You’ll have to forgive the brevity of this game preview. Today is my birthday and I’m still recovering a little from last night’s pre-birthday festivities. I’ll be recovering from tonight’s birthday festivities tomorrow and then New Year’s Eve festivities on Tuesday. If anyone knows how to bump your name up on the liver replacement list, I’m all ears.

We kind of suck

Let’s face it: the Ravens are probably going to lose their 10th straight decision today. In case you missed the last 9 games, we kind of suck. It’s so bad that loyal season ticket holders are selling tickets to the terrible towel-toting tools in Black and Gold. And let me tell you — there’s nothing I hate more than seeing those f*cking towels waving in our house.

All pleasantries aside, if the Steelers jump out to an early lead, it’ll turn into a home game for them as Ravens fans head for the turnstiles.

What’s at stake

For one team, a complete sweep of the division. For another, a complete shut-out by division foes.

For one team, the possibility of the #3 seed in the AFC (with a Steelers win and a Chargers loss). For another team, pride.

For me, I just want to see an entertaining game. Today is my birthday and I would like to at least see the Ravens put up a fight. However, something tells me that the team was done by week 10 and are just going through the motions. We’ll see.

Calling off the dogs

The Steelers will be rolling in to town with some notables missing. According to Die Hard Steel, the worthy Steelers blog counterpart on the Sports Cartel Blog Network, QB Ben Roethlisberger will sit and QB Charlie Batch will start, LT Marvel Smith is out with back surgery and T Max Starks will start in Smith’s stead. It’s also looking like SS Troy Polamalu and QB Blower-Upper/Steelers’ team MVP LB James “Silverback” Harrison will be watching form the sidelines, too. Pro Bowl RB Willie Parker will also sit, as I’m sure he can’t put much weight on his foot.

Thank the deity of your choosing that James Harrison won’t be starting on Sunday. In week 9, on Monday Night Football, Harrison destroyed the Steve McNair/Kyle Boller fumble factory like the firebombing of Dresden in WWII. In one of the most dominant defensive performances I’ve ever seen, Harrison recorded 9 tackles, 3 1/2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 1 interception.

Roethlisberger is also sitting. In the same salt-in-wound Monday Night Football game, Roethlisberger threw for 5 scores in the first half, spotting the Steelers to a 35-7 halftime lead. Against the Rams in week 16, Roethlisberger had his 3rd career perfect passer rating game (158.3). I like to bag on Big Ben, but it’s looking like I’ll have to eat a hot plate of crow: he’s *gulp* having a monster season and deserves all the accolades.

The Ravens, on the other hand, will be without a lot of notables due to injury. QB Kyle Boller (head), TE Todd Heap (thigh), RB Willis McGahee (chest), S Gerome Sapp (thigh), TE Quinn Sypniewski (head), TE Daniel Wilcox (thigh) and WR Demetrius Williams (ankle) are listed as Out on the team injury report. RB Mike Anderson (thigh), WR Mark Clayton (back) LB Ray Lewis (back) are listed as Questionable. LB Edgar Jones (foot) and T Jonathan Ogden (thigh) as Probable.

Without our top 3 tight ends, it looks like it’s up to Lee Vickers. Did I just type that?

Prediction

We’ll see more of the same as the Ravens stumble, fumble and flail our way to our 10th straight loss. Garbage time continues to be our friend, as we score the only meaningful points of the game late in the 4th quarter.

We’ve now gone 76 games since the last Ravens victory.  Bring on the draft!

In what can only be described as a collective sigh of relief in Ravens-land, it was announced today that Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith will make his first NFL start for the struggling Baltimore Ravens against the NFC West champion Seattle Seahawks.

“He’s as ready as you’re going to be as a rookie,” coach Brian Billick said after today’s practice. “One thing I don’t worry about is that he has a strong personality. You worry what happens if things get ugly with him and pressures … but he will fight through whatever happens. He’s a very strong-willed young man.”

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Billick is trotting out a pre-game excuse just in case Smith doesn’t play the way everyone who backs the purple and black hopes. But anyway, I digress.

This game is very important from a personnel perspective: if Troy Smith responds and can lead this offense, then we may be able to shift our focus from drafting a ‘franchise’ QB to drafting a solid CB.

At any rate, I wish the very best for Troy and the Ravens against the Seahawks. Smith will be going up against a Seahawks defense which is ranked 20th against the pass. We’ll be taking to the air a lot: I have a good feeling that Matt Hasselbeck will be shredding our secondary. More on that in the game preview tomorrow.

This game just got very interesting!

Quick! What do the Miami Dolphins and the Baltimore Ravens have in common? If you said “Both are enjoying the two longest losing streaks in the NFL and their respective franchise histories”, you win! And that’s something that both teams have had a lot of trouble with recently!

5 reasons why the Ravens will win on Sunday

1. Willis McGahee will have a huge game. I want to see blood splurting from noses and ears with the way blocks are thrown and the football is crammed down the ‘fins throats!

Three teams have rushed for over 200 yards against the 32nd ranked rush defense in the NFL and I fully expect that McGahee will slash his way for over a buck twenty and at least one score. Dolphins MLB Zach Thomas is on the IR and DE Jason Taylor is playing on a sprained ankle — I hate to sound greedy, but I like the matchup.

Now, I realize that McGahee only has one 100+ yard rushing campaign against his former AFC East division foes while averaging 3.4 yards per carry, but still — Willis is the lone bright spot in the otherwise stagnant Ravens offense, so I expect him to shoulder a much larger load.

2. The Dolphins are winless. They’re the only franchise with a worse losing streak than the Ravens. What makes this game any different from the previous 13 losses?

3. Brian Billick may surprise everyone with his play calling. Maybe he’ll let Troy Smith play more than one series. Oh, wait. No he won’t. Maybe he’ll stick with the run. Oh, wait. No he won’t. Nevermind.

4. Todd Heap is rumored to be suiting up for this game. Nothing like a confidence booster against the worst team in the NFL, right Todd? And Brian: let’s stay away from throwing him jump balls. He’s got a tender hamstring, remember?

5. No team should ever pass up the opportunity to show up Joey Porter. This game is no exception — I don’t want to hear his name. I don’t want to see his stomach before the game as he trolls the sidelines barking at the Ravens offense. I don’t want to acknowledge his existence. Don’t feed the trolls…

5 reasons why the Ravens will lose

1. The Ravens suck in the rain. The Baltimore Sun has a nice article that proves what all of us already knew.  The forecast?  50% chance of rain.  Hooo boy…

2. Tragic Inevitability. I’m one of the few who really like what Tony Kornheiser brings to Monday Night Football, so his statement about the Ravens falling apart against the Patriots and the tragic inevitability of such a meltdown really rang true. How much further will the ‘fins fall before winning? The Ravens?

If the weather forecast is correct, Miami will have the first win of the season on Sunday.

3. Kyle Boller reverted back to the same ‘ole Kyle Boller we all know and tolerate loathe. Billick won’t start Troy Smith to see what he can do, so until then, Kyle will be throwing to guys in Teal and Orange, in addition to guys in Purple and Black. Oh, and fumbling the crap out of the ball.

4. Shit always rolls downhill. Sad, but true. The Ravens have managed to play up to the competition once this year and still lost. When you’ve lost 7 in a row, you start to second-guess yourself. What have the Ravens done to make anyone believe they are capable of beating a winless team?

5. Corey Ivy, Derrick Martin and David Pittman. Yikes. Ivy is good in certain defensive schemes, but asking him to play corner is a stretch. The guy is tiny — not exactly shutdown material. Pittman had diarrhea all over M&T last week and Martin is a 6th round pick still trying to get his feet wet in the NFL. If a 157.5 passer rating last week against the Colts is any indication of what this trio can do, I think I’ll be slamming booze all day Sunday trying to forget as much as possible.

Usually when the Colts roll into town, the anti-Irsay chatter is ratcheted up to an 11. (Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?)

This go-round, the city of Baltimore is still angrily in shock from nearly knocking off the best team in the modern era of the NFL. Rather than relive the heartache of a final-minute Patriots comeback in a game preview post, I’ll just point readers here, here, here and here. Read and relive at your own risk.

Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun has a great piece online about transference of hatred from the Colts bolting for Indianapolis to the New England Patriots. Schmuck, much like myself, is not from Baltimore. We missed out on the whole Mayflower/Irsay “thing.” (I was too busy dealing with life without the St. Louis (football) Cardinals when Bill Bidwell up and moved them to Arizona. Can you believe that?!)

However, I know Baltimore’s pain — I still hate Bidwell. My family still hates Bidwell. My dad won’t even say his name without a few colorful adjectives first. While I agree with Schmuck to a point, I can’t stop hating the Colts. I just can’t (but for other reasons, obviously).

Rather than transfer our hatred of the Colts to the Patriots, can’t we transfer our hatred of the outcome of last weeks’ game to this one? I’d love to see a high-energy, intense effort against Dungy’s boys that matches the intensity we took to the Patriots. Is that too much to ask?

How do you think this game will play out? I’ll take a completely unscientific poll to gauge reader interest:

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5 reasons why the Ravens will win this game

1. For the first time all season, the team was able to play 3 7/8 quarters of football. Natural progression tells me that it’s only logical to assume that we’ll play a full 4 quarters.
2. With the injuries to the Colts defense, Willis McGahee should have another banner day. Will it be to the tune of 159 total yards of offense and a score? Golly, my fantasy team hopes so — I’m in the playoffs this week.
3. Kyle Boller actually looked good on Monday. If he’s playing up to his competition, he should fare well.
4. We just lost a heartbreaker. I highly doubt that the leaders on this team will let it happen two weeks (or seven) in a row.
5. Monday Night’s Ravens did not look like any other incarnation of the Ravens I’ve seen this year, dumb penalties withstanding. If they can keep playing with that intensity and smash the football down Indy’s throats, the Colts could be in for a long game.

Reasons for optimism

Even though the Ravens lost last week, they did things to the Patriots that had not been done all season long:

• Limited Brady to a 76.3 QB Rating, his lowest total in 2007.
• Limited Brady to 2 TD passes, his lowest total in 2007.
• Held the Patriots to 326 total net yards of offense, their lowest total in 2007.
• Held the Patriots to 17% efficiency in converting 3rd downs, their lowest percentage in 2007 (going into the game they were 1st in 3rd down efficiency - 53.6%).
• Held the Patriots defense to 0 sacks in the contest, their only game without a sack in 2007.

Of course, we all know what happened last season in the playoffs when the Ravens held Peyton Manning to 170 yards…

Inside the numbers

The secret is out — the Ravens are great at stopping the run and great at punching the ball in via the run. Check this out:

• In the last 15 games, the Ravens haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher, good for the longest streak in the NFL (Dallas and St. Louis trail with 13 game streaks).
• The Ravens have allowed 5 rushing touchdowns this season, all of which have been punched in from the 1 yard line.
• Willis McGahee has a 7 game TD streak alive, tying the Cowboys’ Terrell Owens for the longest scoring streak in the NFL. It’s also a Ravens team record.

Other figures to note:

• 14 different players have recorded a sack for Baltimore’s defense this season — good for the best in the NFL.
• Safety Ed Reed had 33 picks in his career. Since entering the league in 2002, that’s the most of any player in the NFL. Now, if only he could hold on to the ball on returns against New England…

Against the Colts…

• In 2 games against the Colts, QB Kyle Boller has thrown for 351 yards and 1 TD, and is 34 of 63 passing. Remarkable, he’s only been sacked 3 times in 63 dropbacks.
• WR Derrick Mason has squared off against the Colts 7 times in his career. He currently possesses 49 receptions for 562 yards and a TD.
• It wouldn’t be a game preview without K Matt Stover. In 10 games against the Colts, Stover is perfect on all 21 PATs and has converted 13 of 21 FGAs.
• LB Ray Lewis has played against the Colts 5 times. In those contests, he has racked up 63 tackles (50 solo), 2 sacks, 1 FF and 1 FR.
• S Ed Reed blew up Peyton Manning in the divisional playoffs last year, recording 2 interceptions and 3 PD.

The gameplan

This one is really simple: don’t let Peyton Manning beat you. Keep him off the field by chewing the clock — and when the Colts offense is on the field, get in his face. Force him to make throws. Make him beat you.

The Ravens defense played at an insane pace to keep the Patriots in check for as long as they did. If they can play with 3/4 of that intensity, there’s no reason to assume that a win is out of reach.

For the undefeated New England Patriots, the train is on the tracks and rolling towards a perfect season. Having clinched the AFC East prior to the start of last week’s game, it’s gravy the rest of the way for Bill Belichick and his merry band of touchdown machines.

For the struggling Baltimore Ravens, the train is completely wrecked. After posting a 13-3 record in 2006, the Ravens continue to struggle in 2007, losers of five consecutive games and owners of a 4-7 record.

Ravens head coach Brian Billick is concerned, but enthusiastic — as if that’s even possible — as to the makeup of the team:
“We’re obviously not where we want to be, or where we thought we’d be. But, I like the character of this team. They continue to work hard. We have tremendous competitors here, and they’re resilient. They bounce back to fight the next fight. That’s part of being a Raven. We embrace the challenge in front of us. We’re enthusiastic about the opportunity. It’s the chance to find, both collectively and individually, who we are.”

That’s all fine and dandy, but the proof is in the pudding. On Monday night, Billick has a chance to end the Patriots’ historic run by out-coaching Belichick (as if that’s even possible) and the players, if executing correctly, have a chance to neutralize Tom Brady and the Patriots potent passing attack. The key word, of course, is “chance”. Is it likely? Well, that remains to be seen.

Much was made about last week’s “Blueprint” the Eagles laid out of the rest of the teams on the Patriots schedule. As much as I’d like to buy into the genius of Andy Reid, I just can’t. It doesn’t exactly take the father of two convicts to figure out that when you cover Moss, concede the short pass, stop the run and apply pressure and different looks to Brady, you’ll be able to slow down the New England offense. The question remains, though: is Kyle Boller able to keep the New England offense on the bench long enough to keep our defense fresh? Long enough to score the 34 points required to sniff a victory?

Vegas sure doesn’t think so — the visiting Patriots are 21 point favorites.

Reasons for optimism

• Baltimore is 3-1 at home on Monday Night Football. The last MNF home game was a December 19, 2005 rout of the Green Bay Packers, 48-3.
• Matt Stover is perfect on all 10 of his PATs, and is 11-of-14 on FGs.
• Samari Rolle has 5 of his 28 career picks on Monday Night Football. Let’s hope for some more Rolle magic!
• In 3 games played against the Patriots, Derrick Mason has 15 receptions for 193 yards (12.9 average). With 14 more receptions, Mason will crack 700 on his career. With 288 receiving yards, he’ll be sitting pretty with 9,000. Talk about an underrated receiver!
• Willis McGahee only needs 90 rushing yards to hit the 1,000 mark this season. Barring injury, I’d say that he’s got it locked up. McGahee is also 5th in the NFL in total yards from Scrimmage. The dude’s on pace to set a career high in rushing yards with 1,324 (previous high: 1,247 in 2005).

Reasons to punish your liver on Monday night

• Baltimore has never beat the New England Patriots. In 3 meetings, they have the dubious distinction of being 0-fer.
• We’re playing the Patriots. Ugh.
• The Ravens sit at a -11 turnover ratio. When playing games with a negative turnover ratio, the Ravens are a paltry 8-46.
• The Ravens are 0-2 in Monday Night Football contests in 2007. If it rains, well, forgetaboutit.
• The one strength the Ravens have — stopping the run — is the one part of the New England offense that isn’t utilized as much as with other teams.

Sweet Baby Ray

Ray Lewis needs 1 sack to reach 30 for his career. With 8 more tackles, he’ll roll over the odometer to 2,000 for his career. In 13 games against the Patriots, Ray has 26 tackles (17 solo). Hopefully he’ll blow up Brady…

Completely Reediculious stat of the day

Ed Reed is the only player in NFL history to score a return TD off a punt, blocked punt, INT and fumble recovery. Told you it was a way-out stat!

I’ve stuffed myself full of thanksgiving, family, friends and whiskey… and now I’m ready for some football!

Disappointment Bowl

In 2006, the Baltimore Ravens and San Diego Chargers produced the two best records in the NFL (14-2, 13-3, respectively). This season has been a huge disappointment, as the Ravens, losers of 4 in a row, sit at 4-6 and the Chargers, losers of 2 of their past 3, are an even .500 (5-5). Should the Ravens lose today, it would be the first 5-game losing streak in franchise history.

Where did things go awry for these two teams?

The dopes at ESPN think that the Ravens defense is the culprit. Granted, the defense is prone to give up the big play every now and again, but the unit hasn’t seen a consistent lineup since week 1, where after 6 turnovers, the defense still had the Ravens in a position to put away the Bengals. Injuries have taken their toll on the secondary and just when things are seemingly back to normal — BAM! — someone else goes down.

As for the Chargers, the same ESPN crew thinks that defense is also the reason for the Chargers demise. It’s possible… but maybe it’s also possible that the Chargers are coming back down to Earth. The thought of repeating a 14-2 season is just silly.

Ray Lewis: Quietly Dominating

Through 10 games, the ageless Ray Lewis has notched 139 tackles. This puts him on pace to reach the 200 tackle milestone for the 4th time in his career with 222 stops. To compliment his tackling, he’s also posted 2 interceptions (1 returned for a TD), 6 PDs, 1 sack, 1 FF and 1 FR on the season.

If Ray doesn’t get a Pro Bowl nod this season, something is seriously wrong.

Against the ‘Bolts…

• QB Kyle Boller has only faced San Diego once in his career, throwing for 98 yards and 1 TD. Let’s hope he can keep the turnovers down.
• WR Derrick Mason has squared off against San Diego 3 times in his career, hauling in 17 receptions for 149 and 1 TD.
• K Matt Stover has played 8 games against San Diego and is perfect in FGA (12/12) and PATs (14/14).
• OLB Terrell Suggs has played 2 games against the Chargers, notching 1 interception (the first of his pro career) and 1 sack.
• LB Ray Lewis has 80 tackles (51 solo) in 5 games against the ‘Bolts. The guy is nothing short of amazing.

Brutal Stretch Run

Baltimore plays New England on December 3, Indianapolis on December 9 and Pittsburgh on December 30. What do these four teams have in common? They are all ranked in the top five for records in November and December. Since 1999, Baltimore has compiled one of the NFL’s best records in the two month span. Here’s how they rank:

1. New England (46-21, .687 winning percentage)
2. Philadelphia (46-22, .676 winning percentage)
3. Indianapolis (46-25, .648 winning percentage)
4. Baltimore (44-25, .638 winning percentage)
5. Pittsburgh (44-26-1, .620 winning percentage)

Milestones

• With a mere 29 yards, LaDainian Tomlinson, the most exciting offensive player in football, can crack 10,000 for his career. He would be the 22nd player in league history to reach 10k yards and the fourth-fastest player to that milestone. He’s been a joy to watch, a joy to have on a fantasy team and a hilarious spokesperson for Vizio (”There. That’s bettah.”)
• Ray Lewis is 1 sack away from an even 30 for his career. With 23 tackles, he will hit the 2,000-career tackle milestone.
• Willis McGahee needs 149 rushing yards to crack 1,000 on the season. It would be the third time in his career (2004, 2005) that he passed 1k on the odometer.

Turnovers: delicious but deadly

(Apologies to Troy McClure)

Facts are facts: the Baltimore Ravens just plain stink this season when it comes to the takeaway/giveaway ratio. After owning a +17 in 2006, the Ravens currently sit at -9. The Chargers, on the other hand, are tied for second in the league with a +9 ratio. The ‘Bolts 17 interceptions lead the NFL.

Uh-oh.

So how costly are the offensive turnovers? Well, consider that for all 17 TDs the defense allowed, the average starting field position has been the Ravens’ 49-yard line. Further, of the 17 TDs allowed, 9 of those scores have come on drives that started at the 50-yard line or in Ravens territory. Of those 9 scores, the average starting field position has been the Ravens 31 yard line.

Prediction

I think the Ravens will ultimately fall to the Chargers, 24-10. I don’t think it’s possible for the Ravens to put 30 on the board again this season, and with the Chargers defense, I think Boller will have an especially difficult time completing passes and keeping the Ravens in the game. I’m expecting a typical Ravens game: the defense will keep the team in a position to win, the offense will be anemic at best and Matt Stover will put up more points than the Ravens offense. That said, I’m looking forward to a good, well played game.

Rather than bore you to death with the usual stats-laden game previews y’all have been accustomed to, I’m stuck doing some projects at work. If I have time Saturday, I’ll get to some key matchups, things I’ll be looking for and what have you… but for now, this is whatcha get.

Winless in the division

In my opinion, this is the most embarrassing part of the season. Yes, the Ravens - the reigning AFC North champions - are 0-fer in the division. Move over, Cleveland… there’s a new division door mat:

Willis to the rescue

“No doubt about it, we’ve got to give Steve [McNair] the support. I missed a block in the game. I fumbled. Those are two setbacks. He needs a supporting cast like everybody else needs a supporting cast. We’re better than what we’ve been putting out, from what we [had done] in training camp. We’ve got the potential, but we’re not following through. It’s everybody. We’ve got to be on the same page.”

McGahee’s quote tells me two things:

1. He’s on board with the Ravens… and won’t be a distraction like he was in Buffalo. Of course, being on pace for a career rushing year may have something to do with it, too.
2. He’s genuinely concerned with the lack of offensive output and obviously takes pride in his blocking — which was a knock against him in Buffalo.

Was Willis worth a 3rd round pick? Absolutely. I can’t wait to see what he does with the rest of the season (or when Billick starts to utilize his hands more as a receiver, either with a quick slant or a screen pass). Next year should be even more promising with the maturation of the offensive line.

Same injuries, different week

Injuries have proven to be our opponents’ 12th man. Last week’s game saw a patchwork secondary covering the Bengals reunited “big 3″ - Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chris “I didn’t do it!” Henry. It’s kind of hard to believe that we managed to keep the Carson Palmer-led attack out of the end zone for 60 minutes, but the defense somehow managed. Then again, when you can hold the ground game down with a well-placed foot on the throat, the playcalling can get really predictable.

What’s up with this week? Well, as of this writing, the secondary remains depleted. Reports from the Baltimore Sun suggest that All-Pro CB Chris McAlister (knee) could target the Browns game for a return, but I remain skeptical. The last thing I want to see is an aggravated injury to the only Ravens player that has any chance of stopping Randy Moss on December 3rd.

According to the Sun, CB Samari Rolle practiced today with the secondary. Good news! However, this frightened me:

The opening-day secondary of Reed, Rolle, cornerback Chris McAlister and strong safety Dawan Landry has not started together since Sept. 16 against the New York Jets.

Yikes.

The bottom line

These guys ain’t the same ‘ole Cleveland Browns. The Ravens found that out the hard way by falling behind 14-0 after the first quarter the last time the two teams clashed — a lead that Cleveland could take to the bank.

Unless Billick and the offense can start taking some end zone performance enhancing medication, we’ll be in for another long afternoon. With Boller under center, who knows how the chips will fall. Vegas sides with the Browns — they’re still 3.5 point favorites.

Like the classic Monty Python scene in The Holy Grail - “Bring out ya’ dead!” - this week’s injury report is a doosy.

CINCINNATI BENGALS at BALTIMORE RAVENS

CINCINNATI BENGALS

OUT (DEFINITELY WILL NOT PLAY)
Wednesday
T Willie Anderson (knee), LB Ahmad Brooks (groin)

Thursday
T Willie Anderson (knee), LB Ahmad Brooks (groin)

DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN PRACTICE
Wednesday
WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh (knee), S Herana-Daze Jones (knee), TE Reggie Kelly (knee), LB Caleb Miller (back), CB Deltha O’Neal (knee), LB Anthony Schlegel (back)

Thursday
WR Chad Johnson (neck), S Herana-Daze Jones (knee), TE Reggie Kelly (knee), LB Caleb Miller (back), CB Deltha O’Neal (knee), LB Anthony Schlegel (back), DT John Thornton (neck)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE
Wednesday
LB Rashad Jeanty (knee), WR Chad Johnson (neck), DT John Thornton (neck)

Thursday
LB Rashad Jeanty (knee)

FULL PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE
Thursday
WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh (knee)

BALTIMORE RAVENS

OUT (DEFINITELY WILL NOT PLAY)
Wednesday
CB Samari Rolle (illness)

Thursday
CB Samari Rolle (illness)

DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN PRACTICE
Wednesday
LB Terrell Suggs (knee), TE Daniel Wilcox (foot)

Thursday
CB David Pittman (head), LB Terrell Suggs (knee), TE Daniel Wilcox (foot)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE
Wednesday
LB Prescott Burgess (thigh), WR Yamon Figurs (knee), TE Todd Heap (thigh), CB Chris McAlister (knee), CB David Pittman (head), S Ed Reed (head), S Gerome Sapp (thigh)

Thursday
LB Prescott Burgess (thigh), WR Yamon Figurs (knee), TE Todd Heap (thigh), CB Chris McAlister (knee), S Ed Reed (head), S Gerome Sapp (thigh)

FULL PARTICIPATION IN PRACTICE
Wednesday
RB Willis McGahee (head), CB Jamaine Winborne (ankle)

Thursday
RB Willis McGahee (head), CB Jamaine Winborne (ankle)

I’m sick of all the rhetoric: just shut up and execute.

“Mostly I was using my arm. Now I can go ahead and make sure that I can follow through with the right techniques. As a quarterback, you’ve got to have the right techniques. When you’re hurt, you kind of lose those techniques and now that I’ve got them back, things will work out.”

- Steve McNair, on trying to play through a groin injury

That quote is rather telling. And not in a good way, either.

In a sport where the backup quarterback can be the most popular guy in town (see also: Kellen Clemens, Brodie Croyle, Trent Edwards, Brian Griese, Kyle Boller), it’s vital to the long-term success of a team for the starting Quarterback to sustain solid play over a stretch of crucial games. Unfortunately for the Ravens, this season hasn’t exactly worked out the way that Steve McNair - and Raven Nation - has hoped.

In Week 1 against the Bengals, McNair put the Ravens in a position to lose by fumbling the ball away and giving Cincinnati short fields to work with, resulting in a 27-20 defeat in front of a prime-time audience. Week 9 was a carbon-copy of that performance, only this time the Ravens were playing a Steelers defense that could actually shut down an opponent, and lost 38-7. The Ravens can further embarrass themselves on Monday Night Football on December 3rd, when they play yet another prime-time game against the perfect New England Patriots. Just like the Ravens are 0-3 in the division, they may also go 0-fer in the spotlight, further perpetuating the stereotype that they are a defense-only team.

Another telling quote came from the AP Game Preview, via Yahoo! Sports:

“It’s not the end of the world, it’s not the time to panic,” quarterback Steve McNair said. “We need to have a sense of urgency to get things going.”

You … what? If there was ever a sense of urgency to “get things going”, it was last week. And you blew it.

The Ravens have now been defeated by the 3 teams in the division and have fallen to third place, behind the new-look Cleveland Browns. With the lofty expectations a 13-3 season can bring, coupled with the brutal second half schedule, that proverbial fat lady is backstage warming up.

From the same Yahoo! game preview:

“I wouldn’t even know how to begin to characterize this,” Ravens coach Brian Billick said. “I’m just glad it’s a short week and we don’t have time to dwell on this.”

I’ll help you out, Brian: it was only the worst loss you’ve managed in Baltimore, and you should dwell on the game. It was a horribly lopsided loss where the team you were coaching got their butts handed to them. Further, the fact that the offense is averaging 243.8 total yards and 13 points in the last four games is frightening — that needs to be dwelled upon. Actually, screw dwelling — that’s a cry for help if I’ve ever seen one!

Apparently Billick has no plans to start Kyle Boller against the Bengals. That’s fine — but let’s not hold on to McNair if he starts sucking early and turns over the ball a lot. And for Godssakes, Brian, keep feeding Willis Andrew McGahee the rock. Even with a concussion, he should be able to hold onto the ball long enough to cross the goal line instead of fumbling it away deep in our zone!

I promise I’ll have a more detailed game preview up tomorrow — when I read the AP’s version, I just couldn’t help myself. The player/coach quotes were too much for me to pass up.

The Baltimore Ravens have yet to win a division game. The Browns and Bengals took it to the ‘Birds, and now it’s the Steelers turn to look for revenge for the shellacking they took last year.

The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time: the Ravens needed to get healthy and work on overcoming their fear of the Red Zone. Hopefully both problems will be ironed out and we can see a well played, injury free game.

“When you consider training camp, four preseason games and seven in the regular season, our bye came at a good time. We’ve been beat up, but there’s a chance that most, if not all of our injured players who have missed games, could be back by the time we get to Pittsburgh. And, what a great opportunity for the midpoint of the season. We’re playing for first place in our division, and it’s on a national stage… We’ll get two extra practices this week (Monday and Tuesday) before we gear up for the Steelers on Thursday.”

- Ravens head coach Brian Billick

The Quotable Bart Scott

On the atmosphere in a game between the Ravens and Steelers:
“It’s like going to a heavyweight fight. You’re going to get your money’s worth because both teams are going to stand in the middle of the ring and go toe to toe. We’re not carbon copies of each other, but we’re built the same and we have the same philosophy. We try to impose our physical will on each other. Whoever is left standing at the end, after all the power blows, is usually the team that wins.”

How did you get the nickname “Mad Backer?”
“The origin is Terrell Suggs. When I first started out, he would see me on special teams. I would always be coming off the field exchanging some words with somebody. He was like, ‘Why are you so mean? Why are you always mad? Man, you’re the Mac Backer.’ it kind of game off of the ‘Mad Rapper’ skits on the Bad Boy albums.”

Who is the toughest quarterback to bring down?
“Daunte [Culpepper] is pretty elusive and he’s pretty strong. I’ve watched guys hang on the top of him and he was still standing up. But, Ben [Roethlisberger] is hard, too. He’s big, he has long arms, and he’s a little nifty in the pocket. He’ll fight to stand up. I remember my first game on Monday Night Football, Halloween [in 2005]. I cam through and he kind of stiff-armed me and got the ball off anyway.”

Reasons for Optimism

• The Ravens have won 5 consecutive games following their bye week, and have a 6-2 record under coach Billick after the bye. The 5-straight games? @ New Orleans (2006, 52-22), New York Jets (2005, 13-3), Buffalo Bills (2004, 20-6), @ Arizona (2003, 26-18) and Denver (2002, 34-23).
• Baltimore has won 3 straight vs. the Steelers and 5 of the last 7 games played.
• Last season, the Ravens dismantled the Steelers in the two games played with a combined score of 58-7.
• 

Reasons for concern

• The Ravens are 4-4 on Monday Night Football, with a 0-1 record this season. Traditionally, Super Bowl XIV season aside, the Ravens have not fared too well on nationally televised games. If the forecast calls for rain, you can kiss this one good bye.
• The Steelers hold the 5th best home record in the NFL since 2000 (41-17-1, .695 winning percentage). The Ravens own a better mark - 45-14, .763 winning percentage - good for 1st in the NFL during the same time span.

Steelers Killers

• As pointed out numerous times by Neal over at Die Hard Steel, QB Steve McNair is Steelers kryptonite. In 15 games against the Black and Gold, McNair owns an 11-4 record. He is 237-of-382 passing for 2,849 yards with 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. The 21 touchdowns are tied for the most (Cincinnati) against a team in his career. Good to have him in the division, eh?
• TE Todd Heap has faced Pittsburgh 12 times, posting 47 receptions for 500 yards (10.6 average) and 2 touchdowns. Let’s hope he’s healthy enough to play — we don’t need TE Quinn Sypniewski dropping balls, do we?
• WR Derrick Mason has faced the Steelers 16 times, and has 55 receptions for 706 yards, good for the 3rd most against any team in the NFL.
• K Matt Stover bails out the Ravens more than any other player in the history of the organization. In 32 career games against Pittsburgh, he is 83.3% accurate (45 of 54) in FG attempts. The icing on the cake is that he’s perfect 55-of-55 in kicking PATs.
• LB Ray Lewis has played the Beams 18 times and has notched 226 tackles (12.5 average). He has 13 or more tackles in 10 games played. In addition to the tackles, he has 10 PD, 5.5 sacks (good for -30.5 yards) and an Interception.

Really odd stats

• The Ravens have posted at least 1 touchdown return in 4 of the last 5 contests after the bye week. In 2006, Ronnie Prude and Dawan Landry each returned an interception 12 yards for a touchdown against the Saints. In 2004, Deion Sanders (remember him?) returned a 48 yard interception for a touchdown against the Bills. In 2003, Chris McAlister returned an 83-yard interception for a touchdown against the Cardinals. Finally, in 2002, C-Mac busted out a 107-yard FG return for a touchdown on Monday Night Football against the Broncos.
• RB Willis McGahee has out-rushed every opposing running back the Ravens have faced. He is currently 3rd in the NFL with 639 yards heading into week 9. Willie Parker, on the other hand, is a helluva back and will provide quite the challenge for the Ravens. It’s a good thing the Ravens run defense is so suffocating!

The Ravens Touchdown Take

This will be the best game that nobody will know about outside of Baltimore and Pittsburgh. When the Patriots and Colts square off… everything else takes a back seat.

I’ll be watching the Monday Night Football game at the Caesar’s Palace Sports Book with my black Ed Reed alternate jersey and Ravens cap. I’ll have a drink in one hand and a fist full of tickets in the other.

Life is good.