SpearSrai

Either Pagano or Mattison would be fine. I would expect very little dropoff if any in our defense next year.

Despite popular belief, it's actually possible to score touchdowns in the red zone without throwing the fade route.

What if Heyward-Bey is already gone? Maclin and Harvin are the deep threats we need! Height is overrated. It's all about routes and speed.

I'm confident that we would destroy the Eagles in the Super Bowl. But Arizona? Wuh oh. We can't even stop Justin Gage, no less Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Yeah, I don't think I'll be picking Baltimore over Arizona if it comes to that... So.... Go Eagles! For our sake.

So what you're saying is running a Tim-Tebow-style-fake-QB-run Pass in a Goal-To-Go situation isn't the most effective playcalling against Pittsburgh? Interesting theory TC.

Landry and C-Mac are good tacklers. That's why they're on IR. ;) Our corners just aren't tough enough to be strong tacklers. If Fabian started laying people out, he wouldn't last a game.

Contrary to popular belief, we can actually score a lot of points when we want to. Cam Cameron just doesn't want to. He's so worried about turning the ball over that he's afraid of putting the ball in our veteran QB's hands. Think about this... if Cam Cameron was calling our offense against our own D, which is definitely susceptible to the pass (its only weakness, actually), would he still call the games the way he has been? Would Cameron jam the ball inside against our Ravens D play after play, despite futulity? Think about it. He just might! This exercise offers a bit of insight into the mindset of opposing coordinators. We as Ravens fans are all sitting around saying "Why don't our opponents pass more? We can't stop them! Thank God they keep running right into Ngata and Co.!" But from their perspective, they just don't want to risk turning it over to Reed and Co. It's not until the game is on the line that teams finally commit to passing, and carve us up. We need to commit to passing and carve up the overrated Steelers defense before they do it to us.

Taken from John Clayton's 'conclusion' about the game: You have to put your money on the Steelers. Although it's hard to beat a division rival three teams, the Steelers have a defense that can stop the run and pressure Flacco into mistakes. Plus, the Steelers won't be surprised by anything the Ravens try. The Steelers are peaking at the right time -- they are healthy, Parker is running well and Roethlisberger couldn't have been any sharper against the Chargers. To reiterate... "Plus, the Steelers won't be surprised by anything the Ravens try." This is what I'm afraid of. Not because the Steelers are so well-prepared, but because I'm afraid that our coaches (see: Cam Cameron) won't try anything risky (see: try to score touchdowns) in this game. Playing not to lose against Pittsburgh = fail. Does anyone think he will actually try to open it up a bit more in this game? Because the Steelers will definitely open it up against us. The best thing that happened to us against Tennessee was them scoring early. Instead of being distraught, I thought to myself "Thank God. Now we will have to actually try to score a touchdown." And then we did.

On another note, I definitely agree that the playcalling is far too conservative. In the last Pittsburgh game it was too conservative, and it was again on Saturday. Flacco doesn't struggle against these defenses as much as our coaches think he does. Let him throw the ball to Rice out of the backfield and pick up 4-6 yards a pop instead of trying to jam McClain through a pinhole every play. We could have very easily lost this game, and I've never been narrow-minded enough to think of football as "wins and losses" only. If Cam called these tough games the way he called our "easier" games, I think he would be pleasantly surprised with Flacco's ability to move the ball through the air on 1st and 2nd down, rather than putting him in 3rd-and-long situations every series. I'm not asking for high-risk passes...but I also don't think Flacco will make high-risk throws anyway. He hasn't lately at least. Every time we unchain him, he impresses everyone. Cameron just needs to have faith in our offensive line and our young quarterback.

It was very loud. Louder than Miami by far, and not nearly as many Ravens fans this time around. Yes, there were a large number of Ravens fans in the city, but Nashville has a very centralized downtown area. Even 500 Ravens fans would look like 5,000 there. There may have been a lot of fans in certain sections, like behind the Ravens bench, but they definitely weren't as spread out and numerous as in Miami. Walking around the stadium before the game, after the game, and during breaks, it was pretty obvious. In Miami you couldn't turn around without running into a group of Ravens-faithful. In Tennessee you had to seek them out. As I posted elsewhere, we were in section 104 and were 2 of the only Ravens fans in the entire section. When the Ravens did something good, you could hear a pin drop around us. It was very awkward.

If it was Steelers fans I would probably laugh at them more. I just feel bad for Titans fans, after being the only Ravens fans in our entire section on Saturday. They're not ridiculous and over-the-top like the guys in Philly and Pittsburgh... they're just kind and simple folks that wanted to see their team win. I didn't even really feel like cheering when Collins threw his final incompletion of the game. I was happy for myself and our team, but felt bad for the city of Nashville. With some exceptions, most of them were respectful and accomodating. Now Steelers and Eagles fans, on the other hand...

The Titans, Giants, and Panthers were all well-rested. I'll take the team that just got out of a dog-fight over the team that walked in to the AFC Championship. An injury here or there isn't going to break this game open. Our guys will drag themselves onto the field if they have to. Leron McClain and Chris Johnson both hurt their ankles during the game. McClain had his retaped and got back in. CJ stayed on the sideline because he didn't have to look Ray Lewis in the eyes the next day.

It's actually a real product... I'm speechless. The creator is a woman... a breast-cancer survivor.

I think we're primarily afraid of giving up the big play, which is why our corners play off so much. The fact that we're always blitzing our safeties and linebackers doesn't help any... especially when they're not getting to the QB. When we blitz a SS and LB and both are picked up, obviously there is going to be a huge hole in the coverage. What C-Mac brought to the table was a physical presence at the corner position. He could make tackles on RB's, but he would also bully receivers with his physical style of play. Gage and co. wouldn't be getting free releases with the 6'1 McAlister on them. But more than anything, we need to find a way to get pressure on the QB. I don't think we're playing it safe... I just think our blitzes are getting picked up too easily.

If it was an INT, the Steelers come out and take a knee, and game over. If not, they have to play defense, and there is a risk of injury... which is why Darren Sproles then ripped off a 62 yard run.

The more I hear about the game, the more I think we've got this one pinned down. We may just shock the Titans' D today. 27-10 Ravens

Is Laurinaitis/Maualuga a huge upgrade over Tavares Gooden? Is Tavares expected to make a full recovery in the offseason?

All 4 guys can't go before we pick... Right? ... Teams have much bigger needs than WR, I have to imagine.

I know I won't get much sleep tonight... but that's because I just crashed in my hotel after driving for 12 hours. We're going to try to get to the stadium early tomorrow... I expect there to be a lot going on before the game with our heavy turnout. Now let's just hope Heap catches a few passes........ for first downs.

Anthony Gonzalez is faster, runs better routes, and catches the ball better than most white guys... maybe he'd qualify. Todd Heap used to have the big-catch ability of Fitz, but those days are obviously long gone.

We're in Nashville right now, and you'll be glad to know that this place is crawling with Ravens fans. I think the entire floor in my hotel is Ravens-devotees.

What would be the NFL-equivalent of a poor-man's Larry Fitzgerald? I don't know what happens when you take one of the most talented WR's of all time and then strip him down to a 'poor-man's version'.

....thanks crav. That wasn't quite the point.

We already have a linebacker replacement... he just happens to be on IR at the moment.

The 2006 Gators weren't that far from an NFL defense...