varaven45

Crav, My condolences over your loss. I lost my Dad earlier this year. My they rest in peace ! Its interesting, my Dad also took me to my fist Colts game in 1968, too. It was the playoff game vs the Vikings (the Joe Kapp days). He also took me to the Golden Arm and had Johhnny U sign my first football. What memories ! Maybe the football Gods and our Dads will smile on us and our team this Sunday ! Sincerely VARAVEN

Max, Bingo. Our No 1 off season class will be tackling 101 !!!

VMax, I agree the Joe has to be "the man" for us to win. However, looming larger is the TO battle. The only conceivable way for us to win, like the Titan game, is we have to force 3-4 TOs and we cant turn it over. Only that and divine intervention will result in a W. Nothing else will have a greater impact in this game. Its been a helluve run !!

What an unbelievable game, guys !!! Just a quick reflection on the game and the keys from an earlier post of mine: On Offense Running Game - Aside from the obvious need to control the LOS, we must have a good, not necessarily dominant, running game with little of no miscues. We didnt get the production but no miscues. We got it half right ! Passing Game- Bazooka Joe has got to take care of the ball and have an effiicent game and, unlike last Sunday, has to connect on 2-3 long plays downfield "this time". Mason will have to have another Mason game. Clayton and Heap can't disappear this game. We got it right !! On Defense Run D - We need another repeat performance from earlier in the season. Cannot let Johnson and Lendale White take over at any point in this game. Must have a stellar performance for the Run D. We stopped White but Johnson was stopped by an injury. We got it half right ! Pass D - My biggest concern. We have got to make Kerry Collins' life miserable the ENTIRE game. Our pass D has got to prevent the dunk and dunk to the Titans RBs and TEs (Crumpler and Scaife) - thats where they had most of their success in last game. Our CBs (esp Ivy and Washington) have got to WRAP UP the Titans runners and receivers or they will get burned. I still cringe watching replays of Washington trying to tackle Ronnie Brown's shoulders and helmet last week. Note to FWash: Ronnie Brown is half the runner of Lendale White or Johnson. Wrap up, dude !!!! We didnt wrap up but we got the picks. We got it right ! Special Teams We will need kickoff, punt and coverage at a high level again this week. Stover and Koch need to come up big and control the field position battle. Stover and Koch got it right ! Summary We got it just enough right; enough success on pass offense and pass defense to win it ! GO FLACCO, GO RAVENS !!!

In my mind, our success is predicated on the following: On Offense Running Game - Aside from the obvious need to control the LOS, we must have a good, not necessarily dominant, running game with little of no miscues. This is a tall order but the 3 headed monster needs to have a statement game with 120 - 150 yds. Period. Passing Game- Bazooka Joe has got to take care of the ball and have an effiicent game and, unlike last Sunday, has to connect on 2-3 long plays downfield "this time". The offense cant afford to get mired into many 3rd and long situations and simply "air it out" to spread out the Tenn "D". Mason will have to have another Mason game. Clayton and Heap can't disappear this game. On Defense Run D - We need another repeat performance from earlier in the season. Cannot let Johnson and Lendale White take over at any point in this game. Must have a stellar performance for the Run D. Pass D - My biggest concern. We have got to make Kerry Collins' life miserable the ENTIRE game. Our pass D has got to prevent the dunk and dunk to the Titans RBs and TEs (Crumpler and Scaife) - thats where they had most of their success in last game. Our CBs (esp Ivy and Washington) have got to WRAP UP the Titans runners and receivers or they will get burned. I still cringe watching replays of Washington trying to tackle Ronnie Brown's shoulders and helmet last week. Note to FWash: Ronnie Brown is half the runner of Lendale White or Johnson. Wrap up, dude !!!! Special Teams We will need kickoff, punt and coverage at a high level again this week. Stover and Koch need to come up big and control the field position battle. If we are effective in the above areas, I believe we can have some real success on Saturday. Either way, it should be helluva game. Cant wait !! GO RAVENS !!!

Quadruple Amen !!!

Damn Been, and I thought I was the only "wet blanket" on this board. ;) I agree with you on many points. The offense was pretty pathetic and a repeat performance against Tennessee aint going to make it. Other than Mason, our WRs did not show up. If Flacco connects on 1 of those deep balls to Clayton, maybe the offense would have taken off. Flacco will need to be sharper Saturday. Tenn dared Flacco to beat them last time. He will have to beat them this time. Our D, esp the run defense and Reed's play, were outstanding. Meanwhile, our tackling was very suspect. One would think with such a dominating defense, our tacking would be more sound (for me, thats one of the biggest differences between the 2000 D and this one). Instead of wrapping up guys, we are trying to tackle ballcarrier's arms and shoulders. I distinctly recall Fabian Washington trying to tackle Ronnie Brown up high and being dragged 10-15 add'l yds. We whiffed on several other tackles in our attempt to pull down Bess, Williams and Cobbs. Maybe the Miami heat and humidity were getting to us. Regardless, we have got to wrap up. The Titans game will be war and I suspect a lot like our 1st game and the last Steelers game. GO RAVENS !!!

Crav and Max, This is all flattering but again this is not the 2000 team. Hopefully, the same end result but a different team, esp on defense. The biggest concern, which is probably shared by everyone on this board, is our secondary. Does anyone know how we stand with our starters; Washington, Rolle, Reed and Leonard ? Will they all start ? It needs to come up big on Sunday. Remember, Pennington torched (yes, I mean torched~ 30 yds passing) in our previous game with a rather mediocre WR corps. These WRs and TE Fasano have improved since October, are playing well now and our secondary is beat up. I really think the game really boils down to how well are D, esp secondary, contains Pennington.

Time for Ray Ray to step in shut up his fellow brother (loose cannon) from the U Ray Rice, get better... quick Off season: let him walk, eat the $. pick up another RB (if needed). Dont want another Dallas/ TO debacle

Offense - Mason Defense - Ray Ray Special Teams - Koch

Thanks Crav !

Looking ahead to Sundays game, do we know: Whether Fabian Washington plays on Sunday ? We need Washington big time. A beat up and battered Samari Rolle and Corey Ivy/Frank Walker leaves us extremely vulnerable at corner. Its been our achilles heel all season and could be our downfall this game. Pennington threw for 295 yards in our previous game, and Miami had 359 yards of total offense. As I recall, there were times in that game where Penington was absolutely slicing and dicing our secondary and we looked helpless. Hopefully, that was then and this is now. If Ray Rice is still out ? We will need a healthy three headed monster and big running game against the Phins. McClain and Willis are running hard, but a third changeup runner would be nice. Either way, McClain and Willis need to have huge games. Who is our KO/punt returner ? I assume Figurs is done (healthwise and otherwise) and Leonard is the PR for the duration. Thanks to anyone who can shed some light here ! GO RAVENS !

Yep, thank God they are in a different bracket. If we meet, we are in the AFC championship game.

Max, We need to bring the hammer, early and often, then nail the coffin shut. As bad as they might seem, on and off the field, we can't let Jax up for air for a single moment. GO RAVENS !!

Crav, After Jax. Its a superstition, I guess.

In the famous words of Jim Mora, "playoffs" ?! We haven't even beat Jacksonville yet. Look what happened at Dallas last Saturday (and there wasnt a football pundit on this planet that picked us in that game). VMax was the only poster that picked us. Look, if we can shock Dallas in their house, Jax is certainly capable of beating us in our house. Remember, Jax has played Indy, Tennessee and Pittsburgh tough and are capable of beating anyone. They have had a horrible year but Del Rio and company would love nothing better than to ruin our playoff run. Lets first take care of business then talk playoffs.

Crav, Ed Koch, Wasnt he a mayor (of NY ?). Just kidding , good picks and hell of a game !! ;) Go Ravens !!!

VMax, I dont know, I guess we'll see in about 5 hours.

You hit the nail on the head, VMax. If we win this game, we deserve to be in the playoffs. If we lose, we dont deserve to be in it.

Eh, wouldn't a 7-11 record make you feel better ?

Crav, Thats about right. If Fabian Wash is out, we are toast and Romo and Co (Witten, Roy Williams, TO, Barber, etc) will have a big party on us. They may have it anyway and Jerry Jones will be lighting up cigar by halftime. Anything short of this, would be huge upset in my mind. If for some crazy reason we make this game close (w/i 7 points) and Joe Flacco comes away w/o an injury, that will be a victory. Dallas' only weakness is their secondary, so....this might be a good game to try a litlle razzle dazzle, Suggs package, Troy Smith, you name it. Go ahead Cam, liven it up dude !

BINGO !!!!!

Vmax, You are spot on. I dont see any scenario by which we can beat the Cowboys. None. We just pooped away a winnable game to our biggest Division rival. We will carry this hangover game to Saturday night where I predict a offensive performance similar to the Colts and Giants games In spite of their recent implosion and locker room issues, Dallas has way more talent at skilled positions. And if Fabian Washington is out, our pass D will be lit all night by Romo & Co. I do see us bouncing back stonger against Jax and hopefully finishing 10-6.

Been, Cam was the Chargers OC in 06 and, yes, I do remember the conservative play calling against us in that game. You may be on to something here with Cameron and the tough D's. However, I watched (in agony) a replay of Sunday's game and clearly saw some interesting stuff. First, Flacco made some horrible throws, even when he was not under pressure. He badly overthrew Heap in the 1st Q, he overthrew Heap in the endzone late in the 1st half (when Mason was open on the left side of the endzone), and he overthrew Mason in the endzone in the 2nd half. To Joe's defense, he threw a pefect ball to Mason in the 1st half that Mason misjudged his leap in the endzone. For what its worth, I am convinced the game outcome is different if Flacco connects on just one of the TD attempts. At the same time, however, our play calling in the last 2 games has lacked the element of surprise, creativity and diversity that we had as most recent as the Cincy game. No Troy Smith, no Wildcat/Suggs packages, no trickery. Trickery may not have worked against the Stealers but the playcalling was too damn vanilla and Billick-like. Maybe Cam is just afraid to open it up against the top guns (Steelers) but only thinks outside the box for the weak sisters (Bengals). And maybe his apprehension is mostly based on the concern about overwhelming Flacco (too much, too soon). I dont know but this team is now backed into a corner and has to win this week (cant count on help). If we run the same offense this week, we will get the same results and get torched big time in big D.

After we let last last night's game slip through our hands, I expect our guys to have a hangover game against the Cowboys. There is no way on Gods green earth we win one in Big D. Aint going to happen! So, we need to go 10-6 and hope the Jets, Dolphins and Pats all lose 1 game.