Ravens' Man of the Week

 Torrey Smith

Smith with 6 catches averaged 27.5 yards per catch on Sunday. His longest was 49 yards and yet a another monster game from the rookie, combining for a total of 165 yards and a touchdown. This kid has proven himself week in and week out. I believe he will become a top 5 reciever in the league within the next 3 years. His ability to blow by corners and safeties, along with his dominating strength have been key factors in his ability to continually succeed.

Take Aways

The Ravens redeemed themselves this week, after coming off an embarassing loss to Seattle. Just when the Birds prove themselves and show that they are top contenders in the league, they have losses like the Seattle, Tennessee and Jacksonville losses. Next week the Ravens play the suprisingly dominant force in the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers. The brothers Jim and John will face off for what will be known has the Harbowl.

Well, the Birds never seize to amaze me. Coming off a strong win AT PITTSBURGH in week 9, the Ravens lose the the Seahawks 22-17. How does that happen? You tell me. This team seems as unpredictable as ever, with all 3 of their losses coming from terrible teams: Seahawks, Jaguars and Titans. All three games were away.

Key Stats

Rice – 5 Rushes for 27 Yards

Flacco – 255 YDS 1TD 1INT

Dickson – 10 REC 79YDS 2TD

Lynch – 32 Rush 109 YDS 1TD

The player of the game goes to…

THE Ed Dickson

A very solid game by the go to tight end. pulling in 2 receptions in the loss…

First of all, Cam Cameron has no business being offensive coordinator for a team above Pee Wee football. When you have one of the best running backs in the league who gets the ball only 5 times a game, and you have an average quarterback who throws the ball 51 times, you definitely can’t have a complete, functioning brain.

Takeaways

Next week, the Ravens face a competitive AFC North rival, Cincinnati Bengals. With a loss, the Ravens would have to lay catch up on the Steelers and Bengals for the remainder of the season.

Well, this game went exactly how it normally does. I knew it was going to be a good one when Hines Ward got up, after being hit by Jameel McClain, looking like he abused an illegal substance. Ward left in the firstt quarter, failing to appear the rest of the game. All of the suspected events happened in this matchup. Small win margin, heated brawls and personal fouls. Just 9-6 at halftime, 0ur Ravens took this game home with a thrilling 24-20 win. Flacco, with many doubters, including myself, led the birds on a 92 yard game winning drive, hitting Torrey Smith in the endzone with 8 seconds left. We finally got the sweep, and the win at Heinz Field. What a way to redeem our losses to the Jags and Titans.

Some Key Stats

Flacco – 28/47 300YDS 1TD

Rice – 18 Carries for 43 YDS 1TD

Boldin – 7 REC 88YDS

Smith – 5 REC 71YDS 1TD

And the MVP of this epic game….

Mr. Joe Cool… Joe Flacco

All game, Joe did his job, and by that I don’t mean meeting the needs of an exceptional quarterback. For the Ravens, now and in the past, they need someone who can consistently throw for short yardage without turning the ball over. Minus Joe’s fumble late in the game, he finally proved his critics wrong. He can get a big win, on the road and complete a game winning drive against the “Stillers”. Heck of a game Joe. If he could keep his composure, and throw like he did during that last drive for the remainder of the season, I’d say it’s looking like a Packers-Ravens Super Bowl – wishful thinking but that’s how good Joe looked.

Takeaways

Flacco was 5/6 on 3rd downs of 11 or more yards.

3 of those plays were for 20+ yards.

The Ravens won just 1/5 previous trips to Heinz Field.

Joe Flacco finished with 300 yards passing and 0 interceptions – just the 5th QB to do that in a win at the Steelers since the merger. (ESPN.com)

Next week the Ravens look to take on the struggling Seahawks and improve to 7-2 while the steelers play the 6-2 Bengals.

Well as you can see, this isn’t my reflection on a past game, but reflection on the biggest game of the year. With the Steelers stock on the rise and the Ravens stock on the fall, this game is huge and could sway which team gets a 1 or 2 seed in the playoffs and who gets the wild card. Although the birds did tear apart Dirty Ben and the Boys 35-7 in week 1, Baltimore knows Pittsburgh has greatly improved and needs to put a nail in the coffin.

Here’s a little message from T-Sizzle on the AFC rivalry:

‘Nuff Said….

As always this game will be action packed and exciting. Kickoff is on Sunday at 8:20PM.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Baltimore was very close to losing a lot of fans this weekend. Out of all of our opponents this season, we managed to lose to the Titans, Jags and almost the Cards. Do we overlook these oponoents? We had no problems with the Steelers or even the Jets, so why do we always play down to these lower-class teams? The Cards, leading most of the game, lost on a last second field goal, by who else, Billy Cundiff – who has bailing us out way too often this year.

Some Key Stats

 Boldin – 7 Rec for 145YDS

Flacco – 31/51 336 1INT

Rice – 18 Carries 63YDS 3TD

And the MVP of this game would definitely have to be…

THE Ray Rice

Rushing for a career high 3TD, they all came in the second half. He seriously could have said “I put da team on my back do” (From a Youtube video).

Takeaways

The Ravens finally beat an underperforming oponent (Unlike Jags and Titans)

Flacco failed to throw for a TD

Flacco threw the ball 51 times

Baltimore has won 6 straight at home

Next week, the Ravens take on their AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

Cam Cameron, What the $#$@% are you doing?! You have arguably a top 3 running back in the league, and you only let him rush 8 times? 8 times for 28 yards? Give Rice the ball you fool. We are the Baltimore Ravens and have been a defensively strong team, also powered by our running game since Jamal Lewis. How do we only put up 7 points against the laughin stock of a team, Jacksonville Jaguars? For those of you that may have fallen asleep during this game, yes we did lose to the Jags, 12-7. This game made me sick to my stomach.

Some EMBARASSING Statistics

Flacco – 21/38 for 137 yards 1TD, 1INT with a 3.5 yard average (Time to go Joe?)

Rice – 8 Carries for 28 yards

Boldin – 4 Catches for 40 yards 1 TD TARGETED 12 TIMES!

So who’s this week’s MVP with yet the biggest let down of the season?

 Week 6 turned out to be a good win for the Ravens. Coincidentally though, the 15 point win margin was on the back of the all star kicker, Billy Cundiff. The Ravens, pulling away 29-14, primarily in the second half, scored 13 points in the final quarter to pull off the win. With their 3rd straight win, the Raven’s defense proved to continue to be great as always, shutting out the Texans for the final 21 minutes, allowing Flacco and the offense to put some points on the board. Although not a poor performance by any means for the Raven’s offense, they struggled to find the end zone enough times for my liking.

Some Key Stats

Flacco -305 YDS, 1INT 1 RUSHING TD

Rice- 23 Carries, 101YDS

Boldin-8 Receptions, 132 YDS

Cundiff – 5 FGs

Player of the game…. (Other than Cundiff)

Anquan Boldin

Boldin’s solid performance of 8 receptions for 132 yards was pretty impressive considering some of his lower yardage performances coming off of last year.  Althought a good outing, Flacco and Boldin need to find ways to connect in the end zone, so Cundiff doesn’t have to provide a majority of the points.

Takeaways

Ray Lewis became the first player in history to get 30INTS and 40 Sacks.

Flacco failed to throw for a TD.

Rice failed to rush for a TD.

Williams rushed 2 times for 8 YDS and 1TD.

Next week the Ravens look to take on 1-5 Jacksonville next week to improve their record, with hopes that Pittsburgh will fall to the Pats.