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The problem is: a: the ball never hit Abiamiri b: His foot was not out of bounds until the ball had already hit the ground (in bounds), so even if he had tipped it, it would have been before he was out of bounds. While Coleman was right about it not being reviewable (a la Hochuli earlier in the year), the call on the field was horrid.

My heart would rather us when 28-0 next week

C'mon now Flacco, this is where legends are made.

Saw that too, I was hoping they'd get the punt off before Fisher challenged

I was thinking Mike Nolan

Not gonna happen, according to Olney: Orioles fall behind

With regards to the strength of victory tiebreaker with the Jets, here is how the scenario you laid out is looking (if the Jets beat Miami and lose to Seattle): Those wins that the Jets would have at 10-6 would give them a strength of victory of 65-74-1, based on all team's records right now (including Miami, even though they would have been ensured another loss I did not include it). The Ravens strength of victory is 51-86-3 under those same parameters. So under that scenario, the Jets would win the tiebreaker based on Strength of Victory if it gets that far.

For the first time this season, the following phrase will be seen when the playoff scenarios are released: "The Ravens clinch a playoff berth if:" That's right, the Ravens have a chance, though unlikely, to lock up a playoff berth next Sunday. Here is what needs to happen: - The Ravens must beat Pittsburgh to move to 10-4 - The following 3 teams must lose: NY Jets (vs. Buffalo) New England (@ Oakland) Miami (vs. San Francisco) If this happens, the best any of these teams can do is 10-6, and the worst the Ravens can do is also 10-6. If all 4 teams finish with this record (which can't actually happen, since Miami still plays NY, but that would just eliminate that team from the tiebreaker), then here's what would happen: - The division tiebreaker will bump one team up. - The second place team would be determined by the division tiebreaker first, if a tie for second still exists, as per NFL rules. - The second place team would then be put into the tiebreaker against the Ravens, but: - The Ravens hold the tiebreaker over Miami via the head-to-head matchup. - The Ravens would hold the tiebreaker over the Jets: a win over Pittsburgh makes Baltimore 8-3 in conference, a loss to Buffalo makes NY 6-5 in conference, each with a game to go, so Baltimore would clinch that tiebreaker. - The Ravens would hold the tiebreaker over New England, who is currently 5-5 in conference, and would move to 5-6 with a loss in to Oakland. There are no other teams that can finish better than 9-7 that are not already in position for the playoffs. Therefore, this scenario would give the Ravens a playoff berth. Like I said, this is unlikely (though San Fran did just beat NY, and New England nearly lost to Seattle), but its certainly within the realm of possibility. Just a little something to get y'all even more fired up for Sunday.

Did you see the stat about most consecutive games with a touchdown for a rookie, all time? 1. Peyton, 13 2. Flacco, 8 2. Namath, 8 4. Roethlisberger, 7 I'd say that is some pretty decent company.

The most underrated move the Ravens made in the draft this year was trading that 4th round pick for Fabian Washington. He's been playing extremely well the past few weeks, which has lessened the impact of our banged up secondary and allowed to defense to be on lockdown. He's showing why he was a 1st round pick a few years back. A true steal this year for Ozzie, I hope he can keep it up through Pittsburgh and Dallas, because we are going to need that contribution.

Ugly win, but I'll take it. That last drive was the exception though, that was pretty, even if Flacco underthrew the ball.

I think Rice is already hurt though, unless he came back into the game and I didn't notice.

I think he's just uptight, maybe he needs to loosen up and have a dri... oh, right. Nevermind.

The degree to which it is punished, however, is disproportionate to the severity of the crime (which it shouldn't be in the first place). If a 20 year old is drinking, just the act of him or her drinking is not hurting a damn person. However, if he walks home and a cop passes him, notices he smells like alcohol, and writes him up for it, that person can face fines and (depending on the attitude of the institution) get thrown completely out of school. Which is insane, because "expelled from such and such" has to be on every subsequent application and every resume that student makes for the rest of their lives, which severely impacts, well, everything. This does not, of course, extend to things like DUIs, but these already have laws against them, so they fall in a separate category. That whole comparison is completely bunk. Your example, the age limit on senior citizen benefits, isn't based on not being old enough to responsibly make a decision on whether or not to receive them, but on setting a reasonable time in which to provide for the needs of failing health, retirement, etc. The issue here, is that you have two incongruous limits being set for similar purposes. The 18 year old age limit for pretty much everything in this country other than drinking (smoking, legal adult, military service, etc.) is set because it is at this age, in the eyes of the government, that a person has the mental capacity and experience to smoke (which, by the way, can give you CANCER, which makes it a fairly important life decision), deal with their finances, sign legally binding documents, put their life on the line for their country, and all manner of other things. To turn around and say that one can do all these things and weigh them responsibly, but cannot have a beer responsibly, is, quite frankly, ludicrous. As I and dc have both said, there are many other (and most probably better) reasons for a drinking age of 18, but this particular one show just how crazy even the rationale behind this law actually is. If you are seriously trying to compare laws stopping people from doing things like murder, rape, steal, etc, to laws stopping people from doing things that hurt absolutely no one, like drinking, and do not affect society as a whole one iota, then you need to go re-examine something. As for the pro-marijuana thing, let me just say: I don't smoke marijuana, but the fact that it is illegal while smoking tobacco is not is absolutely absurd. Marijuana is not physically addictive, tobacco is (You could argue that it can be psychologically addictive, but then, so can pretty much anything). Marijuana will not cause long-term health effects, smoking tobacco likely will. And yet, it is marijuana that is prosecuted, fills up prisons, costs billions of dollars to try and fight, and for what? Legalizing (and controlling) marijuana will eliminate overcrowding in prisons, allow the focus on actual harmful substances, and save the government lots of money. And I'm sorry, scum of the earth? Excuse me, but do explain how people like me are the "scum of the earth" because, honestly, I don't see how you could call anyone who wants a bit more reason and a bit more freedom in our country scum.

There are many arguments for it, but my personal favorite is that if the government thinks that you are old enough to make a conscious decision to put your life on the line by enlisting in the armed forces, then it should recognize that you are also old enough to make the decision on whether or not to have a beer. That has always been mind-boggling to me.

As a fellow (well, former fellow) attendee of a NY college (upstate, but not quite so upstate as Syracuse), I do not understand how you survive without drinking. :P I mean hell, there are weeks there when you can't see the sun due to the fact its cloudy all the damn time. Depressing as all get out. That, and there is nothing to do in Troy, NY.

... the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified on this date in 1933 by Utah, the 36th state to do so, thereby fulfilling the requirement that it be ratified by 3/4 of the states. The 21st Amendment, of course, overturned the 18th Amendment and therefore ended 14 years of Prohibition in America. So go celebrate by getting yourself wasted! (And call a cab!) B)

Well, 2 more wins wouldn't win us the division, as I doubt that Pittsburgh is going to go 0-4 from here on out, and with tiebreakers they would need to finish 9-7 if we go 10-6. So, we would need two more wins plus each of New England and Miami to lose a game, which would be enough as long as one of the teams we beat is an AFC team. Miami's toughest game is against the Jets in Week 17 (which might be negated if they are locked into a seed by that point) and they play Buffalo, which could be difficult. New England's only really tough game is Arizona, plus a Week 17 game against Buffalo (who will probably have nothing to play for at this point). I'd much rather go 3-1, that would guarantee us a playoff spot so long as we don't end up in a wild-card tiebreaker Jets (which we would probably win anyway, but there is a slight chance we wouldn't)

No, the Patirots don't equal the Dolphins. A common opponent is a game that both us and the Steelers have played. With the schedule the way it is, the common opponents are these: Cincinnati (twice each) Cleveland (twice each) Houston Indianapolis Tennessee Jacksonville NY Giants Dallas Washington Philadelphia. In total, that is 12 of each of the teams 16 games. 2 more come from the games against each other. That leaves only two "uncommon games" for each team: Ravens: Dolphins and Raiders Steelers: Patriots and Chargers So, if the Steelers lose to the Patriots, then if the teams finish tied, the Steelers will have the tiebreaker because they have to have one more win in the "common games" to make up for the loss in the "uncommon games." Here's an example: Say both the Steelers and Ravens finish 11-5, with the Ravens beating the Steelers on 12/14 (the only way the tiebreaker can apply. Against Oakland and Miami, the Ravens went 2-0 Against the Steelers, they went 1-1 Thus, in the 12 common games, the Ravens went 8-4 Now, assume that the Steelers lose to the Patriots Against New England and San Diego, the Steelers would be 1-1 Against the Ravens, they would be 1-1 Thus, in the 12 common games, they'd be 9-3, one game better than the Ravens Plug in any tied record for 11-5, and the result would be the same, its simple arithmetic. It is the Patriots that matter, not the Titans. As far as SoV goes, that will be hard to decipher until later in the year, since so many things can change in team's records by then. However, at the moment the Steelers have the advantage (the numbers are in the last thread, don't feel like adding them up again).

Yes, common games are only games with the same opponent. If the Ravens and Steelers end the season tied, the Ravens cannot win the common games tiebreaker. If the Steelers beat the Patriots, the common games tiebreaker would be tied. If the Steelers lose to the Patriots, the Steelers would win the common games tiebreaker (assuming the Ravens and Steelers ended tied. In the Steelers vs pats thread a couple posts back, I explained this in a little more detail.

Right, but with the way the schedules work out, every team in a division has 12 common games, 2 games against each other, and 2 uncommon games. In order for this tiebreaker to be relevant, the 2 games against each other must be split, so each team has a 1-1 record in these. Our common games with Pittsburgh are: Cincinnati (2) B 1-0, P 2-0 Cleveland (2) B 2-0, P 1-0 The AFC South teams (Houston, Indy, Tennessee, Jacksonville) B 1-2, P 2-1 (Jacksonville, Tennessee) The NFC East teams (Washington, Dallas, NY, Philly) B 1-1 P 1-2 (Washington & Dallas, Dallas) Total: B 5-3, 4 games left, P 6-3, 3 games left Our uncommon games are these: Baltimore: Miami, Oakland Pittsburgh: San Diego, New England Now, we are 2-0 in those uncommon games. If Pittsburgh loses to NE, they will be 1-1. This means that combined with the 1-1 split from each other, we'd be at 3-1 and Pittsburgh would be 2-2. That means that, if there were a tie, Pittsburgh would have to have 1 more win in those 12 common games, meaning that they would win that tiebreaker. At this point, it is mathematically impossible for us to win the common games tiebreaker, we could only tie is Pitt beats NE. The fact is, we will almost certainly need to make up TWO games on Pittsburgh in order to win the division. Strength of Victory current status: Pittsburgh 37-48-3, Baltimore 27-48-2. Though the caveat is this could change wildly from week to week.

Yeah, the only possible way we win a tie with the Steelers is if they lose to both us and the Browns, unless something crazy happens in the strength of victory tiebreaker. If they beat the Browns, then one of the following occurs: Pitt beats NE: Pitt at worst ties tiebreaker on AFC record (worst they could finish after beating Cleveland and NE is 9-3, best we could finish is 9-3, and Pitt would likely claim the strength of victory tiebreaker by virtue of the fact that one of their victories would be against NE, while one of hours would be against Oakland (most other records are pretty much the same.) Pitt loses to NE: Pitt wins on common games tiebreaker (say both teams finish 11-5: The Ravens will be 2-0 in uncommon games (Oakland and Miami) and therefore 9-5 in common games. The Steelers will be 1-1 in uncommon games (San Diego and NE) and therefore 10-4 in common games) Realistically, I think its going to be tough sledding for the division, so I think our best bet is to hope NE loses (since we hold the tiebreaker over them (they are currently 5-4 in conference, we're 6-3, so a loss to Pitt will put us a game up and 2 up in the tiebreaker, provided we beat Cincy) and hope that by some chance Dallas and Tennessee can beat Pitt)

Because I'm not tired even though I have to be up for work in 5 hours, I decided to take a little look at the way things are shaping up with regard to the playoff picture. It is a bit early to be looking at this still, but I think that it might prove useful. First the Ravens Schedule, and my feel as to what will happen (T means tossup): @ Cincinnati (W) vs Washington (W) vs Pittsburgh (T) @ Dallas (L) vs Jacksonville (W) Looking at this, Cincy should be a win, as should Jacksonville, a team which is 4-7 and who we have at home. I also think Washington is a team we have a pretty decent chance of beating, especially since we are at home. I think they aren't quite as good as their record (the Rams beat them, the Seahawks almost did). I think we lose against Dallas, mainly because of our beat up secondary. Pittsburgh is, like always, a toss up, though I think we have a slight advantage in that game. If all this pans out, we'd be at 10-6 or 11-5 (pending Pittsburgh). Here are what I would call the teams which we are in the most direct competition with, along with their schedules and my gut feeling on what happens in these games: Pittsburgh (8-3): @ New England (T) vs Dallas (T) @ Baltimore (T) @ Tennessee (L) vs Cleveland (W) Indianapolis (7-4): @ Cleveland (W) vs Cincinnati (W) vs Detroit (W) @ Jacksonville (W) vs Tennessee (T) New England (7-4): vs Pittsburgh (T) @ Seattle (W) @ Oakland (W) vs Arizona (T) @ Buffalo (W) I think that Indianapolis will get one of the wild card spots, they have a ridiculously easy schedule the rest of the way. Given the fact that they own the tiebreaker over us, New England, and Pittsburgh, I think they are a fairly strong lock for the no. 5 seed, with at least an 11-5 record. That leaves three teams and two spots, the probable 3 seed for the North division winner, and the no 6 seed for the last wild card spot (assuming Tennessee hangs on for the 1, the Jets take the 2, and Denver takes the 4). The Pittsburgh/New England game will really be a win/lose situation for the Ravens: If New England wins: WIN: - The Steelers lose a game and drop into (most likely) a tie with the Ravens after next week. LOSE: - The Patriots remain tied with the Ravens in the wild-card - The Steelers would ensure that, unless they lose to Cleveland, ANY tie in the division would favor them. If the Steelers beat the Ravens and the division ends in a tie, then they have the upper hand based on having beaten us twice. If the Steelers lose to the Ravens, the race ends in a tie, and Pittsburgh beats Cleveland, then both the Ravens and Steelers will have a 5-1 division record. As a result, the tie would be broken by games vs common opponent. The only two uncommon opponents are that the Ravens played the Raiders and Dolphins (against whom we went 2-0) while the Steelers played the Chargers and Patriots (against whom, under this scenario, they'd be 1-1). This means that in the case of a tie, the Steelers would be one game better against common opponents, and would win the division If Pittsburgh wins: WIN: - The Patriots drop a game behind the Ravens and two back amongst AFC teams, which would be the tiebreaker. LOSE: - We remain a game behind the Steelers, who would still likely own the tiebreaker (via conference record) in the event of a tie. If the Patriots win this game, it will be imperative that we beat the Steelers to go to 11-5, and even that may not be enough. If the Patriots end up beating Arizona, then they would most likely be 12-4, and likely out of our reach for the wild card. Since the Steelers own all of the tiebreak scenarios, we would then need to be a game up on them at the end of the year, and since I don't think they'll finish 9-7, we would NEED to be 11-5 and hope the Steelers go 10-6 at best. If the Steelers win, 11-5 is slightly less of an imperative, so long as Arizona can beat New England (or, in a longer shot, Buffalo does). We will likely own the tiebreaker over New England in this case, so long as we don't lose two AFC teams. The upshot of this already extremely too long post is that even if the Ravens go 4-1 the rest of the way to finish 11-5, making the playoffs is still a slightly dicey proposition. I could see a very plausible scenario where an 11-5 team in the AFC misses the playoffs entirely. There is at least a semi-decent chance that all 4 teams mentioned here go 11-5 (Indianapolis loses to Tenn, Pittsburgh loses to Baltimore and Tenn, Baltimore loses to Dallas, and NE loses to Pittsburgh), which would knock NE out at 11-5, or that one team goes 12-4 and the rest go 11-5 (NE wins out, Indy loses to Tenn, Pittsburgh loses to NE and Tenn, Baltimore loses to Pitt) and knocks the 11-5 Ravens out. In sum, the playoffs are still a slightly dicey proposition. Don't start printing tickets quite yet.