I attended the Ravens 17-15 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, here are my observations from the game.

  • Seeing Stover was weird – It didn’t seem right to see Matt Stover kick for the opposing team, especially the Colts. Hearing Bruce Cunningham announce his name after his PATs just didn’t feel right and it sounded forced leaving his lips and into the microphone. Though he didn’t drain a deep game winning field goal it was a bummer to see Matt’s return in a Colts victory.
  • We don’t know enough about Cundiff – It’s simple to say that Billy Cundiff’s missed 30 yard field goal decided the game. Baltimore would have won 18-17, I would still have a sore throat from screaming at the top of my lungs, but at least I would be happy. It’s tough to pin this loss just on the kicker though. Hauschka clearly lost his confidence, but Cundiff tied Matt Stover’s club record of five converted field goals in one game. He might be the guy, he might not. I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions yet.
  • Flacco had another shaky game – Joe didn’t look like Joe again today. His red zone interception on an attempted dump off to Ray Rice decided the game. He threw behind a few guys and started slow again today.
  • Good game plan, just didn’t finish it – I love the way the Ravens approached this game. They knew if they stood any chance of beating Indy they would have to beat Peyton Manning. They won in time of possession and did an outstanding job of creating long drives that wore the clock down. Ray Rice was a huge part of that, as usual. Unfortunately, Baltimore failed to convert these drives into touchdowns and it costed them. Derrick Mason had a huge first down catch at the one yard line and the Ravens couldn’t put the ball in the end zone in three attempts. You can’t win if you can’t convert that play into 7 instead of 3.
  • Blame the coaching staff today folks – Brian Billick got run out of town in Baltimore for being an offensive guru that never had a good offense here in Baltimore. John Harbaugh is a special teams guru that has failed the Ravens on special teams. Don’t put Ed Reed back to receive kicks, he laterals and has neck problems it’s a recipe for disaster. Harbs blew two timeouts on a dumb challenge and let’s not forget, he decided to give up on Matt Stover which has probably costed the Ravens 2+ games this season.

I think we’re right on par for that .500 season, as predicted by Aaron Wilson on our podcast weeks ago. Though the Ravens are still in the playoff hunt with big losses from Cinci and Pittsburgh today.