Mock Draft Round Up

It's that time of year when people hungry for football talk start predicting the NFL Draft. And with the Ravens having needs at the WR, TE, DL and DB position, there are any number of ways the Ravens could approach the draft. Here are a few of the predictions from mock drafts around the Internet:

The New NFL Draft predicts that the Ravens select TE Aaron Hernandez from Florida.

If Jermaine Gresham was healthy I would say he is the top TE in my 2010 NFL Mock Draft. At this time I have Hernandez surpassing him as the top TE because of his health and his ability to make plays. I have the Ravens taking Hernandez because they need another weapon for the Ravens young QB Flacco to throw to. I also think WR is a very likely option here but I have the top WR in this 2010 NFL Mock Draft already being taken.

Draft Countdown has the Ravens picking WR Arrelious Benn from Illinois.

Few teams do a better job on Draft Day than Ozzie Newsome and the Baltimore Ravens but one area in which they have struggled a bit is wide receiver. The Ravens got a real scare when Derrick Mason unexpectedly decided to retire this past offseason but he ultimately revered course, which bought them at least one more year. Still the thought of going into a season with Mark Clayton, Demetrius Williams and Kelley Washington had to have been a wakeup call and you can bet they will take the appropriate steps to avoid that rather terrifying scenario. A prized recruit who Ron Zook somewhat surprisingly lured to the Illini, Arrelious Benn is a great athlete with an ideal blend of size (6-2, 220) and speed (4.40) who has the ability to be a vertical threat and create in space. Benn didn’t have the big junior season everyone was expecting but for the most part that can be attributed to lackluster quarterback play and it certainly isn’t an indictment of his talent. If they decide to look elsewhere the Ravens could also use some additional help at cornerback, especially if Fabian Washington leaves as a free agent in the offseason, and it might be time to bring in an eventual replacement for Todd Heap at tight end as well. However, at the end of the day finding a future #1 wideout must be the Ravens main priority.

NFL Draft Dog has the Ravens taking OLB Sergio Kindle from Texas.

At 6' 3" 250 pounds, he figures to be an ideal outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense. Kindle can really come off the edge and get to the quarterback.

NFL Draft Blitz has the Ravens selecting WR Demaryius Thomas from Georgia Tech.

Something tells me the signing of Donte Stallworth is not the answer to the Ravens receiving issues. In fact, it speaks volumes to their desperation at the position. Thomas has the ability to one day make this a position of strength [for the Ravens].

And Football's Future predicts the Ravens selecting WR Golden Tate from Notre Dame.

Adding Joe Flacco and Ray Rice the past two years has given the Ravens life on offense. In order for them to take the next step however, they need a playmaker at wide receiver.

So there you have it, 5 different mock drafts and 5 different players selected. It should be interesting for Ravens fans on draft day.

A look at Flacco's 2009 season

Joe Flacco's potentially stellar 2009 season was disrupted by a foot injury suffered in week 6.

Toward the end of the season and during the playoffs, it felt like many Ravens fans had a change of heart when it came to Joe Flacco. On message boards and sports talk shows, fans wondered if Flacco was good -- or healthy -- enough to lead this team to the promised land. (Keep in mind this was also combined with much bitching and moaning about the Ravens WR corps for most of the season.)

My take is that Flacco is definitely good enough to take this team to the Super Bowl. I don't doubt it for a minute. Here's why...

The injury that Flacco suffered in the Week 6 game at Minnesota (he had his foot stepped on twice) affected him for the rest of the season. All you have to do is look at the numbers:

Flacco before injury (6 games):
12 TD
5 INT
279 YPG

Flacco after injury (10 games):
9 TD (4 of which came in the CHI game)
7 INT
193 YPG

Flacco in playoffs (2 games):
0 TD
3 INT
111 YPG

That is a huge difference before/after the injury he suffered. Had Flacco not been injured he was on pace for 31 TD, 13 INT and 4,352 yards. That's on pace with Drew Brees, the MVP of the Super Bowl -- and with a WR corps that many Ravens fans demand be blown up this offseason. And they're going to get their wish. Rumors are swirling that the Ravens are currently negotiating a contract extension with Cardinals WR Anquan Boldin.

So the verdict is undeniable. The injury Flacco suffered in week 6 disrupted what could have been an even better 2009 season for Flacco. He looked worse after the injury than he did as a rookie in 2008, with less poise in the pocket and little ability to move outside of it.

The biggest improvement the Ravens can benefit from next season is a healthy Joe Flacco, regardless of whether they are able to trade for Boldin. When healthy, Joe Flacco is a pro bowl caliber QB, as he showed during the first 6 games of the season.

So relax, Ravens fans. It's still OK to be wacko for Flacco.

Ravens Ink Stallworth

Donte Stallworth will likely become the Ravens #3 wide receiver.

The Ravens signed WR Donte Stallworth over the weekend. Stallworth, 29, has played with the Saints, Eagles, Patriots and Browns over the course of his 7 year career. But Stallworth is perhaps most famous for the 2009 incident where he fatally struck a pedestrian in Miami while driving under the influence of alcohol.

According to Wikipedia, Stallworth was still over the legal limit from the night before when the accident occurred the next morning. So it's not like he got behind the wheel as he left the club and then ran someone over. It's also important to note that the man was walking on a highway bridge which doesn't contain a walkway for pedestrians.

I bring this up because I know the Ravens will get a lot of flack for signing Stallworth when coach John Harbaugh is trying to build the Ravens with good character guys. He helped develop the "Play like a Raven" motto from last year. And of course, the Ravens start linebacker, Ray Lewis, was involved in the Atlanta scandal in 2000 that saw 2 men killed in a scuffle outside of a night club. So opposing fans will have plenty of "murderer" smack to choose from in 2010, despite the details of each incident that paint a much different picture.

That said, Stallworth did act irresponsibly, and a man lost his life. It can't just be glossed over.

However, the Ravens signed Stallworth to play football, and what the Ravens get in him is a decent #3 wide receiver. Stallworth had some good seasons in 2005-2007 before signing with the pass-challenged Browns in 2008 and missed the entire 2009 season because of a suspension stemming from the accident. So it's a good bet that Stallworth will take some time to get his football legs back under him.

Because the signing was made early, many Ravens fans will dislike the move, thinking that Stallworth has been signed to be a top 2 receiver. Well, I hope he wasn't signed with that intention and I don't think he was. Harbaugh was the special teams coach in Philly when Stallworth was there, so it's pretty clear that Harbaugh sees Stallworth as a role player. Along with Kelley Washington, Stallworth is a good possession receiver. And if Washington decides to sign elsewhere, Stallworth is a solid replacement.

But beyond that, the Ravens still have a lot of work to do to improve their WR corps, with Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton both potential free agents.

But as of today, I like the move.

Congrats to the Saints!

Drew Brees kisses his wife with the Lombardi Trophy in hand after beating the Colts 31-17. He won the MVP.

I usually wake up the day after the Super Bowl kind of pissed off. For one, I have to go back to work after a weekend of drinking, and secondly, it's usually because a team that I dislike has just won the Super Bowl. For instance, in the past decade, hated teams such as the Patriots (three times), Steelers (twice), and Colts have won Super Bowls.

But when the Saints won the Super Bowl last night, beating the Colts, I couldn't feel anything but happiness for the city of New Orleans and Saints fans everywhere.

The Saints were founded in 1967 and didn't have a winning season for 20 years. They didn't get a playoff win until 2000. If ever there was a franchise that deserved to win the Super Bowl for past performance, or lack of, it was the Saints. Watching historically bad teams like the Buccaneers, Cardinals and Rams have resurgences, it was only fair that the Saints had one of their own. They were perhaps the last of the "bad" franchises to at least make it to the Super Bowl.

And if ever there was a city that deserved a Super Bowl title, it is New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina decimated the city in 2005, and New Orleans is still recovering from that disaster. I visited the city in 2007, and while a lot of the touristy areas were back to normal, you could tell that the city's spirit was still healing. And while a Super Bowl victory won't account for the losses of family members, homes and businesses, it does take some of the sting out of those tragedies at least for the time being.

Also, this Super Bowl victory is the first major championship for the city of New Oreleans, a town that saw the Jazz relocate to Utah in the 1980's and was on the verge of losing the Hornets after Hurricane Katrina. You know that the streets of the French Quarter will be rocking for the next week. Add to that, Mardi Gras is only a few days away.

I watched the game with my friend, Jason, who has always been a huge Saints fan, and has family from Louisiana. I shared his joy in watching the Saints win while drinking some Abita beer. It was probably the best I've felt about a Super Bowl since the Ravens won it in 2000.

And finally, it was nice to see the Colts lose. It doesn't happen very often, and when Peyton Manning threw that game-clinching interception lat in the 4th quarter, I couldn't help but celebrate Manning's rare mistake, a mistake that cost him his second Super Bowl ring. Call me a jaded Ravens fan, call me whatever you want. I don't care. I hate the bleeping Colts.

So here's to the Saints and the city of New Orleans. Congratulations.

Make it 8: Ravens lose to Colts....Again

Hang your head in shame: Flacco threw 2 INT's in the 20-3 loss to the Colts.

The Ravens were eliminated from the playoffs last night, losing 20-3 to the Colts in a game they were never really even in. The Ravens hung with the Colts for all of one quarter before the Colts broke the game wide open in the second quarter. And when the Ravens were down 17-3 going into halftime, the game could have been called and Ravens fans would have probably been OK with that.

Why? Because when the Ravens play the Colts they become the same team they've been during the last 8 times they've played Indianapolis: A very poor one.

The Ravens haven't scored a touchdown versus the Colts since Troy Smith rushed for a TD against them in garbage time during a 2007 Indy rout of the Ravens.

And last night, whenever the Ravens put themselves in place to close the gap, they immediately coughed up the ball, killing any chance of making last night's game...a game.

Take for instance Ed Reed's interception of Peyton Manning in the 3rd quarter. Reed made a perfect read of Manning and jumped in front of Pierre Garcon to pick off the pass. He returned it 38 yards before Garcon, making a great play as a defender, punched the ball out of Reed's hands and into the arms of Dallas Clark. It was as if the whole thing was planned from the start.

Instead of the Ravens taking over on offense at around the Colts 15 yard line, the Colts were basically pushed back 38 yards to start the drive. The drive resulted in a Matt Stover field goal to put the game well out of reach, 20-3.

Another Reed interception on the next Colts drive was wiped out because of pass interference. And a long Ray Rice run, which would have set up a chance for a late touchdown, ended in a fumble after Rice kept trying to break tackles.

It was the old one step forward, five steps back routine. And the Ravens hit each note.

On offense, the Ravens couldn't get anything started against the Colts, as usual. Their first drive was the Ravens longest drive of the season at 7+ minutes but the Ravens faltered in the red zone and had to settle for a Billy Cundiff field goal. Little did we know it would be the Ravens lone score of the game. On the drive Joe Flacco made some great passes and the receivers were doing a great job getting open. Derrick Mason caught a pass without a Colts defender on the TV screen. You don't see that happen very often.

But aside from that drive, the Ravens were stuffed at the line of scrimmage whenever Rice tried to run. He ended up with a good average of 5.2 yards per carry, but only rushed 13 times ending up with 67 yards. Most of his yardage came late in the game when the Colts backed off the line and allowed the Ravens to run the ball. And most of those yards came on the aforementioned run which resulted in a fumble.

As for Flacco, it's probably good the season is over. He was dealing with injuries for most of the season and had trouble reading defenses and picking up blitzes. He looked a little better last night, with more pep in his step than usual, but he threw 2 bad interceptions. For his career in the playoffs, Flacco has thrown 1 TD and 6 INT despite his 3-2 record. Flacco should go home, relax, get healthy and watch a lot of game film from this season and figure out why he looked worse in the pocket in his second season than he did as a rookie.

On defense the Ravens played about as well as you can against Manning and the Colts. If any other playoff team could hold the Colts to 20 points and 275 total yards, they'd probably win the game. The Ravens held the Colts to a field goal to start the game, a small victory after the Colts had marched down the field at will. They eventually pressured Manning in the second half, but the game was over by then. The Ravens defense also played well on third down and forced the Colts to punt 6 times.

You just have to tip your cap to the Colts, as much as it pains me to do it. They've had the Ravens solved for years on offense and defense. And until the Ravens can get an offense that can hang with the Colts, the Ravens will keeping losing to them.

All in all, 2009 will go down as a disappointing season. Coming off an AFC Championship appearance, the Ravens were supposed to be improved with Flacco in his second year, but at 9-7, the Ravens were a team that always found a way to erase any momentum they'd gained with a penalty, a missed field goal, a turnover, or some other kind of mistake. Sure, last week's rout of New England was fun, but you can't help but wonder what could have been if the Ravens had played better in the regular season. Maybe they would have gotten a home playoff game. Maybe they wouldn't have had to face the Colts.

We'll never know.

One small positive going forward, the Ravens don't face the Colts in 2010.

Those F--king Colts

The Ravens will look to end a 7-game skid to the Indianapolis Colts this Saturday night.

There's no getting around it. In the Ravens last 7 games against the Colts (including playoffs), they're 0-7 and in many of those games they've been absolutely dominated from start to finish.

You have to go all the way back to December 2, 2001 for the last time the Ravens beat the Colts. Ah, those were the days, when you could actually beat the Colts in a shootout, which is what the Ravens did that day, 39-27.

They racked up 368 yards of total offense, and held the Colts to a low-for-them 314 yards on offense. That said, the Colts were 6-10 that year, and it was the season where head coach Jim Mora went on his "Playoffs?" tirade that has become a sports talk and beer commercial staple, so it's not like the Ravens beat a powerhouse Colts team that year. But a win is a win, especially against the hated Colts.

But since then, the Colts have owned the Ravens like a house cat that gets in your way. You just give them your foot on their rear and they might bat at you, but in the end, you've had your way with it.

So in hopes to reverse the curse of the Colts, I'll take you through 8 years and 7 consecutive losses against the Indianapolis F--king Colts.

2002, 22-20. Ah, 2002. It's become the forgotten Ravens season. A year removed from their Super Bowl, the Ravens went through a quick rebuild that netted them an unimpressive 7-9 record, but beneath the surface, the Ravens were the NFL's youngest team. It was perhaps Billick's best head season as a head coach outside of the magical 2000 season and a year later, they made the playoffs. Coming into the game against the Colts, the Ravens were 2-2, having looked unimpressive in their first 2 games against the Panthers and Buccaneers before shocking the Broncos in a Monday night beatdown and then winning a close game against the Browns. I was on my honeymoon during this game, and missed it, but I kept checking the hotel bar's lone TV for updates. So I am not exactly an expert on this one. However, according to the boxscore, the Ravens hung with the Colts for the entire game, and even took a 20-19 lead in the 4th quarter on Jamal Lewis' second touchdown of the day. The Colts answered with a field goal to retake the lead 22-20. And on the last drive, QB Chris Redman lead the offense down the field for a Matt Stover FG attempt to win the game. He missed. How ironic.

2004, 20-10. 2004 was the year of Kyle Boller, as it was the one season he started every game at QB and the Ravens missed the playoffs, finishing 9-7. In this game, Boller failed to deal with a relentless pass rush by Dwight Freeney who treated Jon Ogden like a revolving door. Freeney sacked Boller twice and forced him to throw 2 interceptions. Jamal Lewis rushed for 130 yards, but it was all for naught.

2005, 24-7. It was the first game of the season and on ESPN to boot. After entering halftime tied at zero, Kyle Boller was injured in the 3rd quarter which resulted in perhaps the most controversial event in Baltimore sports fan history. Was Boller's injury cheered by the sellout crowd? Or were fans cheering Anthony Wright's entrance into the game? Wright, if you recall, had lead the Ravens to the playoffs in 2003 after Boller, a rookie, was injured. Anyway, the defense was unable to hold the Colts any longer, allowing them to score 24 unanswered points before the Ravens scored on a Wright to Daniel Wilcox garbage touchdown in the 4th quarter. The 2005 season didn't get any better, as the Ravens limped to a 6-10 finish.

2006, 15-6. This is the one that hurt, folks. After cruising to a 13-3 regular season record, the Ravens obtained a first round bye, and hosted the Colts, who'd beaten the Chiefs in the first round. It was as if the stars had aligned. The Colts, in Baltimore for the playoffs. Eliminate the Colts and it would go a long way to erase any leftover wounds from 1984, when the Colts moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis. The Ravens back in the Super Bowl was on everyone's minds. But Steve McNair played like complete crap, throwing 2 interceptions (including one in the endzone) and the Ravens only mustered 6 points, despite holding the Colts out of the endzone too. This loss elevated my hatred of the Colts to seeing-red levels, and to make matters worse, the Chargers, who had the #1 seed, lost to the Patriots, giving the Colts the AFC Championship Game at home. They fell behind the Patriots in the first half, but an epic comeback in the second half sent the Colts to the Super Bowl, where they beat the hapless Bears. Un-freaking-believable. The loss still hurts like Robbie Alomar striking out to end the 1997 ALCS still hurts.

2007, 44-20. A week before this game, the Ravens had almost beaten the undefeated Patriots on Monday Night Football. The Patriots would finish 16-0 in the regular season that year. Any hopes of doing the same against the Colts were erased quickly as they hopped out to a 30-0 lead before halftime. Kyle Boller was at his best, throwing 3 interceptions before Troy Smith relieved him late in the game. It was thankfully Boller's last game as a Raven, so it wasn't a complete waste.

2008, 31-3. Le'Ron McClain fumbled on the first Ravens drive and it was all she wrote. Flacco did his part in the loss, throwing 3 interceptions. It was somewhat of a landmark game, however, as the Ravens went on to finish the season 9-2 and shook Flacco from his rookie-season doldrums. Flacco played excellent down the stretch throwing 13 TD's and 5 INT after starting the season with 1 TD and 7 INT.

2009, 17-15. Again, I was out of the country, but managed to catch this game at an American-owned bar in Prague. I wish I would've missed it. The Ravens held the Colts to under 20 points, which should earn them a win just for that feat alone, but a missed Billy Cundiff field goal, a failed 1st-and-goal stand, and a late Flacco interception stopped the Ravens from being able to get the monkey, or Colt, off their backs.

So what will it be this Saturday? Number 8? Or will we finally be able to beat the Colts? The Ravens had previously never beaten the Patriots before finally winning against them last Sunday, so will the Ravens be able to continue exorcising demons this post season?

We can only hope.

Ravens Dominate Patriots

Group hug! The Ravens defense baffled the New England Patriots all day in their 33-14 victory.

The Ravens stunned the NFL yesterday with a 33-14 beat down of the New England Patriots, something that not many people saw coming.

For years, the media fawned over Tom Brady -- from his chiseled good looks down to his clutch performance in the playoffs and multiple Super Bowl victories. That New England nut-hugging also included Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, a man who loves one-word answers in press conferences as much as he loves hooded sweatshirts with the sleeves cut off.

So it was nice to put a final nail in the coffin of the Patriots dynasty yesterday. And the Ravens did it with a sledgehammer.

From the beginning of the game, the beat down was on. On the first play from scrimmage, Ray Rice took off on a 77-yard TD run. By the end of the first quarter, the Ravens were up 24-0. They'd forced Adonis himself (Brady) into 3 turnovers in the quarter and on offense, the Ravens dared the Patriots to stop their running attack.

The Patriots couldn't.

Once the first quarter ended, the game was essentially over. But that didn't mean the Ravens weren't going to let the Patriots get back into the game for a little while.

During a Patriots punt, Tom Zbikowski made contact with the ball, and the Patriots tried to recover it, which means they would have gotten the ball deep in Ravens territory. However, the Patriots player who recovered the ball didn't maintain control of it as he fell out of bounds. The ruling on the field was a fumble recovery for the Patriots, but replays clearly showed that the Patriots player didn't maintain control.

Did the Ravens challenge the play? Nope. And the Patriots scored on a Tom Brady pass to Justin Edleman a few plays later.

What happened exactly? According to John Harbaugh, the booth didn't see the replay. No clear explanation was given. Were they napping? Did the replay monitor in the Ravens' booth just mysteriously not work? Wouldn't be a surprise in Foxboro...

Anyway, the Ravens and Patriots exchanged punts for the rest of the first half, and a Joe Flacco interception was rendered moot when the Ravens defense was able to stop the Patriots on offense. Brady's 3rd interception (Dawan Landry) resulted in another Billy Cundiff field goal, making the score 27-7.

On the following Patriots drive, Brady drove the offense down the field for their best drive of the game, resulting in yet another Brady to Edelman touchdown. And at 27-14, the prologue for an epic Patriots comeback was being written.

But the Ravens squashed any hopes for that on their next drive, which was a masterful 6:12 minute drive that ended with a Willis McGahee touchdown. The Ravens failed to convert on the 2-point conversion (even though replays showed the ball breaking the plane of the endzone).

On the Patriots final drive of importance, the Patriots drove to the Ravens' 27-yard line, where Stephen Gostkowski missed a 44-yard field goal, essentially ending the game for good. The Ravens then drained more than 5 minutes from the game clock, giving the ball back to the Patriots with 2 minutes left.

And at that point, it was a formality. The game was officially over.

The Ravens simply punished the New England defense all day to the tune of 234 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns. Joe Flacco completed just 4 of his 10 pass attempts for 34 yards and an interception. His QB rating on the day was 10. However, Flacco completed 2 key passes on the 3rd quarter drive that made the score 33-14, so it wasn't a total waste of a performance. But going forward in the post-season, Flacco is going to have to factor into the Ravens offense some more, injured or not.

But, when the Ravens are having success on the ground, and the defense is forcing turnover and turnover, there is no reason to pass. With Flacco banged up, it was the safe play.

Both McGahee and Rice had excellent games. Rice finished with 159 yards and 2 touchdowns. McGahee had 62 and a score, while Le'Ron McClain pounded his way into the endzone for a touchdown as well.

The defense looked ferocious. Ray Lewis was back to his 2000-self. He was everywhere at once, smashing Patriots players and making tackles. Terrell Suggs even got his name called, forcing a Brady fumble in the first quarter. And for the second week in a row, the secondary stepped up in a big way, as Dominque Foxworth, Chris Carr, Frank Walker, Dawan Landry and Ed Reed each made great plays.

So who do the Ravens face next week? Who do you think.

The Colts.

Would you have it any other way?

Stay tuned for my breakdown of this Saturday night's game.

Until then, enjoy this win, Ravens fans.