Lonely down here, eh?

In what can only be described as “not shocking in the least bit” (if you’ve been watching the 2007 Ravens, you’ll know what I mean), the Ravens did the unthinkable and lost to the previously winless Miami Dolphins. In a game plagued with inconsistent QB play on both sides of the ball, Cleo Lemon (WHO?!) and the Miami Dolphins defense out-dueled the Baltimore Ravens in the second half, scoring 10 unanswered points in regulation, forcing Brian Billick to coach under pressure.

There were a lot of “what ifs” in this game.

What if Devard Darling held on to the ball on the long Boller completion (putting the Ravens in the Red Zone) instead of gift wrapping an early Christmas present interception?

What if Brian Billick decided to take one shot at the end zone with 12 seconds left in regulation instead of playing for the tie?

What if Stover hit the 44-yard field goal instead of hooking it wide?

What if we saw Troy Smith get his first NFL start? The team certainly seemed to respond favorably when Smith was inserted in the place of a concussed Kyle Boller…

Characater

In his post-game press conference, Billick trotted out the same old song and dance. It was so choreographed, in fact, that the stringers and beat writers have passed along the moves to future generations through a combination of rote and written word.

“I’ll bank on character anytime,” Billick said. “It doesn’t mean a lot to [the media] sometimes, but it does to me. I’ll count on character on this team.”

Perhaps instead of character, the team should take a good, long look in the mirror and realize that they just lost to an 0-13 team. Perhaps Billick should take a good, long look in the mirror and realize that he was beaten by Cam Cameron and Cleo Lemon, who last won a game in 2000 at Arkansas State.

Depth charge?

Lack of Depth in the secondary is killing this team. In 2005, when I was writing on The Purple Curtain (now Ravens Touchdown), I bagged an awful lot on Samari Rolle and his lack of shutdown ability. After seeing Cory Ivy and the patchwork secondary playing this season, I’ve got to eat a heaping plate of crow. The way the replacements are playing, Rolle and McAlister should be first ballot Hall of Famers…

Looking at the 2008 draft, the Ravens will have a high pick. Rather than take a quarterback, I suggest they look at cornerbacks. I’m no scout, but from the college games I’ve seen this year, I like what I saw from Ohio State’s Malcolm Jenkins (6-1, 202lbs, 4.50 40), Boston College’s DeJuan Tribble (5-9 1/2, 191lbs, 4.44 40), South Florida’s Mike Jenkins (6-0, 200lbs, 4.45 40) and USC’s Terrell Thomas (6-1 1/8, 201lbs, 4.45 40). At any rate, we need depth and we need it now.

With the quality pick we’ll no doubt have, I wouldn’t be surprised if we trade down a few spots and pick up a 3rd round pick to replace the one we sent to Buffalo for Willis McGahee. I’m sure we can find additional help in the later rounds — we haven’t had trouble in the past.

I will physically be at the NFL combine and NFL draft this year, so if you have plans to attend either one, let me know. Misery loves company.

Free Troy Smith

Kyle Boller has a concussion. He also has trouble unloading the ball under pressure. The season is lost — may as well start Troy Smith, right? You know, to see where we’re at for next year?

Unfortunately, I can see Billick naming Boller the starter for Week 16. I can see Smith’s public lobbying for going for the win in the waining seconds of the game being the reason why he’s benched in favor of a banged-up Boller. Sadly, the only way Smith starts is if Boller’s concussion is worse than originally diagnosed.

I noticed yesterday that the team - not just the offense - seemed to react positively when Smith came in to replace the injured Boller. Starting at the Ravens’ 40 yard line, Smith led one heck of a final drive of the game, completing 4-of-8 passes for 45 yards. He had good pocket presence, avoiding one sack and constantly throwing under pressure.

Welcome to Rock Bottom

Bart Scott nailed it with his post-game summary. When asked if this was the low point of the Ravens season, he said “Nope, it’s not a low point. It’s two bad football teams playing, and they won.”

If this isn’t the low point, I’ll hate to see what Scott says after losses to Seattle and Pittsburgh.

Derrick Mason had a different take.

“You want me to be truthful? I just laughed,” Mason said of the moment yesterday when he and the Ravens realized that this wasn’t a nightmare, that they were wide awake, that they had lost to an 0-13 team.

“I couldn’t do anything but laugh, just laugh and sit on the bench,” Mason added, then paused. “Try to embrace it all, and go from there.”

With today’s loss to the winless Dolphins, it’s official: the Ravens really suck. This game should not have sniffed overtime — it should have been put away in the first half. Boy howdy, do the Ravens suck.

In fact, they suck more than…

• Frida the snaggle-toothed whore.
• A red wine hangover.
• Kyle Boller.
• Getting shirts, socks and underwear for Christmas.
• Those “He went to Jared!” commercials. (Seriously. Do you really think that a chick is gonna drop because you got some crappy diamond chips?)
• Getting your balls accidentally zipped up in your pants.
• Cory Ivy.
• Running out of toilet paper after eating Indian food.
• Boy bands.
• My local NBC affiliate who thinks that it’s okay to preempt My Name Is Earl or The Office so they can broadcast a Lutheran Senior Services half hour infomercial.
• Brian Billick’s playcalling.
• Hippies.
• Curt Shilling’s attention-whore tendencies.
• Losing 8 games in a row.
• Getting paper cuts on your tongue while licking envelopes.
• Subway’s Jared.
• The vote of confidence that Biscotti eventually gave Billick. C’mon dude, we just lost to a winless team!
• Steve McNair’s groin.
• Every Peyton Manning commercial we’ve all had to endure over the past 4 years.
• Bluetooth guy.
• Calling a full compliment of time outs on the same set of downs. Sure could have used those in the last few seconds of regulation, eh, Brian?
• Bad snaps and wide field goal kicks.

We are now in sole possession of the longest losing streak in the NFL. Hoo-ray.

Well, it just gets worse for the Baltimore Ravens. I’ll be honest - going into this game, I thought it had all the makings of a classic letdown. When you combine the out-of-this-world level of play against the most elite team in the NFL last week with the lofty expectations to repeat said effort against the team that bounced the Ravens out of the playoffs in 2006, you’re due for a letdown.

With starting cornerbacks Chris McAlister and Samari Rolle sidelined with injuries, you had a sneaking suspicion that the Cory “Webster” Ivy and David Pittman wouldn’t be able to slow down the Marvin Harrison-less Colts receivers. Sure enough, thanks to a 5 turnover performance from Kyle Boller (4, plus the intercepted 2pt. conversion if you want to count that), Peyton Manning had a short field to go with his long face, picking apart coverage and finding paydirt time and time again.

As we like to do here at Ravens Touchdown, I’ve put together a list of the Good, the Bad and the downright miserably Ugly.

The Good

• It looks like we’ve got a return game again. Yamon Figurs burned off a return to the house for the first Ravens score of the game, saving fantasy owners everywhere who are wondering why they drafted the Baltimore Ravens D/ST.
• Troy Smith got his first look at the NFL. His “get your feet wet” play was a handoff. His second was a completed pass. Eventually, Troy ran his way into the End Zone for a quick, 6-yard score. He won over a lot of fans by: 1) not turning over the ball; 2) actually scoring a touchdown; 3) scrambling out of the pocket and throwing downfield under pressure.
• I don’t know if it was the rain, the fines or a closed door meeting, but the penalties were down. 2 penalties for 15 yards? No way! We’re not even in the triple digits in penalized yardage. That ain’t fair!
• We’re done with prime-time games this season. No more brutal losses to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, New England or Indianapolis in front of a national audience who now think the Ravens suck.

The Bad

• Willis McGahee had a really bad game. I’m not sure if it was due to lack of effort, Tony Dungy’s Tampa-2 defense, or the fear of Big Bob Sanders blowing up his knee, but it looked like he was playing hurt (aggravated toe) or scared from about the middle of the second quarter onward.
• It really looked like Ray Lewis and Bart Scott had trouble keeping Joseph Addai in check. If he was pitched a ball and ran for the outside, the linebackers didn’t stand a chance at bringing him down. I’ll also give credit where it’s due: the Colts offensive line was throwing great blocks.
• Brian Billick obviously needed to keep throwing the ball to stay in the game, but I felt that he hung on to Kyle Boller for a few scores too many. After the half, it was reported (in game) that Billick wouldn’t play Smith unless “Boller was hurt.” If egos and psyche count, Boller went down harder than Ricky Hatton after a Floyd Mayweather combo.

The Ugly

• Kyle Boller. One step forward, four steps back. After playing the game of his career, Boller painted the Ravens into a corner by turning over the ball 3 times in the first quarter, en route to a 27.1 QB rating and rather large deficit. Nearing the half, the Ravens had passed for 8 net yards. Downright brutal.
• I realize they’re not natural corners, but Pittman and Ivy got blown up. Ivy, listed in the media guide at 5′ 9″, was no match for Anthony Gonzalez (6′ 0″) or Reggie Wayne (6′ 0″), and Pittman’s lack of actual game experience (2nd year) really showed (stop biting on play fakes, dude!). And where was Ed Reed? With the two staring corners out, it was Reed’s responsibility to direct traffic and make plays.
• It’s now 7 straight losses. Does anyone think the Ravens can beat the Miami Dolphins?

Much is being made about the time out that Rex Ryan called when facing 4th-and-1 on Monday evening.

Rex Ryan’s transcript is available on the Ravens Central blog at the Baltimore Sun. Want to climb into the thought process of a NFL Defensive Coordinator with the game on the line against the New England Patriots? Here you go:

“All right everybody, I think I’ll take a timeout first, because everybody wants to talk about it. I’d like to talk about that first. It’s my job as a defensive coordinator to put our players in the best defense possible to stop what we feel is going to happen.

“In most situations, Tom Brady is the master at that, you can do your work, you can go back and study like I did, spend as much time as I do, and know the tendencies of a football team. And if you do that, you’ll see why I called the timeout. We have our speed team on the field at the time, which is only one defensive tackle, then we have all linebackers and defensive backs filling out the other 10 spots. And obviously, if they’re going to run a sneak and you know it’s going to be a sneak, you probably don’t want that personnel grouping on the field.

“If I would’ve had a crystal ball, I would’ve obviously left that group on the field and won the game by stopping it like we did. I don’t believe Brady when he said he could’ve made the first down. Our guys did a great job, Ray [Lewis] made a heck of a play in there, but we get the timeout and then we come back and we get the people we want on the field and Belichick knows he can’t run the sneak against that front, so he ends up going to the next run and I believe we hit it for a 2-yard loss.

“Now, nothing has been said, I’m sure the guy never jumped on purpose, but that’s the way it goes. But hey, I’ve got skin like an armadillo, I can take it, but I think it’s kind of foolish for people to put it on me. They must not know the game. If they studied half as much as I did, they’d realize that we needed to put a different personnel grouping on there. I haven’t heard anybody talk about we only had one defensive tackle on the field, so it’s fine.”

So there you have it. Skin like an armadillo. That’s our Rex! For the record, I strongly feel that Rex made the right call. Just because we were able to see the outcome of the play doesn’t mean that we can whine about what happened. With hindsight being 20/20 and all, it’s easy to say it was a mistake. However, what would have happened had Brady got everyone to the line quickly and pushed through for a first down? We’d be bitching that we had the wrong personnel on the field.

Take that, TBS.

Via Yahoo!

NEW YORK (AP) — The New England Patriots’ pursuit of an undefeated season continues to draw viewers.

Their dramatic comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night attracted the largest audience ever for a cable program. The game on ESPN averaged more than 12.5 million homes and 17.5 million viewers.

The previous highs were 11.8 million households for last year’s Giants-Cowboys “Monday Night Football” game and 17.2 million viewers for Disney Channel’s “High School Musical 2″ movie in August.

So 12.5 million people saw the Ravens act like babies.  Cool?

First, let me make something crystal clear: I don’t ever want to blame the outcome of games on officiating. However, I would like to point out to all of the crybaby New England princesses flooding both the Baltimore Sun and this very blog with whiny comments about how the Ravens secondary was “mugging” the Pats receivers that Matt Light and the New England offensive line could put out an instructional video entitled “How to stop a blitz by grabbing onto anything you can to impede a player from applying pressure to a quarterback”. Hell, maybe the 2001 Patriots wide receivers could put out a “How to beat defensive backs downfield by hand-checking and pushing off en route to a Super Bowl victory” video (directed by Michael Bay, of course).

Maybe I can make an instructional video about run-on sentences and not using proper syntax while inebriated. But I digress.

The Time Out

Much is being made about the time out. For the delusional Ravens fans who want to see Billick fired, I don’t believe he was the one who called it. ESPN showed a replay of Rex Ryan going over to an official and calling for the time out, thus negating the biggest stop of the game. It’s also worth noting that Ryan probably called the time out because he saw the personnel on the field and wanted to make an adjustment. Who knew that the Ravens defense would not only stop the Patriots, but drop them for a loss?

Hindsight is 20-20, and getting mad because we saw the outcome is a cop-out.

Sour Grapes

David Steele of the Baltimore Sun is right to a point — while the final minutes of the 4th quarter was technically a collapse, I’m afraid that he’s painting with the hyperbole brush, and he ain’t no Van Gogh. With one possession to go and a track record of winning games in the final drive, who else didn’t see that coming? We should be lucky as fans that we didn’t get blown out like Vegas thought — remember, we were 20 point UNDERDOGS at home.

I’d like to touch on the officiating for a bit (remember: not yelling, just telling). ESPN’s Mike Sando has some quotes from the Ravens locker room right after the game. First, WR Derrick Mason:

“I’m going to take it back to last game. San Diego. Quinn Sypniewski runs down the field, runs into one of their DBs, we catch the ball and they call offensive pass interference. OK. Great. This game, same thing happens. Randy Moss runs right into Samari Rolle. They call defensive pass interference. I don’t understand that. One game it’s called one way, the next game it’s called another way. At the end, you have a phantom call. That’s why it’s hard to play and win a game when you are playing against more than just the best team in the NFL.”

Mason on whether the refs can get caught up in talk of an undefeated season:

“I think everybody can get caught up. You should have heard some of the verbal blasts we were taking from the refs. It was just despicable. They don’t want us to say anything to them, but they treat us like we’re little kids out there, saying anything they want to say. As players, we can’t say anything back. We can’t report it to anybody because it’s our word against theirs. But you have to give it up to New England. They did what they had to do. They scored at the end and that’s all you can ask of a team.”

Everyone’s favorite “-izzle”, Terrell Suggs chimes in:

“Everybody is kind of cheering for them to go undefeated and break all the records. They called them the greatest offense on earth. So who knows? … They made one more play than us and they got a little help.”

“It’s kind of the feeling of the 2001 tuck rule. It kind of feels like the tuck rule. That is the NFL for you, man. When they got a guy like that that is selling a lot of tickets, you want to keep him selling tickets.”

And Pro Bowler Chris McAlister:

“They get a lot of calls. I’ll say that. We’ve been watching film on them all week and I mean, they do get a lot of calls. As far as the NFL wanting them to win, you can’t totally not think about it in those terms.”

And Willis McGahee:

“I felt like we played our hearts out tonight and got some bogus calls, but it is what it is.”

What call bothered McGahee the most?

“Shhh. Pass interference, the holding on [Jamaine] Winborne. There was a lot. I can’t even remember them all.”

And before you New England homers start blasting me for posting comments about officiating from Ravens players, Mike Vrabel was in on it, too:

A few hundred yards down the corridor that connects the locker rooms here, some New England players were also voicing their displeasure with the officiating. In fact, Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel screamed obscenities at the officiating crew as it exited the field.

Also, let’s not forget that Tom Brady was whining for pass interference calls every time a play was broken up or someone was covered. Really classy, eh? Is that what champions do?

Bart Scott’s meltdown

I’m not sure how to attribute a source to this, but I found it on the Extreme Ravens forums:

Scott was assessed two 15-yard fouls following the winning touchdown, one of which came when he picked up a penalty flag and heaved it into the stands. He was so upset after the game that he could barely speak. Cornerback Samari Rolle contended that one game official had used a demeaning term in addressing him, and claimed he planned to contact his attorney about it. Biting off his words in a curt interview session, Billick agreed that “evidently” a few calls went against his upset-minded team.

If this is the case - that Bart Scott and Samari Rolle were addressed using demeaning terms - then those officials should be fined and suspended without pay.

As for Scott, I will give him this: I’ve never seen a player throw a flag as hard as he did. When he hangs ‘em up after his Pro Bowl career, I’d suggest he picks up either a baseball or a javelin.

Advice for the Steelers

Normally I don’t like to help out division rivals, but this is the rare exception. Here is a foolproof plan to defeat the Patriots:

1. Hire Bill Cowher’s jaw to angrily bark at officials during the game. Maybe - just maybe - you’ll have a chance.
2. Suit up your practice squad QB. If two backups can take the Patriots defense back behind the shed, just imagine if you start a third-stringer!
3. Rub olive oil, grease and baby oil all over the defensive linemen’s jerseys. You may be able to escape the clutching and grabbing and crash Brady’s pocket party.
4. Take all the money you’ve made selling those ridiculous towels this season and start a trust fund for the officials.
5. Don’t bother showing up to the game. You’ll just be disappointed 3 hours later.
6. Buy the biggest bottle of Knob Creek you can find and keep drinking it. That’s what I did. It helps to ease the pain of the vicious ass-raping you’ll no doubt endure.
7. In the event you do defeat the Patriots next Sunday, take a giant deuce on the 50 yard line.

Well, there you have it. Ravens fans, I welcome your comments. Patriots fans, flame on.

Believe it or not, there were a lot of positives to come out of the loss. However, as noted
earlier, there were also plenty of things about the loss that really hacked me off.  Try as I may, I still can’t shake this one out of my system.  Allow me to vent…

The Good

• First and foremost, the offense actually came alive in the second half. Led by the bastard child of Grizzly Adams and the Bearded Lady, the Ravens poured it on for 368 total net yards of offense. I know, I know! Holy crap!
• I have had an issue of The Sporting News with a second half NFL preview. I say “had” because it’s now sitting in a large pile in a landfill, where it rightfully belongs. The clueless author wrote that “In order for the Ravens to succeed, MLB Ray Lewis will need to elevate his game.”

  Say what?

  Ray Lewis has been playing at an insane level all year long. Let’s not forget that the guy tore his triceps in Week 1 and has managed to either lead the team in tackles each game or come really damn close. His play this season surely punches his ticket to Hawaii. He’s an absolute beast.His play on Sunday was outstanding. What more could you ask for out of a defensive leader? He notched 16 tackles, including an open-field dandy, and returned a pick to the house. That’s why my Sporting News subscription is in serious jeopardy.

• Willis McGahee continued to prove that he belongs. His blocking has improved from week to week, and with the exception of a missed block that sent a Boller pass screaming a bit high to Mason in the first half, he’s been rock solid helping to buy more time for which ever QB has been under center. Oh, and did I mention that he cracked 100 again?
• I can’t believe I’m going to type this, but the Ravens only had 2 penalties for 15 yards. No early jumps for either line, no bone-headed plays (except for Haloti Ngata stupidly throwing a punch to a guy wearing a helmet - c’mon, dude… you need those hands!). Just a well-executed game all around.

The Bad

• Kick-gate: Look, I can’t disagree with the officials. They got the call right in the end. I wasn’t happy with it then and I’m still not happy with it now… but those are the breaks. I would be even more upset if the kick wasn’t good but they ruled it good anyway. We wouldn’t of have a review then, either. But, be that as it may, it was a crummy way to force overtime.

  Again, I’m not upset that the officials got the call correct in the end; however, that doesn’t change the fact that the call is not reviewable. The Ravens had defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

• Ian Eagle and Solomon Wilcots… can you please tone down your anti-Ravens agenda? It’s making me sick. During the comeback in the second half, Dumb and Dumber acted surprised with each Ravens completed pass, first down and touchdown. To be honest, I was surprised that we were able to score, too — but c’mon, at least be impartial. They did everything short of taking turns blowing Anderson during commercial breaks…
• You knew the “Genius” label would be his undoing, but Brian Billick’s playcalling was horrible. With the game on the line, why not go for the easiest possible way to notch the victory? It certainly isn’t two passing plays when all you need is 1 yard. C’mon. Here’s what he had to say about it:“We were on the 30 on a cold damp night, we have a lot of faith in Matt Stover. We were trying to get the yardage and we had a little out route that kind of got away from us. Had we completed that, the idea was by the nature of the route, if caught, would have bought us another five, six, seven yards and gotten out of bounds and allowed us another call if we chose to. Didn’t turn out that way and fortunately Matt came in and hit it. You’ve got to hope that you can cover kicks well enough and make that a longer field that it doesn’t allow a team to come back. Obviously we didn’t get that done.’’

  No sh*t, Sherlock.

The Ugly

• How about the anemic offense in the first half?  Simply brutal.  As noted numerous times on this blog, they may as well change the Ravens logo to a silhouette of a punter.  The Baltimore 3-and-outs.  They can play their home games at the fumbledome.
• The Ravens fell to 0-5 in the division.  Meanwhile, the Steelers and Bengals lost (to the Jets and Cardinals, respectively), allowing the Browns to creep ever-so-close to the big boys table.  I’m impressed with the Browns, but that’s two season sweeps at the hands of Ohio.  And I hate Ohio (with the exception of Skyline. — that place rules).
• Kyle Boller’s beard.  Seriously, dude… what the hell is going on.  You’re a mountain man with a mountain plan:
  

Imagine the following scenario: 3rd and 1. McGahee’s been moving the ball well all day. Boller’s grabbed a first down on a lunge in a previous offensive series. The drive has managed to chew up all but 35 seconds on the clock in the 4th quarter.

… all the Ravens have to do is get a fresh set of downs and leave just enough time on the clock for a Stover game winner.

Billick instead elects to call a quick out to Quinn Sypniewski, which fell incomplete, to bring in Stover on 4th and 1 to kick the go-ahead points. The Browns then had 26 seconds to get into Dawson range - which they did - and managed to set up the most bizarre bounce I’ve ever seen on a field goal.

I’ll get to my thoughts on kick-gate in a bit. But first, the playcalling. Oh, the agony!

Why in the wide world of sports did Billick decide to defy convention and not go for the first down the easy way? Let’s say that he calls on Boller or McGahee (or even Musa Smith) to power through for a yard and he falls short. The worst thing that could happen is the clock continues to roll, it’s 4th-and-1 and Cleveland stops the clock with a time out. You’ve probably shaved a good 5 - 8 seconds off the clock and could trim even more away on the Stover field goal. When the ball is kicked off, the Browns would have under 20 seconds to move the ball into Phil f*cking Dawson coin-toss-will-he-or-won’t-he range.

From the NFL Game Center:

Okay. Let’s timeshift: 1st and 10 on the Cleveland 43. Let’s shave 8 seconds off the clock as noted above — (:18). Anderson passed short right to Jurevicius for a 6 yard gain. The ball is now at the Cleveland 49, and the pass play took :15 off the clock. The Browns naturally call a time out to stop the clock and regroup. Cleveland has 3 seconds to hit the end zone because not even Pele had the leg to muscle one from 60+ in swirling winds. Sure, Cleveland’s strategy would have changed as the clock dictated, but the Ravens — and especially Chris McAlister — were shutting down the deep threats. The outcome of this game rested squarely on Billick’s shoulders… and it could have been one of the lone bright spots in this otherwise dismal season.

I know there are a lot of “what ifs” in the above scenario, but the playcalling really had me scratching my head. It was if Billick hadn’t learned his lesson from the other two boneheaded games he called (Jets, Bills). My sincere hope is that we tap an offensive coordinator in the offseason with the balls to tell Billick to hand over the playbook and headset and concentrate on game management.

What do you think? How would you have called things differently?

When I got my first ‘real’ job, I started to tuck away money into a 401k. After a few years of stocking the account with as much pre-tax contributions as I could afford, I wanted to test the waters in the investment world. I met with my father’s financial adviser and received the best cautionary advice anyone could give:

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

I got to thinking last night… that advice also applies to the 2007 Ravens. Specifically, in that it may be time to sit QB Steve McNair and part ways with coach Brian Billick’s plays/play-calling. Oh, and let’s take away his challenge flag while we’re at it.

McNair had a stellar 2006 campaign, leading the Ravens to a 13-3 season, but has been absolutely abysmal this year the few times he’s been healthy enough to start. It’s really easy to call for the backup QB from the comfort of your favorite watering hole or couch, but Billick’s reluctance to pull the embattled McNair in favor or Kyle Boller is baffling. The times that Boller has played, he filled in admirably.

Let me be really clear: Boller is NOT the answer. However, when the alternative is trotting out an aging, butter-fingered QB on the downslide of his career, the decision becomes nearly automatic — you have to start the player that gives your team the best chance to win. By sticking with McNair, Billick is setting up the team to fail.

The Ravens are now 0-4 in the division, and have lost to some colossally bad teams (Buffalo, anyone?). By defeating the Browns on Sunday, the Steelers have officially opened up a sizable division lead en route to the AFC North crown. Yesterday’s game was a must-win. Instead, it was an embarrassment.

Defense of the Defense

This is the second week in a row that the stingy Ravens defense has been given the daunting task of playing with their backs to the wall — and I’m not talking about the injuries to our starting cornerbacks. Costly turnovers gift wrapped perfect field position to the Bengals, who couldn’t punch the ball in to save their lives. Of course, when Cincinnati needed to get into Shayne Grahm’s range, they could.

If I’m Ray Lewis, Ed Reed or Bart Scott, I’m getting really tired of this. I’d hate to be sitting on the wrong end of the divided locker room…

I feel cheated

Sundays are for Ravens football, plain and simple. I plan my entire day around a 3 hour chunk of time. I turn off my phone, I disconnect. However, the past few weeks, all I’ve wanted to do is watch other football games. Each week, Monday Night Football withstanding, there have been better games being played with other teams in the same time slot… like Dallas/New York (Giants), for instance.

I just can’t bring myself to change the channel. No matter how bad the Ravens are playing, I’m glued to the game.  I can’t wait for Baltimore to finally have a league-average offense!

What can be done?

I’ve got a few low-impact suggestions that could significantly alter the rest of the season:

• Take away the playcalling duties from Billick so he can concentrate on game management.
• Slowly work in a few new plays in practice, altering the playbook a little — after all, it’s rather stale and the Patriots already have it on film.
• Feed Willis the rock as much as possible. He’s been the only consistent offensive player. Don’t just talk about doing it — actually DO IT.
• Get Mike Anderson involved. His running style compliments McGahee’s.
• Bench McNair in favor of Kyle Boller. Give him next week’s game against the Browns to get his feet wet before the brutal stretch against the Chargers, Patriots and Colts.
• Admit that this season is a wash and look for a franchise QB in the draft (Brian Brohm? Matt Ryan?).

I’m all ears — why don’t you comment about the state of the Ravens offense and what you’d do to improve it? If I like the suggestions, I’ll highlight ‘em in a future post.

This particular YouTube gem was recorded after the week 1 debacle in Cincinnati on Monday Night Football… but still holds true today.  

Enjoy.