Ravens will bring the heat for a full 60 minutes and make Whisenhunt and company look reeeealy bad.
2. McGahee shreds the NFC West. Lucky for us, they’re the poor bastards we’re playing this season. Of the 14 100-yard games that McGahee has posted, 5 came against a NFC West team:
   @ Seattle (11/28/04), 28 attempts, 116 yards, 4 touchdowns
   vs. Arizona (10/31/04), 30 attempts, 102 yards, 2 touchdowns
   @ San Francisco (12/26/04), 15 attempts, 102 yards, 2 touchdowns
   vs. St. Louis (11/21/04), 20 attempts, 100 yards, 0 touchdowns
3. Boller is coming off a great game. He looked poised, displayed great patience in the pocket, scrambled for two first downs… but most importantly, controlled the flow of the game by not turning over the ball like the week 1 suck-fest. I don’t have any fancy stats to back this one up, but I will say this: Boller looked like a completely different quarterback.

Why the Ravens could lose:

1. Brian Billick could resort to the same-ole/same-ole playcalling that didn’t work in the first game and nearly lost the Ravens the second one. Honestly, Brian, you’ve got an offense built to run the ball, which in turn sets up the passing game. Keep ‘em honest on the ground before taking to the air.
2. Neil Rackers is the balls. He’s scary accurate and has a very potent leg. Rackers is the reason why the Cardinals managed to eek out a win against Seattle with his 0:01 heroics. I don’t want to see that happen two weeks in a row.
3. Believe it or not, the Cardinals defense has only allowed 540 total yards… that’s *gulp* better than the Ravens (564). The Cardinals rank 10th against the run and 16th against the pass and have recorded 4 sacks in the early season.

Big Game Performers

Willis McGahee has played the Cardinals once… and broke off 102 yards on 30 carries and 2 touchdowns (10/31/04). To add fuel to the fire, in those 102 yards, 4 were good for 1st downs and 2 were for more than 10 yards. Now, if only Billick would stick with the run a little bit longer…

Matt Stover is 3-1 lifetime against the Cardinals. His stats are gaudy (as far as kickers go, anyway) — he’s 9/9 in FG attempts (including 3 from 40+ yards), and a perfect 7/7 in PATs.

Chris McAlister has played against the Cardinals twice — and both times, he’s made ‘em pay. He’s recorded 9 tackles (8 solo), 5 PD and owns 2 INTs. One of the interceptions was returned for an 83 yard TD.

Ray Lewis is a beast (but we already knew that). In 3 games against the Cardinals, Lewis has notched 43 tackles (35 solo). He’s averaging 14.3 tackles per game and has posted double-digits in every meeting.

Did You Know?

Dating back to 1996, Baltimore has scored 33 defensive touchdowns in 32 games? What’s even cooler is that during those games, they own a 28-4 record. In those 4 games that they didn’t win after a defensive touchdown, the margin of defeat has been ridiculously thin: 2.5 points!

Since 2003, no other NFL team has totaled as many defensive touchdowns as the Ravens (20).

Matt Stover has kicked a lot of FGs. Here’s some useless information: of the 412 career FGs made (good for 4th all-time, by the way), he’s only kicked 24 outdoors. ***24*** outdoors. That’s just silly.