It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win and the Ravens are headed to New England for the AFC Championship. Though road games haven’t been their area of expertise this season (see Jacksonville) and they looked sloppy against T.J. (frickin) Yates, you have to be impressed with these 53 mighty mighty men.
Sunday’s 20-13 win against the Texans was a hard fought struggle that at one point looked like it was in complete control by the Ravens. But it ended up coming down to a Hail Mary at the end of the game that allowed Baltimore to make the trek to Foxboro to face Bill Belichick and the Pats.
2012 brings TONS of news so here are some of the topic that the guys discussed on the show.
Ravens head into postseason with great chance of Super Bowl run – The guys discuss if Baltimore has what it takes to make it to Indianapolis in February and ponder their path to Super Bowl 46.
Any chance Cam Cameron gets fired? – With fans STILL hoping that the Ravens offensive coordinator will lose his job, the guys discuss just how unlikely it will be that he will be fired.
I became an even bigger Terrell Suggs fan in 2011. The guy seems to be the glue that has held the defense together through Ray Lewis and Haloti Ngata’s injuries, has been wreaking havoc in backfields all season long and though sometimes he can be loud, I’ve never disagreed with his opinions.
Looking to secure their first AFC North Division Championship since 2006 with a victory, the Baltimore Ravens traveled to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals in front of a mostly-Bengal crowd that had trouble selling out the game earlier in the week. Not to mention, a loyal legion of Ravens fans making the trip to the Queen City for the New Year’s Day tilt, but also by Pittsburgh Steelers fans who made the trip to Cincinnati - buying up a number of tickets the Bengals could not sell to their own fans – hell bent on seeing the possibility of the Ravens choking away their grasp of the division lead.
But it was never to be.
The Ravens went to their strength, running the football effectively and the defense made stops when called upon, leading to a 24-16 victory at Paul Brown Stadium in front of 63,439 fans. The game felt like a playoff game and the Ravens treated it as such, clinching their third AFC North title in team history. The Ravens secured the much-needed first-round bye and a home playoff game - a first in the John Harbaugh era - something that both he and Ravens players stated before the season was important to them. READ MORE >>>
The Baltimore Ravens entered their final home game of the 2011 season looking to make franchise history against their divisional opponent, the Cleveland Browns. The chance to wrap up the home schedule with an 8-0 record hung in the balance, giving them the distinction of becoming the first team in the 16-year history of the franchise to finish with a perfect home record. The Ravens wanted to deliver not only an early Christmas present to the fans on Christmas Eve, but also to send a message to not be counted out after the loss to the San Diego Chargers.
The Ravens breezed through the first half leading 17-0 as the Cleveland Browns showcased some of the worst coaching and mis-managing of the game clock in NFL history. The Ravens were aided by the Browns having exactly zero timeouts when they received the ball back for the final time of the 1st half. Driving the distance of the field, Browns RB Peyton Hillis was stopped for no gain at the 3-yard line and without a timeout, the Browns and their head coach Pat Shurmur could only watch in disbelief as time expired in the half.
With the way the Browns had played in the 1st half, one would think the airplane taking the team back to Cleveland would be fired up and on stand-by at BWI-Thurgood Marshall Airport, but they actually made a game out of it and the Ravens at times, seemed to almost want the Browns to get back into the game.
Very questionable play-calling and lack of execution by the Ravens in the 2nd half and a couple of long drives by Cleveland brought the Browns to within six points after TE Evan Moore caught a six-yard TD from QB Seneca Wallace to cut the Ravens lead to 20-14. The Ravens bent all game, but didn’t break as they looked at a 4th and 2 at the Cleveland 37-yard line. True to form, the Browns promptly shot themselves in the foot that held open the door of opportunity in this game.
After Joe Flacco barked out a few hard counts, somehow he lured Browns’ defensive tackle Phil Taylor off-sides on a play the Ravens were never actually going to get off. The penalty gave the Ravens a first down and after running out the clock on the next three plays, gave them a 20-14 victory, their eighth straight win against Cleveland in front of 71,083 fans at M&T Bank Stadium.
The Baltimore Ravens packed up their playoff hopes and dreams and headed west to a not-so-warm San Diego to face the Chargers on Sunday night. Before the start of the game, because of losses by the Tennessee Titans and Oakland Raiders, the Ravens locked in their 4th-straight appearance in the NFL playoffs; a franchise record. But after that news, little went right for a team with so much on the line and destiny laying in the palm of their collective hands.
A win over San Diego would have kept the Ravens one step ahead of divisional rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC North division as well as the potential of having the top seed in the AFC Playoffs with home field advantage. But those dreams, at least after Week 15, came crashing down in the Ravens 34-14 loss to the Chargers at Snapdragon Stadium.
The Ravens were thoroughly out-worked by the Chargers in all facets of this game: Offensively, defensively and coaching. San Diego didn’t roll over and play dead just because their opponent had stamped a ticket to the playoffs before this game even started. In fact, that may have given the Chargers some extra pep in their step because they themselves were not out of the AFC Playoff picture with a 6-7 record.
Road games in December are extremely important to a team aspiring to be champions and now may be the only way this team gets to the Super Bowl. There’s enough talent on both sides of the ball to still get there, but simply put, the Ravens must take care of business the rest of the way and hope for a slip-up by the Steelers on Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers.
When the National Football League released its 2011-12 schedule in early April, the 13th game of the season was marked on the calendar for both the Ravens and the fans in a number of ways.
The game gave Ravens fans another opportunity to voice their disapproval of that team from Indianapolis who left Baltimore for good on a snowy night in March of 1984. Another reason being the potential magnitude of the game itself and also the star power each team boasts. The Ravens heart and soul at LB Ray Lewis and Colts QB Peyton Manning on the opposite side. A late season, cold-weather, road-test in a noisy M&T Bank Stadium had both teams dreaming of playoff implications.
But going into this game, those things did not come to fruition. Both Lewis and Manning sat out the game because of their respective injuries. It was safe to say network TV execs weren’t exactly salivating about a Jameel McClain vs. Dan Orlovsky match-up. READ MORE >>>
NFL commentators love to chastise teams for “looking ahead,” like it’s some sort of mortal sin. Coaches and players play into this fear and deny looking ahead fervently whenever it’s brought up. A team could be playing the reincarnation of the ’85 Bears in two weeks and would deny looking past the Colts. This dovetails alongside another NFL taboo: disrespect. Looking ahead is really just a roundabout form of disrespecting another NFL team, which is somehow okay to do openly (like stomping on a Terrible Towl or mocking the Mile High Salute), but a big no-no to do subtly (like admitting you didn’t spend all week watching Dan Orlovsky tape).
Embrace the truth: Baltimore is playoff football team. Let’s act like we’ve been there before. There’s no need to apologize for success. Lest we forget, we’ve “been there” quite a bit. In fact, this will be the 8th time in 16 tries the Ravens have tasted postseason football. There’s no need for code words, gag orders, or fears of jinxes. The regular season heavy lifting is over, with the final 25% commencing on Sunday at the Bank. The Ravens are effectively in the playoffs.
After a couple rough matchups Joe Flacco looks to takeoff this week.
Despite tallying two wins, its been a tough couple weeks for Fu Manchu zealot, Joe Flacco. The past two weeks, Flacco has only thrown for a combined 319 yards and one touchdown. Furthermore, he has tallied one flop-of-the game award from Ravens enthusiast Bill Barnwell. To be fair, the passing offense has faced the San Francisco 49ers, who Football Outsiders rank as the eighth-best pass defense, and the Cleveland Browns, who Ray Rice was too busy running all over for Cam Cameron to even bother with the passing game. So if there was ever a time for the Ravens passing offense to shine, its this Sunday against the Colts. The Colts enter the game with the worst pass defense according to Football Outsider’s DVOA and I would expect Cameron to pick on the Colts secondary relentlessly.
While the Ravens passing offense looks to get healthy, the Indianapolis Colts defense is reeling. Not only do the Colts sport a league worst 0-12 record but on Monday, they officially announced that Jerraud Powers and Terence Johnson were placed on injured reserve. Powers was the best corner in the Colts secondary, which is kinda like being the most fit guy at the Golden Corral. Furthermore, on Tuesday night rookie Drake Nevis was also placed on I.R. Much like Powers in the secondary, Nevis was the only defensive tackle who was playing at a serviceable level for the Colts in 2011.
More thoughts on the game and the NFL playoffs after the break. READ MORE >>>
The Ravens are a team on a mission and on Sunday they proved that anyone standing in their way will be eliminated, embarrassingly. Baltimore steam rolled through Cleveland with an impressive 24-10 win against the Browns in a game that they dominated on both sides of the ball. With Ray Lewis on the sideline, Baltimore got the monkey off their back and beat a lowly opponent coming off a big win in the Harbowl on Thanksgiving.
Here are my thoughts on the game:
Run Ray Run - I think we’re going on three straight weeks without a complaint about Cam Cameron’s play calling. On a dreary day in Cleveland (I think they’re all like that) the Ravens stuck with the ground game and it paid off. Ray Rice rushed for a career high 204 yards in a game in which the Ravens called more running plays, 52, than ever before in their history. The Ravens totaled 293 yards on the ground, the third most in a single game in their team history. Seeing Rice slash through the Browns defense was liking watching the Jamal Lewis days of old.
O-line stays strong - Part of the success that Rice and Ricky Williams had on the ground can be credited to another fantastic game by the big guys up front. I sung their praises a week ago and I stand by it. The offensive line has gelled during the second half of the season, the left side looked particularly strong against the Browns and Vonta Leach paved the way for Rice to do his thing and out run the linebackers and safeties. It’s a blast to watch.
Hi guys! I’m Lindsey, I’ve been with the BSR team for about a month and a half now and this is my Fave Five! Every Saturday I’ll be bringing you a Top 5 list somehow related to the Baltimore sports world, mixed in with a little fun and charm.
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This week’s theme relates mildly to the beauty that was the Ravens’ Week 12 win over the 49ers. I’m not that big of a fan of facial hair, but I am a fan of adventure.
It’s been a couple weeks since we’ve had a problem with Cam Cameron. Half of that can be credited to the extra three days off that the Ravens had after playing on Thanksgiving and the other has been that Cam has actually called some decent games.
Even with the balanced game plans, Ravens running back Ray Rice threw out a friendly reminder to the Ravens offensive coordinator that he does in fact like getting the ball and that it is beneficial to the entire team when he does.
“Putting our defense out there fresh is a great scenario for us, whether it’s flipping fields or getting points,” Rice said crediting the running game for keeping the Ravens D off the field.
One of the most epic parts about watching the Ravens beat the 49ers on Thanksgiving was seeing Joe Flacco lead Baltimore to victory while sporting an epic Fu Manchu mustache.
Not only did the Ravens walk out of the locker room on Turkey Day sporting their awesome black uniforms, but Cam Cameron’s beard reappeared while Flacco and tight end Dennis Pitta sported sweet new mustaches.
If Torrey Smith can get tackled by his hair and still want to keep his dreadlocks, then I say Flacco should keep the Fu Manchu after beating one of the NFC’s best teams on Thanksgiving.
A week after Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron called just five running plays, Ray Rice was featured in a very balanced game plan against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Rice was called upon 25 times on Sunday in 20 rushing plays and five receiving plays. He totaled 104 yards on the ground and reached the end zone twice. ”We played a very balanced game today,” Rice said according to CBSSports.com.
The Ravens are 5-0 this season when Rice rushes or over 100 yards. Hopefully the Ravens will continue that trend on Thanksgiving.
One of the most epic parts about watching the Ravens beat the 49ers on Thanksgiving was seeing Joe Flacco lead Baltimore to victory while sporting an epic Fu Manchu mustache.
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