Ravens fans are still recovering from Monday's embarrassing performance on national television against the Bengals. The play calling was terrible, the execution sloppy, and the result fitting: Chalk one up in the loss column.
Fortunately the Ravens won't have to worry about Jets QB Kellen Clemens raising his arms in triumph on Sunday.
Yes, four key Ravens are injured (Ray Lewis, Jonathan Ogden, Steve McNair, B.J. Sams), but the Jets' projected starter is a 2006 second-round draft pick out of Oregon with a total of four career pass attempts.
I'll take four injured players over four career pass attempts any day. The Ravens have enough muscle on the defensive side of the ball to make do without Ray Lewis, who regardless says he will play on Sunday, torn triceps or not. How that is even possible is beyond me. The man is a beast.
B.J. Sams is out for the year, so of course he won't play, and I'd be shocked if Ogden played even a down. Frankly, I think his career is over. Next stop: Canton. Thanks for a great career, J.O. My guess is that McNair won't play, either, which means it will be up to Super-Boller to get the job done.
Injuries won't matter because when Clemens gets a glimpse of the greatest defense in the world, he'll wet his pants. The NFL is worlds apart from the Pac-10. I expect the Ravens to win big... double-digits big.
I don't care what the spread is: Take Baltimore.
Even if Kyle Boller is the starter: Take Baltimore.
But what if Chad Pennington plays? Doesn't matter: Take Baltimore.
The Jets could put Tom Brady at quarterback and Baltimore would still win big. Here are five reasons why:
1) Willis McGahee loves the Jets. He has a history of walking all over their defense, and he did it behind an offensive line in Buffalo that was much weaker than Baltimore's offensive line, with or without J.O.
2) Things can't get any worse. The Ravens went on the road against a great offense in Cincinnati, turned the ball over six times, fell victim to terrible play calling and questionable officiating, and despite all of that they lost by only a touchdown.
3) Baltimore is embarrassed. Not only are they embarrassed, they're angry. That is not good news for the J-E-T-S... Jets, Jets, Jets!
4) The Ravens' run defense is incredible. Good luck, Thomas Jones. This is not the NFC North. It's not even the AFC East. This is the AFC North, and in Baltimore chumps like you don't sniff 100 yards on the ground. You'll be lucky to get 80. Unfortunately for the Jets, it's going to take double that for New York to have a chance to pull off the upset.
Thomas Jones: Please don't make me run the ball against Baltimore!
5) It's back to basics. The Ravens will run the football and control the clock. If the Ravens throw the ball 40 times, like they did against the Bengals, I'll donate $100 to the charity or player foundation of whomever on the Jets has the best game on Sunday. Seriously.
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Prediction: Ravens 27, Jets 0
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5 hours ago
3 comments:
I'm with you 100% on this one. I think this game, whether it's Pennington or Clemens, will be along the lines of Brooks Bollinger, Ken Walter, Akili Smith, etc. etc. Other than Kurt Warner, no "rookie" QB has a good debut against the Ravens.
Plus, everything else that was said. We're pissed. We're hurting, but not crippled (I can only use that word because of the good news in Buffalo). Billick screwed up and he knows it (why else was he saying at the press conference that he would have gone for two? Distraction much?).
It's gonna be ugly.
You are correct----however, everything that went wrong in that game except one thing can be corrected over time. The play calling will get better because next time the coach has a 1st and goal,he will remember the entire city's reaction to his mistakes against the Bengals. The injuries will heal or somewhat heal (except JO). The passing will be more accurate. However, the one thing that can not be corrected during that game was the bad call in the end zone. Every Ravens fan believes that if that TD was allowed, then the Ravens would win. That one call sank the ship, even though it was a leaky vessel. Therefore, let's focus not on bad play calling, injuries, turnovers etc. but on the JETS because that one bad call cost the game. Save our analysis for down the road--long season. Good news---we have a running game again so let's use it. Willis M was a great addition and everyone knows it but the coach.
It's not even going to be close. The first game back from 3 in a row on the road... in front of those fans... with Ray popping out of the tunnel...
Doom and gloom for the Green Machine.
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