Ravens eventually blowout Panthers

Ray Rice celebrates a touchdown in the Ravens 37-13 win over the Panthers.

The Ravens improved to 7-3 for the second time in team history yesterday with a "closer than the scoreboard indicates" 37-13 win over the 1-9 Carolina Panthers.

It was closer than expected due to some Raven turnovers and a lackluster offensive performance that allowed the Panthers to get back into the game, 20-13 early in the 4th quarter. But two interceptions returned for TD's within 11 seconds made the score 37-13.

The blowout was eventually realized.

It was the kind of game that drives critical Ravens fans nuts. The Panthers, who are as banged up as they are terrible, started former stay at home dad and practice squad extraordinaire, Brian St. Pierre, as well as 3rd string running back, Mike Goodson. Goodson rushed for 120 yards and St. Pierre connected with David Gettis for an 88-yard TD pass that put the Panthers back in the game.

So apparently the Panthers didn't get the memo that they were supposed to lie down while the Ravens dismantled them. Maybe the Ravens should rethink their mail provider -- the Browns and Bills didn't get that memo either.

On offense, the Ravens had trouble holding onto the ball, which killed drives that could have made the game a blowout much earlier than the 4th quarter. The Ravens scored on their first drive, with Joe Flacco connecting with TJ Houshmandzadeh. They scored again on a Ray Rice TD in the second quarter, but came out limp after halftime. And fumbles by Flacco and Anquan Boldin didn't help either.

The one positive on offense was Flacco, who completed 72% of his passes and threw for 301 yards and no interceptions. He also moved well in and around the pocket, avoiding sacks and making things happen. It was quietly one of the better passing games of his career.

The defense, again, showed that they are no longer a force to be reckoned with. Goodson, who shredded the Ravens in preseason, did the same yesterday. And even though it was only one play, the 88-yard touchdown on Josh Wilson proved once again that the Ravens are susceptible to allowing big plays.

However, things look better on special teams, with David Reed being named the new kick returner. He had a great game yesterday, returning 3 kicks for a total of 135 yards, including an 85 yard return. And Billy Cundiff booted a 49-yard field goal that would have been good from 60 yards. He also kicked 2 more field goals and continually landed his kickoffs in the endzone.

The defense redeemed themselves in the 4th quarter, putting the game away after the Panthers had pulled within one score. Ed Reed picked off St. Pierre and lateraled the ball to Dawan Landry who took it in for the score. And only 11 seconds later, Ray Lewis showed us again that he still has plenty left in the tank, returning an interception for a touchdown.

So in the end, the game was like the heroine in a horror movie stabbing the killer only once and then dropping the knife right next to the killer's hand instead of taking that knife and cutting the killer up into chum. The game should have never been close to begin with, but the end result was the same.

What's next? The surprisingly 7-3 Tamp Bay Buccaneers travel to Baltimore this weekend for a 4 p.m. game. We'll see what they're made of, and we'll continue to see what the Ravens are made of as well.

Eighty Yards, Forty Seconds

Roddy White scores the game winning touchdown in the Falcons' 26-21 win over the Ravens.

80 yards, 40 seconds.

That's how long it took for the Ravens defense to prove that they are no longer a championship caliber defense.

The Ravens offense gave the defense a 21-20 lead last night in Atlanta with 1:05 left on the clock in the 4th quarter. The Falcons started on their 20 yard line. Seven plays and forty seconds later the Falcons had retaken the lead, and won the game, 26-21.

The Ravens defense couldn't get off the field all night on 3rd down. The Falcons converted 12 of 20 3rd down conversions, including 2 on the game-winning drive. Matt Ryan carved the secondary up for 316 yards, 3 TD's and 0 INT's. Two of those touchdowns went to Roddy White, whom the Ravens had no answer for. The only thing the defense did well last night was stop the run, holding Falcons running backs to just 60 yards.

And while the Falcons are a very good team -- and played a perfect game -- the Ravens still should have won this game despite scoring zero points and holding the ball for a little over 8 minutes compared to the Falcons' 21 minutes in the first half. Also a factor -- Cam Cameron's stubborn play calling. Ray Rice had a 4.9 YPC last night, yet with two and a half minutes left in the 3rd quarter and the Ravens trailing 13-7, Cameron threw 5 straight times, taking 50 seconds off the clock. After the Ravens punted, the Falcons drove 75 yards in 5 minutes and 16 seconds, and scored to put them up 20-7.

You can say that the defense is to blame for this loss, and it definitely is. After all, the offense did enough to win the game. But Cameron played his hand terribly on that drive. He should have used Ray Rice to milk the clock and keep the defense off the field. In all three losses, Cameron's play calling has been a major factor. I don't know if he will be back next year -- or if he even should be.

But let's talk about what really cost the Ravens the game last night. The defense. This is not the defense of Ravens teams past. This is a mediocre defense with mediocre players and a mediocre coordinator. The Ravens again failed to pressure the QB consistently, sacking Matt Ryan only twice. They had no answer for Roddy White. How many times this season have we allowed WR's to have huge games? I can think of several off the top of my head: Steve Johnson, Lee Evans, Deion Branch, Brandon Lloyd, and now Roddy White.

The Ravens used to be able to take the other team's best WR and hold him to scraps of yardage. Now they are laying out the red carpet for opposing WR's to torch them. White and Falcons' TE Tony Gonzalez had nothing green turf around them all night. Greg Mattison perhaps isn't the only scapegoat but he's not the answer, either. He hasn't been given much to work with on defense this year, and he has failed to put what he does have in position to succeed. His defenses are pure vanilla. After two years of Mattison, it's time to look elsewhere. The Ravens should have two new coordinators next year.

On a positive note, Joe Flacco played his heart out once again, and aside from one dumb throw that was picked off, he single-handedly put this team in a position to win the game after looking so flat for more than a half of football. He passed for 215 yards, 3 TD's and 1 INT, and spread the ball out to several receivers: Todd Heap, Anquan Boldin, Derrick Mason and Ray Rice each had more than 40 yards receiving. If the Ravens offense would have shown up for the first half of football, the Ravens owuld have won easily.

In the end, the Falcons needed a a perfectly played game to beat the Ravens at home, and they did just that. My hats off to them. But this game hurts more than just one loss in the standings -- it proved that the Ravens defense is just average. They can no longer control the tempo of a game -- not with Cam Cameron refusing to run the ball at times to keep the defense rested. And that no doubt plays a part into the ineffectiveness of the Ravens defense, but I just think they aren't that good any more.

Thankfully, the Ravens have 10 days off before they play the 1-7 Carolina Panthers.

Ravens spear Dolphins

Derrick Mason hauls in a touchdown pass in the 26-10 win over the Dolphins.

The Ravens came out of their bye week a refocused team with the scare they'd received at the hands of the Buffalo Bills fresh in their minds. And with the help of some trash talk from the Miami Dolphins' Channing Crowder, the Ravens were motivated to start the second half of the 2010 season on a positive note.

And they did just that, handing the Miami Dolphins (4-4) their first road loss of the season, 26-10. Ironically, the Dolphins are 0-3 at home.

The game started excitedly enough. The Ravens scored on their first drive, capped off with a Joe Flacco screen pass to Willis McGahee (who made some great cuts and received some great blocks) for a 38-yard touchdown.

On the next drive, the Dolphins answered on a Ronnie Brown 12-yard touchdown run. And then the Ravens clamped down on defense and didn't allow the Dolphins back into the game for the rest of the afternoon.

The game was not without some turning points, however. The Dolphins failed to score a TD from the 1-yard line, when Chad Henne was unable to hook up with Anthony Fasano, who was open in the endzone. And Joe Flacco threw behind Anquan Boldin, resulting in a pass that was nearly intercepted and returned for a touchdown had the Miami defender not dropped the pass.

The Ravens also left way too many points on the field as well, stalling in the red zone on several occasions. That meant Billy Cundiff had a busy day, attempting 5 field goals and making 4 of them. Another field goal was fumbled by the placeholder.

So it wasn't a pretty win. But it was an easy win, which is something the Ravens needed after the Bills game and heading to Atlanta on a short week to play the Falcons on Thursday night.

The limited bright spots of the day were Joe Flacco, who completed a whopping 74.1% of his passes for 266 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Since his week 2 debacle in Cincinnati, Flacco has thrown 11 touchdowns to just 1 interception. Ray Rice also had a huge day, rushing for 83 yards on 22 attempts and hauling in 7 passes for 97 yards.

The defense also tightened up after the drilling they took from the Bills 2 weeks ago, limiting the Dolphins to just 289 yards of total offense, and picking off Chad Henne twice. Even the special teams chipped in with kick/punt returns of 25 and 23 yards. Nothing to write home about, true, but the Ravens have been dreadful on kick/punt returns so far this year.

After the game, Crowder accussed Ravens fullback Le'ron McClain of spitting in his face. Video of the incident shows McClain jawing with Crowder, and his head jerking forward as if to spit, but nothing else. It was Derrick Mason, the target of Crowder's pre-game trash talk, who had the last laugh: he caught a touchdown, and then blasted Crowder, calling him a "horrible player" after the game while talking with the media.

At 6-2 the Ravens are tied for the best record in the AFC and head into Atlanta for a showdown with the Falcons, who are also tied for the best record in the NFC.

And after 2 sloppy wins at home, it's time to see what these Ravens are really made of.

Bills give Ravens a scare

Billy Cundiff celebrates his game winning field goal in overtime over the Buffalo Bills.

It was one of those games where you ask yourself, "is this really happening"?

Coming off a tough loss to the New England Patriots a week before, the winless Buffalo Bills gave the Ravens everything they had -- and then some -- in the Ravens 37-34 overtime win.

The Bills were up 17-3 and 24-10 at one point and even came back from a 10 point deficit to tie the game in the 4th quarter and force overtime.

Their offensive stats are staggering: 506 total yards of offense. 4 passing touchdowns. 38 minutes of ball control. If not for Ray Lewis stripping Shawn Nelson of the football on a Bills drive in overtime, the Ravens probably would have lost. They were unable to stop the Bills on offense the entire day.

It was one of those games that cemented the truth for Ravens fans -- this isn't the dominant Ravens defense of year's past.

Maybe the Ravens were looking forward to their bye week. The Bills had just come off their bye. Maybe it was one of those perfect storm kind of games where a winless team can put the fear of God into a Super Bowl contender at home.

I'm chalking it up to "any given Sunday". But the game was not without many wake-up calls.

Thankfully, Joe Flacco was Joe Cool, even as the Ravens trailed by 14 points on two different occasions. He passed for 250 yards and 3 touchdowns to no interceptions. His completion rate was a lackluster 51.6%, however, and was sacked twice. But he made the throws when they needed to be made.

The receiving corps was lead by Todd Heap, who caught 3 balls for 59 yards and 2 touchdowns -- while Anquan Boldin caught 6 balls for 92 yards and 1 TD himself.

The ground game was workmanlike for the Ravens. Ray Rice gained 72 yards on 16 carries and Willis McGahee earned 64 on 11 carries with a touchdown. Both had good yard-per-carry averages on the day, but with the Ravens trailing by so much so early, they were forced to pass the ball.

The biggest problem on the day was on defense, where the Ravens failed to stop the Bills running game (132 total rushing yards) and exhibited atrocious tackling in the secondary. Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick did a good job getting his receivers the ball quickly, underneath the Ravens pass coverage, which allowed them to break some terrible attempts at tackling for big gains. It was a fundamental breakdown. If the Ravens could have tackled properly, the game would have never been as close as it was. Not to mention, Fabian Washington was torched on the day, and it was a performance that should ultimately cost him his job as a starting cornerback with Josh Wilson on the roster.

Thankfully, Bill Cundiff made all 3 of his field goals, including the 38-yard game winner. Cundiff has been pretty reliable on the season, but he isn't going to make Ravens fans forget about Matt Stover anytime soon. However, his kickoffs are routinely downed in the endzone. Any worries that Ravens fans had about the kicking game last year with the Steve Haushka debacle and then a shaky Cundiff taking over and ultimately winning the job again this year, should be put to rest. Cundiff is fine.

In the end, it will be a game remembered for the win, rather than the close call. Hopefully the Ravens head into the bye realizing they aren't invincible, and that even an 0-6 team can go toe to toe with anyone in the NFL.

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.