bmw800

It's the same for the ESPN Sunday Night slot, though there normally isn't another game at the time unless there is a doubleheader that day for a team. It sucks, it black's out MLB.TV as well.

Game wasn't on because Fox has broadcast rights to the 4:05 time slot on Saturdays. National blackout of any other game. Of course, I don't know if I would have wanted to watch this. Again.

I agree that it was bad baserunning, but I think that it is much more on Scott than on Wiggy. Scott broke to 2nd, running hard for a few steps, then just stopped in no man's land. Wiggy was watching Scott to make sure he went, went when Scott went (like he should have) , and then when Scott pulled up he hung Wiggy out to dry. Bone-headed play.

So with the signing of Tejada, I think the lineup (at least, who's in it) and the rotation are fairly well set: Line-up: Roberts 2B Jones CF Markakis RF Atkins 1B Reimold LF Weiters C Tejada 3B Scott/Wiggy DH Izturis SS I don't think this will really be the order, but its the closes I can figure. There really is no true clean-up hitter on this team, unless Weiters evolves into that role. Markakis really is a 3-hitter, and I like Jones in the 2-spot much more than the 4 (he has a tendency to try to hit the ball out every time he swings when batting clean-up). Beyond that, it really will shuffle a bit. Rotation: Millwood Bergesen Guthrie Matusz Tillman I like that rotation a lot actually. In any case, I think the O's have a chance to take a huge step forward as long as the young guys continue to develop

So, since we were one of the last 8 teams left this year, it means that if there is an uncapped year (which seems increasingly likely, since there would have to be a new CBA by March 1 in order to avoid one) we cannot sign any free agent until one of our free agents signs with another team, and we can't sign them for any more money than the guy we lost. This is going to be a serious infringement on our ability to improve ourselves through free agency, since we don't have any guys hitting free agency who are going to command enough money to let us land a top flight FA. Its my understanding of the rule that even if a player were to retire (Mason, Pryce, or Reed for example) we would not be able to sign a free agent to replace them, since they did not sign with another team (someone correct me if I'm wrong on this). As a result, its going to be building through the draft again, since we really have no means to sign FAs.

I don't want Boldin, he's spent more time off the field the last two years than on it. I really do not thin we'll be able to substantially improve at the WR position this offseason unless we hit a homerun in the draft, since all signs are pointing to an uncapped year with us in the final 8. As for Flacco, yes he underthrew that ball to Mason, but (as I've pointed out several times and several people on this post have) every QB, including Manning, makes throws like that from time-to-time. Manning wildly overthrew Clark over the middle even without Ivy's PI, he underthrew the ball to Garcon that Reed picked, overthrew Wayne in the endzone, and a couple others I'm missing. The point is, IN GENERAL, Flacco has played very well for a 2nd year QB when he hasn't been hurt this year, and most of his throws were on the money today. The number of dropped passes that hit receivers in the hands today was ridiculous, and that is not on Flacco. Also, a question: did anyone else seem to notice Rice wearing down just a tad at the end of the season. His workload was greatly increased this year and while he still played well, he started fumbling and dropping passes a lot more frequently the last 7 games of the season. Hopefully its just a case of a young player getting extended playing time for the first time.

Yeah, except Oher wasn't the one who was the cause of that. In fact, Oher handled Jared Allen of all people very well for anyone, let alone a rookie (and got a lot of praise for it), and made Harrison disappear in that Steelers game. It was Woodley beating Cousins like a red-headed stepchild that got Flacco killed.

Thank you Willis. Oh, and you too Ellerbe

Ugh, short field

WE NEED 6

Our team does have a nice, solid core to build on. And even our secondary is coming around a bit, when everyone is healthy. Fox has really stepped up his game recently (even as noted by James Walker at ESPN), and Webb should be good if he can bounce back from his ACL. A couple more pieces and we could be primed to dominate for a while.

Well, if Indy rests their starters, that changes things, but the Jets would be a long-shot anyway. The issue is that the head-to-head tiebreaker with Denver doesn't mean anything if another team is involved in the tiebreaker. If the Broncos, Dolphins, and Ravens all tied at 9-7, it would be Denver and Miami who got in. All the teams would be 7-5 in conference (assuming Denver loses to Philly and beats KC). The next tiebreaker is common games. Unfortunately, the common games tiebreaker would also be tied in this case (assuming we beat Oakland and lose to Pitt), since Denver has beaten San Diego and New England while losing to San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Indy, Miami has beaten New England and Pitt (if they win out) and lost to San Diego, New England, and Indy, and the Ravens have beaten Pittsburgh and San Diego, and lost to New England, Pittsburgh, and Indy. That would mean we would go to strength of victory, which would advance the Broncos and leave the Ravens and Miami tied. The same tiebreakers would be applied over again, and Miami would advance. And that also assumes that Jacksonville loses, since if they go 7-7 they would be the first 7-7 team in due to a better conference record.

I calculated out the strength of victory tiebreaker current standings, just to see where everyone is right now, since this will probably be a deciding factor if we lose against Pittsburgh: Ravens: 42-70 .375 Broncos: 57-55 .509 Dolphins: 43-55 .439 Jets: 41-57 .418 All the other teams would not come down to this tiebreaker, more than likely. So, I really hope this is not the tiebreaker we get to, because we would not make it in in that case.

You act like an ass pretty much any time you post, does that men karma's gonna come back and bite you?

All reports I have read on ESPN and nfl.com have said ankle injury, rather than a knee. That's also what they speculated during the broadcast.

Teams we should be rooting for other than the Ravens: Indy and Oakland: play Jacksonville and Denver New England: a win over Buffalo ensures that what what happens in the East won't effect us, and that the formula we win out + Denver or Jacksonville loses gets us to the playoffs. Tennessee and Atlanta: Play Miami and New York, just to knock them down a peg, give us some possible breathing room if necessary. Green Bay: Keep Pittsburgh reeling coming into the Week 16 game San Diego: Keep the pressure on Cincy, just in case some upsets happen along the way to them.

The only thing is, fan voting is only 1/3 of the process. Players and coaches make up the rest, and they've been giving Rice lots of respect this year.

The man deserves to go to the Pro Bowl 9th in the NFL in rushing yards 14th in the NFL in receptions 44th in the NFL in receiving yards (including 1st among RBs, 200 more than the next RB) 2nd in the NFL in yards/carry amongst guys how have a significant number of them 68 catches, 652 yards 194 carries, 1041 yards That's 262 touches for 1693 yards (2nd in the league behind Johnson), that's 6.5 yards each time he touches the ball. He might get to 2000 before all is said and done. They shows a stat before the MNF game, I think the only two RBs to get to 1000 rushing and 800 rec yards in a season were Marshall Faulk and Roger Craig, now wouldn't that be an accomplishment

As I posted back in the other thread, the only way NE can finish 10-6 and lose the division is if their 1 loss is as Buffalo. Otherwise, They will still win the tiebreaker against Miami by record in common games. And even if that is what transpires, we would win a tiebreaker with NE as long as the Jets win out or as long as Denver is also tied with us (if they lose to Philly and beat KC and Oakland, most likely). Since we beat Denver and Denver beat NE, the head-to-head tiebreaker does not apply. The 3-team toe would go to conference record, which would eliminate NE since they would be 7-5 vs. 8-4 for both us and Denver. The tie between us and Denver would then revert to the beginning of the tiebreaker list, which would put us in due to our win over Denver. If the Jets also tie us in that case, they would be eliminated with NE on conference record.

Figure I'll put up some scenarios here: In order for the Ravens to have a chance, the Ravens have to win out and have either Jacksonville or Denver lose twice along the road. Possible teams tied at 10-6 are Denver, Jacksonville, Jets, Miami, New England and the Ravens (I'm going to let the scenario of the Chargers falling apart be for now).If Jacksonville loses only once, they will have the highest conference record of any of the 10-6 teams, so they will get in over all the others. If Jacksonville and Denver both lose twice, the tiebreakers for Denver lose twice apply. Assuming NE wins the East: If Jacksonville loses twice: Ravens could theoretically tie with Jets and Miami. Jets would be eliminated over Miami due to lower division record. Ravens over Miami on common games (W Pitt/Pitt/SD, L NE/Indy vs. W NE/Pitt, L NE/SD/Indy) If Miami loses, Ravens beat Jets on conference record If Denver loses twice: If Denver loses to 2 AFC teams, Denver's conference record would be 7-5, eliminating them on conference record, revert to tiebreakers for if Jacksonville loses twice. If Denver loses to Philly +1 AFC team, Miami wins out: Denver, Ravens, Miami tied. If Denver beats Indy, Miami eliminated on common games (3-2 for Denver/Baltimore, 2-3 Miami). Tiebreaker reverts to step 1, Ravens win head-to-head. If Denver loses to Indy, Ravens advance on common games record (3-2 vs. 2-3 for Miami/Denver) If Denver loses to Philly +1 AFC team, Miami loses, Jets win out: Jets eliminated on conference record, tiebreaker reverts to Baltimore head-to-head over Denver If Miami wins the East (New England cannot lose division and go 10-6 unless only loss comes against Buffalo; Jets cannot win division at 10-6, and the Jets portions of all tiebreakers are the same as above): If Jacksonville loses twice: NE beats Jets on division record. NE beats Ravens by head-to-head If Denver loses twice: (A NE, Denver, Baltimore tiebreaker would not be resolved by head-to-head, since each team beat one of the other two tied teams and lost to the other) If Denver loses to two AFC teams, Ravens advance on conference record (7-5 for NE, Denver, Jets) If Denver loses to Philly + 1 AFC team, NE eliminated by conference record, tiebreaker reverts, Ravens beat Denver head-to-head. So in sum, if the Ravens win out, they will go to the playoffs if either Denver or Jacksonville lose twice, with one unlikely exception (which is if Miami wins out, New England loses at Buffalo but wins its other three games, Jacksonville loses twice and Denver does not lose exactly twice). So we need help and to take care of business the rest of the way, but are not exactly longshots to make the playoffs

In terms of the 1st and goal scenarios, that was posted as a stat during the Steelers game (the play before McGahee's TD). We were 10 for 11 at that point in getting TDs when we have had 1st and goal, with the Indy game being the lone exception. Obviously, at this point, we are now 12 for 14 (McGahee's TDs in the past two games and the Flacco INT being 2 for 3)

Jacksonville still has to play Miami and New England as well as Indy, so they still have a couple rough games left

I hope we don't have 6 losses going into Pitt. If we beat Green Bay we'd be 9-5 going into Pittsburgh unless we lose to Chicago or Detroit, which would probably kill our chances (our last game of the season is not against Pitt, its against Oakland) I think if we beat Green Bay, we go in 9-5 with a chance to clinch with a win over Pittsburgh. I think we lose that game and clinch the next week against Oakland.

Only the out route or the checkdown? In the Viking's game? Did you watch that game? Let's take a look at the video (from NFL.com's highlights of that game, video titled Joe Flacco highlights (http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d81380660/WK-6-Joe-Flacco-highlights) 1st pass: 17 yard out pattern to Clayton. Ok, there's your out pattern right there. 2nd pass: 25 yard corner route to Mason. Hmm, that doesn't seem to be an out route, now does it (btw, there is a difference between an "out route" and an "outside route", which includes such things as outs, corners, outside hook routes, flats, wheels, swings, flys, fades, and any number of hybrid routes.) 3rd pass: 22 yard late releasing flat pattern to Heap there. And notice, by looking at his eyes on that route, that was his 4th read on that play. Certainly seemed to go through his progressions there. Sure its a checkdown, but its not like he was panicking. He held the ball for a good long time, looked right, middle, and left down the field, then found Heap. Not sure what else you wanted him to do on that play. 4th pass: 24 yard corner route to Mason. First repeat route we've had, though it isn't an out route. 5th pass: 24 yard seam route to Heap. Hmm, look at that, over the middle of the field! And he sure read that defense well to drop the pass right in whole between the safety and linebacker. 6th pass: 27 yard skinny post or seam to Washington. Hey look, over the middle again! 7th pass: 32 yard go route for to Clayton for a TD. Read the single coverage, threw a good pass, scored a TD. He sure can't read defenses, can he? Got hit as he threw too, not too much panicking in the face if the blitz there. 8th pass: 64 yard wheel route to Rice. Sure, Rice did a lot of damage on the run there, but that was no checkdown pass there. That was a DESIGNED route and play to Rice. And why not design plays for the most dynamic guy on the field? Seems like a good idea to me. And Joe put the ball in a place where Rice could catch and run. That's not something to take for granted. 9th pass: 12 yard flat route to Mason. Again, not a checkdown. He read the defense, realized no one was covering Mason, and threw it to him. Again, what the hell was he supposed to do, throw it to the guy who is double covered? In total that game, Flacco was 28/43 (65.1%) for 385 yards and 2 TDs with no INTS. The 9 passes I pointed out included one out route and one checkdown, with 2 flat routes, 2 corners, a seam, a skinny post, a go route, and out route, and a wheel route, hitting 5 different receivers and displaying his ability to read defenses (pre- and post-snap) and to go through his progressions. What's more, I could go back to any game and show you the same thing, to a greater or lesser extent. To be clear, I'm not saying that Flacco is without faults, nor do I absolve him from blame in the Cincy games and Colts game. However, to say the Pittsburgh game shows him regressing, or the Viking game displays how he can't read D's or throw anything other than outs and checkdowns is bordering on the ridiculous.

He barely looks to the middle because we rarely run routes over the middle of the field. Most of our routes are to the sidelines or deep. And when people do run routes over the middle (Washington on the 1st drive for the first down, Mason on 3rd an 22 before the 4th down, Rice on 4th down) he does look that way. He did get a little bit happy with Mason and Rice over the past few weeks, but that was a non-issue last night. Clayton had 7 catches for 129 yards, Rice had 5 (and most of them weren't checkdowns, there's a difference between a checkdown and a screen pass or a designed RB route). Heap and Washington both were targeted several times, including Heap in the end zone. But hes not staring down his receivers all that often (and again, all QBs do that from time to time, in the two series of the MNF game I watched, Brees cost himself a TD by doing that and Brady got picked for it.) Also, none of the sacks were a result of him panicking at all. Hell, he didn't have time to panic, the Steelers were on him before he finished his drop. Go back and watch the sacks, Flacco had no shot. When the blitz got there later, he did stand tall and get throws off regardless (the first throw to Clayton on the first drive comes to mind). Was he perfect? No, but to expect him to be is unrealistic.