He wasn’t perfect but he gave his team a chance to win, and they didn’t get the job done. Enough said!
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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.
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.  20 comments - (Comments are closed)  Features, %edit(' | ', 'Edit', 'Game Recaps, %edit(' | ', 'Edit', 'Opinion
The guys soaked up the holiday season on the BSR podcast and invited Matt Sadler to join in on the fun on this week’s episode. Holiday excitement was in the air as Kwanza, Hanukkah, Christmas and Festivus were all celebrated on the show. Here are some of the topics discussed by the guys on this week’s podcast:
Podcast: Play in new window This final round of roster cuts got the Ravens down to their requisite 53, not including their practice squad moves, but there were casualties that will give this team a very different look than in past seasons. The drama of Troy Smith is now officially behind this team, and he is welcome now to look in Cleveland or anywhere else for a potential starting job down the road. The hope and disappointment that followed the enigmatic Demetrius Williams through years of injuries and ineffectiveness is also over after failing to impress even when the Ravens were devoid of receivers. On the other hand, receivers Marcus Smith and Justin Harper (the latter on the practice squad) still remain a couple years after flashing just enough talent to make them late-round and free agent pickups of this team. I wanted to take a moment to look at these moves and more as the Ravens gear up for Week 1. READ MORE >>> In my humble opinion, the Ravens second annual kicking competition was over a long time ago. Billy Cundiff separated himself from Shayne Graham in week one of the preseason after a more successful training camp than the veteran. Yesterday’s game, if you were one of the few fans that endured it, didn’t solidify anything for the final kicking roster cut that looms over the front office. If you ignore their performance in camp and the preseason, the Ravens were probably most likely to go with the proven veteran Shayne Graham, who they went out and spent $2.5 million on (with incentives). READ MORE >>>
Katula was injured with tendinitis last season, but looked to be stepping back into a job with Baltimore this season. “We have a younger guy that looked good, and that’s kind of sometimes the nature of the business,” John Harbaugh told the Baltimore Sun. I’m not as confident as Harbaugh is though. It seems to me that the Ravens are adding another question mark to the kicking team by getting rid of a proven guy in Matt Katula and relying on a rookie who has played one preseason game. Thankfully, the Baltimore Ravens are giving the downtrodden Oriole masses something to pre-occupy or minds…News!! No, the re-hiring of George Kokinis is neither big, nor unexpected news, it is something positive. Kokinis was the Ravens director of pro personnel until 2008 when he left the club to become the general manager of the Cleveland Browns. Kokinis’ stay in Cleveland was brief and contemptuous, but it allows the Ravens to bring back a front office mind they think highly of and have a great deal of experience working with. Kokinis’ new title will be Senior Personnel Assistant and will work closely alongside Ozzie and Vince Newsome in evaluating and acquiring pro talent. I like the move. Kokinis has a good reputation around the league and has a track record with the Ravens. In other news, this of the bigger variety, the Ravens are reportedly close to a 1 year deal with former Cincinnati Bengals PK Shayne Graham. Graham’s name has been linked to the Ravens for a good bit of the off-season, and now the club appears ready to bring him aboard to at least compete with incumbent kicker Billy Cundiff. Graham is an accurate kicker, but he has struggled on kick-offs in recent years and missed 2 big kicks in the Bengals play-off game against the New York Jets. According to Bengals fans there are reasons Cincy was no longer interested in Graham. And it is not his lack of a rap sheet (hey ohh!!!). Graham has had increasing struggles in clutch kicking situations and is apparently not the best guy in the locker room. I am not sold on Graham’s ability to be the guy for the Ravens. Graham has seemingly saved his best for the Ravens connecting on 28 of 33 FG’s. I guess what alarms me most is that Graham seems to have fallen out of favor so quickly in Cincy for a guy that is one of the more accurate kickers in the league. Maybe the Bengals know something we don’t know or maybe they felt like Mike Nugent was simply an upgrade over Graham. Training camp will show a lot and the Ravens are in a much better place having Graham compete with Cundiff than they were having Steve Hauschka square off against Graham Gano. It makes me anxious to go into another season with a kicker that comes up small in the big moments. Who do you prefer Cundiff or Graham? Last week we discussed the possible kicking candidates for the Baltimore Ravens in the 2010 season. You can cross one of those kickers off your list because today the Arizona Cardinals signed Jay Feely. I was interested to read Jamison Hensley’s view on the signing, specifically when he said, “The Ravens now have the upper-hand in the free-agent market. The Feely deal takes the Cardinals out of the market for a kicker, and it leaves Neil Rackers and Shayne Graham still without teams. The Ravens could have their pick of either one.” Or, they could have had their pick of one of the three. Last year, the Ravens made the bold move of parting ways with Matt Stover with no real plan. They had a kicking competition, if you could really call it that, between two guys with no business playing professional football, Graham Gano and Steve Hauschka. To me, it appeared that the Ravens knew they didn’t want Stover, but had no plan for replacing him with an actual kicker. But you know that story, Billy Cundiff comes in and saves the day. He booted five field goals in his debut against the Indianapolis Colts in Baltimore, talk about pressure. Since the season came to an end, the rumors about Baltimore kickers have been swirling once again. Despite John Harbaugh’s comments during the season on bringing Stover back to Baltimore, no news about Stover has been reported. Instead, Baltimore has been in the market for some competition for Cundiff, or even a possible replacement. This year, the kicking market had three viable candidates, unlike last season when, unfortunately, the Ravens decided to leave Stover looking for work. I’m hoping the Ravens have a plan this go around, that they won’t cut a guy if they don’t have a replacement and that they won’t tell the fans they’re holding a competition for a position between two guys that don’t belong in professional football. But letting one guy go certainly doesn’t leave me feeling like the Ravens have the upper hand. What do you think? Who will we see kicking for the Ravens in 2010? It looks as if the Ravens are thinking about next years kicker. After a disastrous 2009 start with Steven Houshka, the Ravens brought in Billy Cundiff for mop-up duty. Unfortunately, Cundiff was the victim of some questionable snaps by long snapper Matt Katula. It’s looking like 2010 will be a different story. According to Jamison Hensley, the Ravens have already met with Bengals Kicker- Shayne Graham, the former Virginia Tech standout. They have also contacted Neil Rackers of the Arizona Cardinals. Both have had solid careers. They also missed some big kicks in the playoffs last year. I think bringing in either one would be an upgrade. My preference is Rackers because he is stronger with kickoffs and doesn’t have the health concerns. What are your thoughts? |
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