The only thing more obsolete than the NFL Pro Bowl is complaining about the NFL Pro Bowl. Fans have been tired of the former for years and have now just given up on the latter and simply stopped watching. Making the Pro Bowl the NFL’s black sheep event is warranted for all the usual reasons people list.
There may have been a time when the NFL needed the Pro Bowl. That time is not 2012. I’m not propsing that it be tweaked, moved or reinvent it. The NFL needs to cut bait and simply can the Pro Bowl as we know it. So what does the league do the week before or the week after the Super Bowl? Tap the one asset the NFL has where there is any headroom for growth: new talent. College football all-star games are already suffering from “bowl sprawl,” with five major games in January. The future NFL star is the lowest-hanging fruit the NFL could possibly ask for.
Imagine if the NFL (with the cooperation of the NFLPA, which already stages a college all-star game), put on a top-flight all star game in Hawaii or Florida featuring the best draft-eligible players. The NFL Draft and Combine grow larger every year and this would be a great opportunity for NFL fans not immersed in the college game become familiar with their future NFL stars. Who wouldn’t watch that? It’s a slam-dunk. Roger Goodell, earn your extension and make this happen. READ MORE >>>
Time to wipe the board clean. The wounds of the 2011 Ravens may still be fresh, but the seconds are already ticking away until the 2012 Ravens break training camp. While the number of free agent decisions the team needs to make might be minimal in quantity, the re-signing or lack thereof by some key pieces may affect the puzzle greatly. Matt Lund and I broke down every potential new deal and decision not to renew.
If you need to brush up on unrestricted vs. restricted free agency, please feel free to do so and then leave your calls in the comments. (Player ages are in parentheses.)
Skill Positions
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RB Ray Rice (25) D: If a long-term deal is inevitable for Rice, I’d be happy if the Ravens took care of it now rather than franchising him and waiting a year. I don’t love long-term deals for backs as it obviously exposes the team to much more risk than most positions. Whatever you gotta do, Keep.
M: Absolute no-brainer. It would be in the Ravens best interest to sign Rice to a long-term deal to avoid the hassle of franchising him and also having both he and Joe Flacco as impending free agents in 2013. The guy is your workhorse, and led the NFL in yards from scrimmage this season. He’s worth every penny. Keep.
Apparently Ray Lewis had five tackles and Vonta Leach scored a touchdown — that news comes via Aaron Wilson, who I assume was forced to watch the game for his job. Poor guy.
Following the Ravens 23-20 loss to the Patriots, Ray Lewis encouraged his team to hold their heads high and told them to work to get even further next year.
In a match-up of two teams with very contrasting styles of play, the AFC’s #2 seeded Baltimore Ravens traveled north to take on the #1 seed New England Patriots for the AFC Championship.
The Ravens played the role of spoiler before, handing the Patriots a 33-14 loss at Gillette Stadium in the 2009 wild card playoffs, but that particular match-up was different than this one.
The Patriots didn’t have a young duo of TE’s in RobGronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. They also didn’t have Wes Welker, who was injured during the Patriots playoff run that year.
Still that did not faze the Ravens as they confused and frustrated Patriots QB Tom Brady in the game, much like they did in 2009. The Ravens defense picked off Brady twice and sacked him once.
The Ravens had an offensive and defensive game plan that on most afternoons contributes to a Ravens victory. Despite that however, it came down to the right foot of kicker Billy Cundiff to tie the game and send it to overtime when Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal wide left giving the Patriots the 23-20 victory and an AFC Championship in front of the home crowd. READ MORE >>>
By now you’ve already heard Ed Reed’s comments about Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense against the Texans. He wasn’t impressed with the Ravens QB or the guys up front that allowed Flacco to get tossed to the turf five times.
Obviously, Reed’s comments were the topic of conversation at the Ravens facility on Wednesday. Ray Lewis, John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco all weighed in and had similar thoughts on the topic as they collectively downplayed their severity.
“I talked to Ed about it,” Flacco said according to Aaron Wilson of the Carroll Country Times. ”It’s not really that big a deal. I don’t take things that bad. It’s Ed.”
A locker room issue is the last thing that the Ravens need heading to New England for the AFC Championship, so they took a nice politically correct approach and did a great job of ending the story right there. READ MORE >>>
The annotated Winning Percentage Graph for Ravens Divisional Round playoff win against the Houston Texans is shown above. The graph is taken from NFL Advanced Stats, while the annotations are ours. The graph shows each team’s chance of winning the game given historical data calculated from previous NFL games. For more details on Winning Percentage graphs please see our Reader’s Guide.
The biggest play in terms of Winning Percentage for the game came after the Ravens went 3 and out on their opening drive and punted to Jacoby Jones. Jones attempted to field the bouncing punt at his 13-yard line. As shown in the picture below provided by the Associated Press, Cary Williams launched into Jones, Jones lost the ball and it was recovered by Ravens first round pick Jimmy Smith at the Texans’ 2. Ravens and Texans fans alike appear to be baffled by Jones’ decision. Here, we’ll explore that decision and try to determine if it was reasonable, or not.
Clearly Jones’ considered the decision to field the punt to be a calculated risk: he could field the punt so that the Texans could start their drive at the 13 yard-line or let it bounce and potentially start at the 3 yard-line. So, did Jones’ make a rational decision? Is the risk of bobbling the catch worth the reward of starting at the 13 yard line? We answer this question and look into another bizarre decision by the Texans after the jump. READ MORE >>>
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 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.
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.
Matt returns from Steelers territory unscathed and ready to preview the Ravens home matchup against the Texans. The guys are also joined by Chris Reilly, another Jets/Mets fan, to break down the insanity of the Rex Ryan locker room.
You can get in touch with the BSR Podcast by sending your emails to podcast@baltimoresportsreport.com or leaving a voicemail at 443-379-4BSR (4377).
Here are some of topics discussed in this week’s show:
Ray Rice made a mockery of the whole look and poked fun at Flacco on Wednesday during his interview out at the Ravens complex in Owings Mills. ”Joe Flacco said he’s chilling today, so I told him I would be Joe Flacco today,” Rice told the media while wearing a purple mustache on his face.
Rice’s “mustache” was actually just purple tape. When asked about whether he would grow a real Fu Manchu, Rice responded, ”I can’t.” ”I got a baby face,” he said.
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. READ MORE >>>
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.
“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.” READ MORE >>>
The only thing more obsolete than the NFL Pro Bowl is complaining about the NFL Pro Bowl. Fans have been tired of the former for years and have now just given up on the latter and simply stopped watching. Making the Pro Bowl the NFL’s black sheep event is warranted for all the usual reasons people list.
Time to wipe the board clean. The wounds of the 2011 Ravens may still be fresh, but the seconds are already ticking away until the 2012 Ravens break training camp. While the number of free agent decisions the team needs to make might be minimal in quantity, the re-signing or lack thereof by some key pieces may affect the puzzle greatly. 
Exclusive: The Joe Flacco-Ed Reed “Fight”