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Unlikely Hero Saves Raven's

2005-12-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last entry the Ravens played the team with the worst record in the league this week, the Houston Texans. I was worried about this game, not because the Texans are a good team, but how embarrassed I knew I was going to feel if the Ravens lost this game. Luckily enough they pulled off another win, with a great last minute drive by the unlikely hero, Kyle Boller.

Kyle Boller walked onto the field with just about one minute and a half left on the clock, and no time outs. The Ravens where down by 2 points at this point, and three of their starting offensive linemen are out of the game due to injuries. Despite these odds Boller led the Ravens to a great game winning drive, with Matt Stover’s field goal with six seconds left making the final 16-15.

Once again this game was a disappointing one to watch. The game was full of fumbles, interceptions, dropped passes, and stupid penalties. I say it every week that we manage to win a game, “A win is a win.”

I had some horrible thoughts today though. Now that the season seems to have come to a miserable end for the Ravens I found myself actually wanting the Ravens to lose. Not because I don’t like them anymore, but the team with the worst record gets a better draft choice, and since I belief that the Ravens need a quarterback and running back, we need a top 5 pick. Every game we win now kind of just ruins our chance of getting a great college player in the draft. I think Reggie Bush would look good in the Ravens Black and Purple.

Next week the Ravens have the Denver Broncos who has an explosive running offense. Lets hope that all the key players that are injured now will be healthy by next weeks game.

Some Signs of Hope

2005-12-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

The Ravens were getting absolutely slaughtered in the first half of their match up this week against the Cincinnati Bengal’s. The score was 34-0, and the Ravens where showing no signs of stopping the Bengal’s explosive offense. However, in the second half the Ravens scored 29 points, the most they have scored all season, and the final was 42-29, making the game at least a little respectable.

There is not much more to say about the Ravens. The Bengal’s are a young and extremely talented team, led by wide receiver Chad Johnson, and quarterback Carson Palmer. The two combined for 88 yards and a touchdown on Sunday’s game. Chad Johnson’s teammate both in College at Oregon State, and now on the Bengal’s, T.J. Houshmanzadeh had a career high 147 yards and a touchdown in the game as well.

Although the Ravens lost the game Kyle Boller did show some talent against a good defense. Also our tight end, Todd Heap had two touchdowns and some truly amazing catches.

New week the Ravens play the worst team in the league, the Houston Texans, who have only won one game all season. Fingers crossed the Ravens can get another W.

What an ugly win

2005-12-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows a win is a win, but this game was so pathetic that at one point it looked like the game might actually end in a tie. However, luckily enough the Ravens broke their four game loosing streak, defeating our rival the Pittsburg Steelers in a 16-13 overtime victory.

Nothing about this game was pretty. In my opinion the only reason the Ravens won is because Tommy Maddox, the Steelers quarterback, may actually be worse than Kyle Boller.

Both teams failed to develop any kind of offense, and really did not even look that impressive on defense. The Ravens still have critical injuries to their two defensive stars, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.

Next week the Ravens play the intimidating and talented Cincinnatti Bengals, for yet another big division rivalry. Lets hope the Ravens can get this season back on track and end with a bang.

For a full game recap, click here.

Forget this season, how bout next!

2005-11-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

Ravens fans were anticipating a good game this week against the Jacksonville Jaquars, with Kyle Boller, our starting quarterback returning from injury, but of course we were disappointed. Boller played like he did last year, pathetic. He went 19/33 for 142 yards, and did not through any touchdowns. Worse than this however is he threw three interceptions, which crushes any kind of offensive productivity we may have been developing. The final score was 30-3, as we once again went on to get crushed.

So as I mentioned last week I just can’t talk about the Ravens losing anymore. It’s hard to keep up with my entries when week to week I bash my favorite team. So as I said last week I am going to talk about who I hope the Ravens are going to get in the 2006 NFL draft.

Ok so obviously the top picks in the draft are Matt Leinart from USC, last years Heisman Trophy winner, his teammate Reggie Bush, and probably Vince Young from the University of Texas. Although the Ravens would love to get any of these guys, it’s highly unlikely since the worst records get the early picks, and surprisingly enough the Ravens don’t have the worst record. The Ravens definitely need a quarterback, and since Young and Leinart will probably be gone, I hope that Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn comes out of the draft. Quinn has an amazing arm, and is being coached by X-NFL coach Charlie Weis which gives him a large advantage over most other players. Quinn is only a junior this year, but if he decides to leave the NCAA and enter the draft, he should be the Ravens 1st pick.

Getting Crushed in the Division!

2005-11-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

The Ravens played the Cincinnati Bengal’s this week in a big division match up. The Bengal’s, who in the past have been horrible, with a weak defense and unproductive offense, has made some large improvements this year. They are lead by quarterback Carson Palmer, from USC, and wide receiver Chad Johnson, from Oregon State.

Well the Bengal’s seemed to once again prove too much for the Ravens, as Baltimore went on to lose yet another game, with the final ending 21-9. All of out points came from our kicker, Matt Stover. Carson Palmer through for close to 300 yards and two touchdowns, passing 95 of those yards to Chad Johnson on five receptions.

The Ravens still did not have their defensive leaders, Ed Reed and Ray Lewis to prevent Cincinnati from moving the ball all over the field. Along with Palmer’s big day, Rudy Johnson also rushed for 97 yards on 29 carries and a touchdown.

There is nothing really to say anymore about the Ravens. We have lost almost every game this season, and with a depleted offense and defense due to injury, Ravens fans can not expect for any changes. As long as the Steelers and Bengal’s keep winning, the Ravens best chance is lose every game to gain a better draft pick. My next entry will be a quick summary on the game, but focus more on who I hope the Ravens will get in the 2006 NFL draft.

Monday Night Madness

2005-11-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well the Ravens had the Monday night game this weekend, which I was extremely worried about. The last thing I need is to be embarrassed of my team during a nationally televised game. And to make the situation worse, they were playing the Pittsburg Steelers who are in their division and also they are my roommates favorite team.

The Ravens however fought hard and after a long and grueling game lost 20-19, making their record 2-5. Derrick Mason had an exceptional game, catching 7 balls for a total of 91 yards. Jamal Lewis once again failed to perform, however Chester Taylor was impressive catching balls out of the back field, and scoring a great diving touchdown. The majority of our points came from Matt Stover, who went 4-5, giving us a total of 12 points on field goals. The Steelers team was lead by sensational rookie tight-end Heath Miller, catching two goal line touchdown passes.

Every week I feel it comes down to the same arguments. The Ravens CAN NOT WIN WITHOUT A QUARTERBACK!!! I feel like I am going crazy. We got lucky and had an amazing defense when we won the Super bowl, but even then we had a weak offense. Why don’t we make a trade or draft a new quarterback. I understand that our coaches are confident in Kyle Boller, but he is injured, and when he is playing he is not impressive anyway. Ravens fans from around the world are waiting for a young, talented quarterback like Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, or Carson Palmer, to come and lead us to a successful season.

This year there are tons of talented quarterbacks in the NCAA, including Matt Leinert from USC, and Brady Quinn from Notre Dame. I only hope the Ravens are seriously considering drafting someone of this caliber for next year, because we really need their help.

Next week the Ravens play the Cincinnati Bengal’s, who are currently in first place in our division. Let’s hope that the Ravens can solve some of their problems and bring a W to the city of Baltimore.

It Hurts Sooo Much

2005-10-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

I can’t hide my disappointment anymore. I have two roommates who happen to be Cincinnati and Pittsburg fans, who just happen to be the top two teams in the AFC North. At the beginning of the year we had multiple arguments about how the three teams would be battling for first place in the division, but that of course is not the case.

The Ravens lost yet another game this year giving them an overall record of 2-4. Their offense was unproductive once again, only rushing for 64 yards, and passing for 164. The only positive that can be taken from this game that there were no interceptions thrown. However, Anthony Wright did fumble the call 2 times which ruined some potentially good drives. The final score was 10-6, as the Chicago bears embarrassed us once again.

Now as I mentioned in one of my earlier blog entries, if the ravens where losing to decent teams I would be able to look passed it. However, the Bears are far from a good team, with Kyle Orton throwing the ball and a sub-par receiving core. The Ravens offense lacked any creativity and when they where in the red-zone they could never complete their drive for a touchdown, and always had to settle for a field goal.

I don’t know what to expect from the ravens right now. I am so upset by their play up to this point I can barely see them winning another game. We need to find a leader, a quarterback who can orchestrate a game winning drive and lead our team to victory, instead of the turnover kings and babies who keep getting injured week to week.

Ravens Defense Steps it Up!!!

2005-10-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

Baltimore’s defense played an outstanding game this week forcing three interceptions and sacking ex-teammate Trent Dilfer four times in their 16-3 win over Cleveland.

Although their offense was still not exceptional by any means, Baltimore maintained ball control by running the ball with Chester Taylor who rushed for 92 yards, including a career best 52 yard scramble late in the game. They also had success throwing the ball to tight end, Todd Heap, who had the only games touchdown.

Ray Lewis who had one of Baltimore’s interceptions, and recovered a crucial fumble by Trent Dilfer on Cleveland’s 20 yard line which led to Todd Heaps touchdown, said that he took this game as a personal challenge. He has been disappointed by the performance of the defense who are usually known for long defensive touchdowns, and highlight video plays.

Next week the Ravens have the Chicago Bears, led by pro-bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher, who are coming off an impressive win against Minnesota. The Bears have an impressive running game, led by Thomas Jones, but it will be interesting to see how he does against Ray Lewis, and the swarming Baltimore Defense.

For full game stats click here

Its Not Looking Good!!

2005-10-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

This week the Baltimore Ravens had to take on the Detroit Lions. The Lions (2-2), who have not had a good start to the season, dominated the play clock by maintaining a strong rushing attack. Their running back, Kevin Jones, scored two first quarter touchdowns; as the Lions went on to embarrass the Ravens 35-17.

Baltimore (1-3) lost defensive end Terrell Suggs and safety B.J. Ward because of ejections late in the third quarter in a game in which officials seemed quick to flag the visitors. The ejection of B.J. Ward was extremely controversial, and seemed to be a massive turning point in the game.

The Ravens failed once again to develop any kind of offense. Even though Anthony Wright did throw for two touchdowns, he also through two crucial interceptions. The Ravens lack of offensive production has been an ongoing problem for the last 5 years, even when we won the Superbowl because of our outstanding defense. The Ravens seemed to lack concentration in the game, they committed far to many penalties and lost their composure.

Next week the Ravens play the Cleveland Browns, who quarter back is Trent Dilfer. Dilfer was the quarterback for the Ravens when they won the Superbowl only a couple of years ago. Baltimore has lots to do before next weeks game before they can expect to win games.

For full game stats click here

Finally a WIN!!!!!!

2005-10-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

Well after a horrible start to the season the Ravens have finally picked up there first W. Who cares if it happened to be against a team who had to bring a 42 year old man, Vinny Testeverde, out of retirement due to their lack of a starting quarterback.

The Ravens played against the New York Jets this weekend and won the game 13-3. The Jets regular starting quarterback Chad Pennington is out due to injury and so third string quarterback Brooks Bollinger started. Bollinger, who has never started a single game in his three year professional career, looked shaky on Sunday to say the least. Not exactly the easiest defense to come out and play against, with Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Chris McAllister. Baltimore’s running back, Jamal Lewis finally had a decent game rushing for 81 yards on 29 carries and scored Baltimore’s only touchdown. That puts our season total at 3...OUCH!!

We completely failed to develop any kind of passing game as Anthony Wright went 15-21 and 144 passing yards. He also through a interception and failed to complete a touchdown pass. With the offensive weapons of Todd Heap, Derrick Mason and out new rookie wide receiver, I believe Wright has the targets he needs to be more successful. However, only time will tell, and with no one left to replace Wright we just have to wait it out, and hope for the best.

Next week the Ravens play the Detroit Lions who are also having a rough start to the season. Let’s just hope we can gain some momentum and come back from our disappointing start.

For more information on the Ravens and their season click here.

Another sad defeat!!

2005-09-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

After a disappointing opening season loss to the Colts the Ravens played the Tennessee Titans this week. The Titans were coming off an embarassing season opener against the Pittsburg Steelers (2-0) and seemed determined to play more flawless football. The Ravens starting quarterback Kyle Bowler was unable to start due to his injury he recieved in last weeks match up. However, as i mentioned in my last post, a lot of Ravens fans have felt that Anthony Wright, Bowlers back up, was the more competent and accurate quaterback.

The game however showed otherwise. Against a team with no real wide reciever threat, and a running back conflict, we were still unable to orchastrate a win and the final score was 25-10.

In my opinion the largest problem was the inability for the ravens to establish any kind of a running game. With one of the top rushers in the league, Jamal Lewis, and not 1, not 2, but 3 pro-bowl offensive linemen, surely we would have some sort of running game. Afterall before Jamal spent his summer in Jail it was only two seasons ago that he rushed for the single game rushing record, and is now second all time in single season rushing yards.

The Ravens now have a bye week this week, which will hopefully give them time to workout the problems that they have had. The play the Jets at home on Sunday, October 2nd at 4:05 PM.

For full game stats click here

Rough Start to the Season!

2005-09-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well the season started for the Ravens this Sunday with the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are lead by Payton Manning, who last year broke Dan Marino's single season touchdown record, with 49 touchdowns. The Ravens are lead by their defense and the dominate play by Ray Lewis their middle linebacker.

Sadly enough the Ravens excelent defense was not enough to contain Manning and the colts. The final score of the game was 24-7 in favor of the Colts. Some Ravens fans may think that starting the season off with a loss is a bad sign. However, eventhough we lost, there are alot of positives that can be taken from this weeks game.

Our new wide reciever Derrick Mason, who we acquired from the Titans during the off season had a great game, and should really help our passing offense start putting up some respectable numbers. Eventhough Jamal Lewis did not post good numbers, I think this is basically in part to the fact that since we fell behind early in the game we had to limit the amount of running and try to get into the endzone quickly with our passing game.

Now as any good ravens fan knows we have had huge quarterback problems over the past few years. Kyle Bowler was said to be our starting quarterback, but after having a decent first half, he was injured during the game which meant that Anthony Wright will now be our starting quaterback. Wright looked strong in the game despite his turnovers. He looked far more comfortable running our offense then Bowler did, and I believe with more time could have turned the game around.

In my opinion what hurt the Ravens the most this week was missed field goals by our usually automatic kicker, Matt Stover, and penalties. Must importantly a 86 yard kick off run brought back due to a penalty and a crucial face mask call on 3rd down which gave the colts the chance to continue their drive.

All in all despite out lose, I feel we were playing a team that could potentially win it all this year, and if we can limit our penalties we will have a great season.

For full game stats click here

Football season around the corner

2005-09-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

The 2005 NFL football season starts this week on Thursday, September 8th. The opening game this year is going to be between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders.

Oakland has a new look this year, returning after a dissappointing season last year, they made some huge moves in the off season. Most importantly they signed Randy Moss and Lamont Jordan to help with their below average offense. Randy Moss is one of the superstar players in the NFL with better recieving numbers then any other player in the NFL. Lamont Jordan has been traded from the New York Jets after not getting nearly enough playing time due to the fact that he was Curtis Martins back up. Lamont spent last year as a third down back with limited carries, so it will be interesting to see what kind of numbers he can put up with 20+ carries a game.

The patriots are coming off yet another Super Bowl winning season, and really lost no one vital to their success in the off season. It will be a good match up and one that football fans around the world have been waiting to see.

ITS FOOTBALL SEASON BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!

For more information and the rest of the season schedule and highlights click here