Baltimore Ravens

Union intervenes on behalf of five players after positive tests for banned diuretic

A federal judge will be asked to decide Friday whether five suspended NFL players deserve a chance to play this weekend.

The divisional playoff game between the Ravens and Titans will be nothing short of a heavyweight slugfest. After breaking down their Week 5 game, it's hard to tell which team has an edge.

The Chargers and Ravens triumphed thanks to their tough defenses, but awaiting in the divisional round are two other teams with tough-to-crack defenses.

With a rookie coach in John Harbaugh and a rookie quarterback in Joe Flacco, wild-card entrant Baltimore won for the 10th time in 12 games and will play Saturday at NFC South champion Tennessee.

Mr. Kokinis, I know that your roots in NFL Personnel and such started in Cleveland, but for the sake of the fans, the team and yourself, don’t accept the Browns’ offer of GM. Brady Quinn is their starting quarterback. Need I say more? Your birthday is February 27th, 1967. You’re 40 years [...]

I didn’t even watch the game on TV, just listened on the radio, but looking through my DVR Recording, how great was this game? Chad Pennington turned the ball over 5 times, more than half of his total turnovers during the season, and after the game he said he felt good about 3 of [...]

I doubt that Titan head coach Jeff Fisher holds any animosity toward the Ravens John Harbaugh, at least no where near what he did for Brian Billick. Years back when the Ravens and Titans were aligned in the AFC Central the two teams had some of the hardest fought contests to ever be played on turf. Rarely would the final score be more than a 10 point differential. And while the Ravens stomped on the number 1 seed Titans in 2000, the Titans returned the favor by knocking out the Ravens in the 2003 Wild card game at M&T bank Stadium. So even though he got his revenge something tells me that Fisher still seeths whenever the Ravens are mentioned. Old hatreds die hard.

 

These two teams already know the preliminaries of each other having faced one another on October 5th of this year, but while the Titans may have bacome a slightly better team in that time the Ravens have advanced mightily. This Ravens team is much better then they were in October, or December for that matter. Much of the growth is due to the offensive guidence of Cam Cameron, the growth of the offensive line, and the play of Joe Flacco. Is Flacco playing like Joe Montana? No, but too many people like to think he should be. Flacco is a rookie, and he's still learning the game at the NFL level, which is quite a step from Division II football. But if you look at his numbers from that October game forward you'll see a huge improvement. Can Kerry Collins claim the same? Any Titan fans want to make that argument? I didn't think so.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Was there ever any doubt? Did anyone really think the Dolphins were physical enough to slow down the Baltimore Ravens defense? Well, the reality of it is, no they weren't. Reminiscent of the Ravens 2000 defense this unit shut down everything the Dolphins could throw at them. Miami quarterback Chad Pennington had only thrown 7 interceptions coming into this game, and by the time it was over he had increased that number to 11, as the oppertunistic Ravens defense picked Pennington 4 times.

 

 The Ravens defense knew they would win out when Ed Reed picked off a Pennington pass and returned it for a quick 6 points. This was a kidney punch which sent the Dolphins into distress mode, and they could never find an answer for it. The Ravens defense constantly pounded the Dolphins offensive line, harrassing Pennington into making mistakes, and the Ravens D was there to capitlize on them, taking the heart out of them every time they showed any sign of life. But then, we've begun to expect this from this team haven't we. 

This is the first step, and it has to be a huge step. The Ravens are as good as any of the other teams in the playoffs, and if the Foootball Gods are on their side they can advance to the final contest. The entire playoff atmosphere is filled with apprehension, and the intensity of it can humble the best of players. This is now or never time, win this game or go home time, and the attitude has to be W.I.N., the slogan Ravens head coach John Harbaugh brought in during training camp, What's Important Now!

 

The Ravens can't afford to look ahead, and  they can't get too full of themselves going into their 1st playoff game.  Saying that I don't think this team will let down. They know what's at stake, and they know what they have to do to get to that final contest. The effort you see against the Dolphins will tell you whether or not this team can get to their Holy Grail. I'm certainly not going to bet against them.

 

Rave on!!!   

What’s in a word? Aretha sang about it, Ali G gives out much of it, and athletes constantly, incessantly talk about how they never get the amount that’s due to them. It’s one of those things that fuels that competitive spirit and will do so time and time again. Bulletin board material can be powerful stuff [...]

Since I started blogging this season I never knew where it would take me. I also never knew that the Ravens would be in the Divisional playoffs but I’ll get back to slamming my pre-season picks later. But it seems that once again the larger media has recognized the value of the blogosphere and in particular [...]

T-Sizzle has his say on ESPN’s First Take about the Ravens win over Miami.