By Zach Wilt, on January 17th, 2012  Joe Flacco won his fifth playoff game in four years, but he’s still looking for a clutch performance in his first.
The Ravens quarterback didn’t get any help up front as he was sacked five times in Baltimore’s 20-13 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday.
Safety Ed Reed watched on the sideline and had some interesting comments about his QB on The SiriusXM Blitz with Adam Schein and Rich Gannon on Monday.
“I think a couple of the times he needed to get rid of the ball,” Reed said. ”It just didn’t look like he had a hold on the offense.”
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By Matt Lund, on January 16th, 2012 The Baltimore Ravens returned to the friendly confines of M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon, fresh off a much-needed bye week, taking on a hungry and determined Houston Texans squad primed to make it to their first ever AFC Championship Game.
The Ravens held off a Texans rushing attack, led by RB Arian Foster who carried the ball 27 times for 132 yards and a touchdown. The name of the game however was turnovers and the Ravens had four takeaways total – two in the final eight minutes of regulation- to secure the 20-13 victory over Houston in front of a loud crowd of 71,547 at “The Bank” (the largest crowd in Ravens history) and advancing to their second trip to the AFC Championship game in four years under head coach John Harbaugh.
Winning the turnover battle and time of possession were keys to victory in the game, but important because the first two turnovers, all in the 1st quarter, led to both of the Ravens touchdowns on the day. Using the bye week to prepare, the Ravens appeared focused, not committing a single penalty in the game – a first in Baltimore Ravens history – and not turning the ball over once themselves.
The Ravens will travel to Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots for the AFC Championship on Sunday, January 22nd at 3:00 pm. The last time the Ravens traveled to Gillette Stadium, they trounced the Patriots 33-14 in the 2009 AFC Wildcard Playoffs. READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on January 16th, 2012  By far the most controversial story of the Ravens bye week came in a column written by Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston. I guess in a way he’s Charm City’s Skip Bayless, only with less Tim Tebow love.
Preston penned a piece on the recent struggles of veterans Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and and suggested that the Ravens coaching staff consider cutting their playing time, especially in critical situations. The fan base flipped.
For the record, I agreed with Preston at the time. I think Ray Lewis has gotten a little slow in the middle of the field and Reed has obviously been playing hurt.
After Sunday’s 20-13 win against the Texans in which Ed Reed came up with a crucial interception and left it all out on the field, NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora tweeted that Preston was clearly wrong.
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By Zach Wilt, on January 16th, 2012 
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.
Suggs versus Uggs.
Here are my thoughts on the Ravens victory of the Texans in the AFC Divisional Round.
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By Ross Gore, on January 12th, 2012 
Before we delve into our playoff preview of the Houston Texans, let’s clear up one myth perpetuated by the talking heads on television: teams that won in the first round of the playoffs don’t have any advantage over their second round opponents. This is confusing because its impossible to change the television channel without catching some new gregarious haircut screaming, “The Texans won this weekend. What did the Ravens do? Nothing! While they were laying around eating Yoplaits and watching The Gilmore Girls, the Texans were out on the field.”
Since 2001, teams with a first-round bye are 25-15 (.625) in the second round of the playoffs. This doesn’t mean that the Ravens will win Sunday’s game everytime it is played, but it shows that they didn’t spend the weekend losing the capabilities that enabled them to win the AFC North. In fact, the upsets in this round that do happen, don’t look like the Ravens vs. Texans. Instead they resemble games like the Saints vs. 49ers, where a quantifiably great team happens to end up under-seeded.
With that misconception dispatched, let’s preview the Texans after the jump.
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By Zach Wilt, on January 5th, 2012  Brian Billick picked on Mike Preston for years. The former Ravens head coach was often criticized by the Baltimore Sun columnist during the latter part of his days with the team and because of that the two had what some would call a strained relationship.
With Billick out of the scene, the controversial Preston is still stirring things up. His column this week received national attention after he requested that the Ravens look at cutting Ray Lewis and Ed Reed’s playing time as they are hurting the team.
Billick joined local sportstalker WNST, which he partly owns, to discuss Preston’s recent opinions.
“What’d Mike make up this time,” Billick sarcastically asked at the beginning of the interview.
“Ray Lewis for a while was — struggled on third down a couple of years ago. He was not as effective as you size up what your needs are particularly when teams spread you out.”
The Super Bowl 35 champion head coach did say that Lewis has looked good in recent seasons. ”He played so well in nickel last year,” he responded. ”At some point, yeah the physical skills diminish.”
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By Dave Gilmore, on January 3rd, 2012  The Baltimore Ravens wrapped up their 16th regular season NFL campaign yesterday. On paper and on the turf, this season was a complete success. Perhaps it’s an indication that we’re a little spoiled, given that such a campaign might not even be in the top three seasons in the team’s brief history.
This felt like an amazing season, but of course it’s easy to say that when it’s fresh in our hearts and minds. Still, I think it stacks up nicely among the best ever played by the franchise. READ MORE >>>
By Matt Lund, on January 2nd, 2012 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 >>>
By Matt Lund, on December 25th, 2011 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.
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By Matt Lund, on December 19th, 2011 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.
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By Matt Lund, on December 12th, 2011 
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 >>>
By Edgar Walker, on December 6th, 2011 I posted earlier about Pernell McPhee and his stellar rookie campaign thus far, and I briefly touched on the Ravens’ “youth movement” on defense that seems to be coming to fruition this season. While it was just a passing thought at the time, the notion has really grown on me that the team has brought in several young pieces to lessen the inevitable eventual departures of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.
McPhee has been but one of the young guns for the defense this season. READ MORE >>>
By Zach Wilt, on December 2nd, 2011  In an interview with ESPN The Magazine, Ravens safety Ed Reed told Seth Wickersham that the easiest quarterbacks to read are “younger guys” and “most of the QBs in Cleveland.”
Burn.
Reed isn’t just bragging though, according to his stats he’s telling the truth. In his 12 games against the Browns he has 10 interceptions, 356 yards and three touchdowns, the most against any opponent.
Last season Browns quarterback Colt McCoy threw two of his three interceptions against the Ravens to Reed. Will this meeting be different?
By Dave Gilmore, on November 25th, 2011  Terrell Suggs does not do anything quietly. Quiet people do not found “Ball So Hard” universities. Quiet people don’t have offensive formations named after them when they don’t play a down of offense. And yet, looking at the last decade of Baltimore Ravens football, it’s been easy for Suggs to get a little lost in the shuffle at times. As a self-admitted third-in-command behind Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, Suggs has not been synonymous with the Baltimore Ravens in the way those two players have.
With his three-sack performance and tremendous leadership in Baltimore’s crucial 16-6 victory over San Francisco, Terrell Suggs has etched himself firmly in at least third position not just on this current team, but in all-time Ravens defensive history. READ MORE >>>
By Dave Gilmore, on November 22nd, 2011  Sportswriting, and all forms of narrative or editorial for that matter, exists because of conflict. Whether dire or trivial, the reason we have anything to talk about is because we have challenges and uncertainty at every turn of a given season. I believe it’s a misconception that our culture is overly critical or that there’s some sort of initiative of “gotcha” journalism that hasn’t existed before. How do you think that rumor about Catherine the Great and her horse got started? Today, we just have more avenues to consume the criticism and highlight the conflict.
As dopey as it seems, I get tired of this paradigm from time to time. Even as a semi-professional sports complainer, sometimes I feel like everyone is overlooking what a great time it is not only to be a sports fan, but to live in Baltimore and love sports. It goes without saying that there are real things in life to be thankful for, sure, but we don’t write about them here. Take a moment and lose the cynicism, and think about what you love about being a Baltimore sports fan. Here’s my list. READ MORE >>>
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Joe Flacco won his fifth playoff game in four years, but he’s still looking for a clutch performance in his first.
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