Ovie @ the ESPYs

Last week former Ravens FB Ovie Mughelli and I spent the day on the red carpet at the ESPYs, along with 8,054 of ESPN's closest media friends. Ovie is a good dude and a great fullback. Le'Ron McLain just ain't the same. Below is my recap interview with Ovie (aka Black Knight pt. 2 aka Chocolate Thunder pt. 2 aka Nigerian Nightmare pt. 3).

Visit the Yard to watch Ovie's interviews with Matt Leinart, Braylon Edwards, Bob Sanders, Kellen Winslow, Vernon Davis, P.J. Brown from the Boston Celtics, and the USA women's Olympic volleyball players.

Video: Troy Smith scores touchdown

For the brave few who watched all of last night's crushing defeat, this is old news (but worth watching again): video of Troy Smith's scoring drive last night against the Colts.

I would embed the video here, but surprisingly the NFL won't allow that.

Enjoy.

Jim Sorgi, Troy Smith, crab cakes!

Who is to blame?
I have been calling for Billick's head for months ("Brian Billick Should Be Fired").

But you can't pin tonight's loss on Brian (Colts 44, Ravens 20). With both starting corners on the bench, Baltimore didn't stand a chance against the league's best quarterback.

If Tony Dungy didn't bring in Jim Sorgi early in the third quarter, Peyton Manning might have thrown for seven touchdowns against Baltimore's depleted secondary.

Troy Smith gets in the game
Three for five, 33 yards and a six-yard touchdown run. You'd think he was Vince Young (except only one of them won the Heisman). Unfortunately for Smith, most of Baltimore had already turned off their televisions.

Boller vs. Smith?
Troy Smith looked great in his first regular-season action, but it was two minutes against a defense that was probably more worried about not getting injured than giving up points. The Colts were already leading by about 11 touchdowns.

Let Boller finish the season. Give Smith a shot to earn the starting job next year, but don't hand it to him. Make him earn it. Boller outplayed Tom Brady last week. He deserves the right to finish out the season as Baltimore's starting QB.

John Madden Hates crab cakes
"I'm not a crab cake guy," Madden said late in the fourth. "I'm not exactly sure what goes into them."

There is a food that John Madden won't eat?

There's not much to it, John. Just a whole lot of crab, and some seasoning, mayonnaise and bread crumbs: Here is the recipe.

Baltimore returns to Earth

A two-touchdown deficit, Kyle Boller interception, and too many injuries (Haloti Ngata, Bart Scott, Le'Ron McLain and Willis McGahee). This is unacceptably familiar.

Peyton Manning just threw his 300th career touchdown. Now it's a three-touchdown deficit.

Colts 21, Ravens 0.

And it's still the first quarter!

Crystal ball: Saints @ Colts prediction

New Orleans Saints: 31
Indianapolis Colts: 27

Here are three reasons why the Colts will lose at home tonight (notice that none of them have anything to do with a Super Bowl hangover):

The Colts can't stop the run: I don't care if Bob Sanders is healthy or not. The Colts can't stop the run. In case you missed it the first two times: The Colts can't stop the run. Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister will light 'em up.

Tony Ugoh: Until he retired this offseason, Pro Bowl LT Tarik Glenn was the only left tackle with whom Peyton Manning has ever played. Glenn has been replaced by rookie Tony Ugoh, who will now be responsible for protecting Manning's blindside and playing the most important position on an offensive line that last year gave up a league-low 15 sacks.

The Saints' run defense: Unlike Indianapolis, New Orleans is strong against the run, so if Colts RB Joseph Addai is going to have a breakout sophomore campaign, it is going to have to wait at least until week two.

NFL Power Rankings: the four best teams, in no particular order

Notice how all of the best teams are in the AFC: Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, San Diego Chargers.

Baltimore will get a chance to not only play each of these three other teams next year, but they'll do it in back-to-back-to-back weeks. In week 12, Baltimore travels to San Diego and plays the Chargers. In week 13, they return home and play the Patriots on Monday night. Then in week 14, on Sunday night, the Colts return to Baltimore for a rematch of last year's divisional playoff game, which the Colts won 15-6 en route to its first Super Bowl victory since the Colts left Baltimore for Indianapolis. That is a brutal late-season three-game stretch.

Baltimore Ravens: These teams are in no particular order, but of course I'm going to start with Baltimore. The Ravens lost linebacker Adalius Thomas to the Patriots, which is tough, but Baltimore has a track record for getting quality linebacker play regardless of who's in the lineup. Love him or hate him, that's what happens with Ray Lewis.

Last season the Ravens shut down the predictably awesome Colts offense. No touchdowns, five field goals. With even a semblance of a running game, the Ravens win that game and maybe the Super Bowl. Of course, offense is a big maybe in Baltimore. That's why the Ravens signed RB Willis McGahee and shored up the offensive line in the draft (Auburn G Ben Grubbs; Iowa G/T Marshall Yanda).

They also got a fullback to replace Ovie Mughelli and picked up the fastest player in the draft to compete with return man B.J. Sams, whose late-season injury last year crippled the Ravens' chances to do damage in the field-position game.

Indianapolis Colts: The biggest concern will still be the defense. Superstar DE Dwight Freeney wants a new contract, and even though he isn't threatening a holdout the Colts should be careful not to upset him. Without Freeney this defense is significantly worse, which is something the team cannot afford. Yeah, the defense stepped up when it needed to last year in the playoffs, but I wouldn't bet the farm that they can do it again. I wouldn't even bet a few of the cows. The defense is bad, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

The offense will be great, of course. The Colts picked up a wide receiver and offensive guard in the first two rounds of the draft. Not that the offense really needed much improvement. Or any for that matter.

New England Patriots: The Patriots are the odds-on favorite to win next year's Super Bowl, mostly because of Randy Moss, or so the hype suggests. But I think their biggest pickup has been Adalius Thomas. Moss will make the offense better, but Tom Brady is good enough to fare well without him, and the Patriots haven't won three titles by relying on name-brand stars (except for Brady, of course).

Head coach Bill Belichick prefers guys who can contribute in more than one way, versatility on both sides of the ball. Adalius Thomas is that guy on defense, and I think New England is probably the only franchise where he could have as much success as he had in Baltimore. Yeah, I know he turns 30 this summer. Doesn't matter. Adalius Thomas should be just fine in New England.

Because the AFC East competition is weak, expect the Patriots to get a high seed in the playoffs again. And with Tom Brady's leadership? I don't think they're a sure thing, but they've got as good a chance to win the Super Bowl as any of these other three teams, if not better.

San Diego Chargers: The Chargers have LaDainian Tomlinson, which is enough to win a bunch of games right there. And they also have Shawne Merriman, one of the best defenders in the league. But there are concerns, at least two of them. Can Phillip Rivers win the Super Bowl? And will the Chargers regret firing head coach Marty Schottenheimer? I'm not sure about the first question. Why not, is my answer. Phillip Rivers doesn't need to win games; he needs only to not screw up. It worked for Trent Dilfer and Ben Roethlisberger.

I'm pretty sure they'll regret dumping Schottenheimer for Norv Turner, though. Schottenheimer might've kept too short of a leash on Phillip Rivers for too long last year, but he is one of the greatest football coaches ever: 200 career wins, which is very difficult in the NFL. I don't care if he plays Martyball. If you can control the clock and play defense, you can win the Super Bowl. I'm not sure Norv Turner can do that.

2007 NFL Draft: Indianapolis Colts (2.42)

The Colts pick up Arkansas T Tony Ugoh, who is the best remaining tackle in the draft. Arguably the only tackle remaining worth drafting, which is disappointing for Ravens fans. The Ravens need to find depth on the offensive line because there is a very good chance that this is Jonathan Ogden's final season. It'll be interesting to see how the Ravens find this depth now that Ugoh is off the board.

The Colts traded up with the 49ers to get this pick, and with Anthony Gonzalez and Tony Ugoh, they're stacking the deck on offense. Indy loves its offense, but at some point you've got to wonder why they don't focus more on the defense. Michigan's David Harris would've been a great pick here.

2007 NFL Draft: Indianapolis Colts (1.32)

Ohio State wide receivers usually end up being pretty good NFL players. And when Ohio State WR Anthony Gonzalez gets together with Peyton Manning, I wouldn't expect anything less than success. Then again, I could get four touchdowns a year playing for the Colts. Fortunately, the Colts defense is still suspect.

The first round of this year's NFL Draft was the longest in history -- about six hours and 15 minutes -- and I'm glad it's over. Blogging for 375 straight minutes is more tiring than I thought it would be. It was a good first round with no huge surprises, except maybe Brady Quinn dropping so far. And even that's debatable. I think a lot of the hype surrounding Quinn was because he played for Charlie Weis (overrated) and because the media wanted there to be two great quarterbacks. Everyone loves a competition for the #1 overall selection. But the truth is, Quinn is not top-5 great, and getting picked in the lower-half of the first round is not a huge surprise.