Conservative Ravens give away win to New England

Deion Branch celebrates a 4th quarter touchdown catch in the Patriots' overtime win over the Ravens.

It was one of those games when your team is up in the 4th quarter and you start thinking about how sweet it will be to see that opposing team's fan at work on Monday and rub in the win.

I mean, the Ravens had a 20-10 lead in the 4th quarter. The lead should have been safe with the Ravens defense, right?

Wrong.

The Ravens, who had been able to move the ball well against the Patriots defense all day, switched to conservative mode on both sides of the ball with the 10 point lead and the Patriots climbed their way back into the game and eventually won 23-20 in overtime.

It was the kind of loss where Ravens fans want to run the coaching staff out of town: Cam Cameron for sticking with Ray Rice too long and refusing to throw down field in the 4th quarter, Gregg Mattison for using the prevent defense, which only prevented the Ravens from winning, and John Harbaugh who elected to punt on a 4th and 1 on the Ravens 47-yard line with 9:10 left in the game, instead of going for it and killing the clock.

Joe Flacco had an excellent day, completing 27 of 35 passes, throwing for 285 yards, 2 TD's and 0 INT's. And yet Cameron didn't trust Flacco to throw down the field in the 4th quarter? I'm sorry, but when you take the girl to the dance, you dance with her. Cameron's erratic treatment of Flacco thus far has been head-scratching and infuriating.

Ray Rice, meanwhile, had trouble getting going all day. He had 28 rushes and 88 yards which comes out to a 3.1 YPC average, yet Cameron put the game on Rice's shoulders in the second half, and failed to adjust when it became apparent that Rice was not able to move the chains. Willis McGahee, meanwhile, didn't get a single snap the entire game. If Cameron was insistent on running the ball to kill the clock, McGahee's fresh legs may have helped.

And the defense didn't help either. In Baltimore, you think that a 10 point lead is safe in the 4th quarter, whether at home or on the road. After all, it's the way the Ravens have won games in the past -- but those were different times when the Ravens had no offense -- and Anquan Boldin, Derrick Mason and TJ Houshmandzadeh were playing in different cities. But the Ravens defense had a hand in the loss, too. The Ravens defense allowed New England put together 2 4th quarter drives that forced overtime: a 4 minute, 8 play drive that resulted in a touchdown to make the score 20-17 and then a 7 minute, 13 play drive that resulted in the game-tying field goal.

And like the conservative play calling on offense, the Ravens defense switched to vanilla schemes, rushing only three linemen, giving Tom Brady ample time to throw in the pocket with zero pressure.

And in overtime, the generic play calling continued. The Ravens were content to engage in a battle of field position with the Patriots when they should have been going for the jugular. A Le'Ron McClain unsportsmanlike conduct penalty backed the Ravens up to their 17 yard line instead of getting the gall at the 27. And on that drive, the Ravens gained 35 yards, which would have put the Ravens around the Patriots 38-yard line. Granted, it would have been a 55-yard field goal, and Billy Cundiff has been nothing but erratic with the Ravens, but when it's for a win on the road, you have to take a shot.

But in the end, it was the Patriots who won that battle. The defense allowed the Patriots to get into field goal range with a 5 minute, 7 play, 45-yard drive that resulted in the game-winning field goal with just under 2 minutes left in overtime.

The media will lap up the Patriots come from behind win and continue to hang from Tom Brady's jock while celebrating the return of WR Deion Branch, who had several clutch catches late in the game. But most intelligent football fans will also realize that the Ravens took their foot off the throat of the Patriots sometime toward the end of the 3rd quarter, and gave the Patriots life.

It's becoming obvious that Cam Cameron has some glaring flaws in his game planning strategy. His refusal to stick with Ray Rice and his 5.4 YPC average in Cincinnati ultimately cost the Ravens the game and his insistence to stick with Rice last Sunday cost the Ravens another game. It's as if the criticism from his time as offensive coordinator in San Diego has followed him to Baltimore and he's learned nothing from it.

That said, if there is anything positive to take away from the loss, it's that the Ravens can learn from their mistakes. If they hadn't taken their foot off the gas pedal late in the game, they could have very well won. This isn't the mid-2000's Ravens anymore where a 10 point lead must be treated carefully like a valuable artifact. We've got a top-tier quarterback in Joe Flacco. We've got three excellent WR's in Boldin, Mason and Houshmandzadeh. There's a reason why Ozzie Newsome brought those guys in here -- and it's to win football games with them.

Yet on Sunday, it felt strangely like 2004 again.

The Ravens take on the Buffalo Bills this Sunday before their bye week on 10/31.

Ravens tame the Broncos, 31-17

Ray Rice had a huge day in the Ravens 31-17 win over the Denver Broncos.

By now, Denver has to hate Baltimore. Even the crabcakes.

The Ravens improved to 5-0 against the Broncos in Baltimore with a 31-17 win.

Ray Rice woke up from his 2010 slumber, rushing for 133 yards and 2 touchdowns. Joe Flacco and Willis McGahee each chipped in with rushing TD's of their own and Flacco also threw for 196 yards, supplementing the Ravens ground game which was in cruise control all day.

And while the Broncos' Kyle Orton threw for 314 yards and 2 TD's, it was mostly of the garbage variety. The Broncos trailed 31-10 during the final 5 minutes of the game. The Ravens defense gave up the passing yardage, but shut down the run, and employed a bend-don't-break mentality all day.

All in all, it was a good sound win as the Ravens improved to 4-1.

Ravens beat Steelers!!! And I was in Cancun!!!

My wife Kelly and I, watching the Ravens vs. Steelers game at the Tequila Barrel in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

Our friends, Jason and Jaime, watching the game with us.

It's been more than a week since the Ravens topped the Steelers 17-14 in what was one of the greatest Ravens wins in franchise history.

Trailing 14-10 with just a minute left in the 4th quarter, Joe Flacco finally devised one of those game-winning drives that all other great QB's have in their portfolio, hitting T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the endzone and silencing the Steeler fans in Pittsburgh. It was the first time the Ravens have won in Pittsburgh since 2006.

The reason for the late blog entry? I was in Cancun.

Was I able to watch it, you ask?

You bet.

I searched far and wide for a bar that was showing the game and finally found one in Playa Del Carmen. It was called the Tequilla Barrel. Cool place. And there was even a Steeler fan there watching the game, too.

So instead of recapping the game, which I am sure has been burned into the brains of Ravens fans by now, I'll share my experience of watching the Ravens beating the Steelers while I was in paradise.

My wife, Kelly, and my friends, Jason and Jaime, decided to go to Cancun for a much needed vacation. We'd never gone on an extended trip together, outside of Ocean City, so it was great to finally have another couple to hang out with at our resort. We arrived on Saturday, October 2nd and stayed the entire week at the NOW Jade Resort just outside of Puerto Morelos, which is about twenty minutes south of Cancun.

Originally, our plan had been to go to Carlos N Charlies, which is also located in Playa Del Carmen, a touristy town about a half an hour south of our resort. We'd heard rumors that the sports bar in our resort would be showing the game, but we didn't want to risk it. If we stayed, and the resort was not showing the game, we'd be screwed -- and miss the game.

So dressed in our Ravens jerseys, the four of us caught the local ADO bus to Playa Del Carmen. Whereas taxis can cost upwards of $30 to get to Playa Del Carmen, the ADO bus cost $1.60. If you're thinking that the local bus in Mexico is like it usually is in the movies, with people holding chickens in the back of a busted van, you couldn't be more wrong. The ADO buses are basically tour buses, the same kind that blue hairs take on their trips to Atlantic City. They are air-conditioned, have a bathroom and show movies.

When we arrived in Playa Del Carmen around eleven o'clock, we scoped out Carlos N Charlies. And when we saw it was closed, Jason began to panic. Since Cancun is an hour behind Eastern Standard Time, the games started at Noon. And with less than an hour to go, we still wanted to be 100% sure that the game would be showed, and now it looked like we'd be waiting until game time to see if the game was going to be aired because we couldn't get a definitely answer if any place would actually be showing the game.

I'd read on TripAdvisor.com that the Tequila Barrel was actually a better place to watch the game. So we headed to the other side of PDC to find it. Along the way, someone we ran into on the street confirmed that the Barrel was indeed better than Carlos N Charlies.

Along the way across town, store owners tried to lure us into their stores. "Flacco, Flacco, Flacco," they called after us, since three of us were wearing Flacco jerseys. They showed us Ravens ponchos. Mostly, they just tried to get our attention so they could sell us their wares. A few people asked us if we wanted to get high.

When we finally found the Tequila Barrel, we were able to confirm that the game was actually going to be showed, along with all of the other NFL games that day, since the bar has the NFL Sunday Ticket. It was also filled with fans of other teams, who had come there for the same reason -- to watch their teams play while on vacation. So we breathed a sigh of relief and ordered some beers, waiting for the game to begin.

Ironically, our friends Jason and Jaime knew another couple, Chris and Kim, who were staying close by in Playa Del Carmen that same weekend. So by the time the game started, we were six deep in the Tequila Barrel, cheering the Ravens on. We were representing!

The game, as Ravens fans know by now, was a certified classic. I nearly lost my voice screaming like a little girl when Flacco hit TJ Houshmandzadeh for the game winning touchdown. The Steeler fan in the bar with us tipped his cap before heading back out into the sunshine and to celebrate, the four of us did shots of pomegranate (purple) tequila.

I went on record saying that it was probably one of the best days of my life.

I still stand by it.

As we headed back toward the ADO bus for the trip back to our resort, a few more people called after us, "Flacco, Flacco, Flacco!" Some of them asked us again, "Do you want to get high?"

We were already high off a Ravens victory...and we still had a week to spend in beautiful Mexico.

It would have been an amazing trip even if the Ravens had lost. The Ravens win was just icing on the cake.