Great, good, bad and ugly (Jets/Ravens)

Let's start with ugly.

Brian Billick's play calling. Again. When the Ravens were up by two touchdowns at the start of the fourth, he should have chewed up the clock with Willis McGahee. Instead he kept rolling the dice and airing it out.

BAD
Rex Ryan's prevent defense. Baltimore gave up 107 yards and a field goal through three quarters. The Ravens gave up 10 points and nearly 200 yards (197) in the fourth alone.

GOOD
Kyle Boller's play. A first-quarter pass sailed wide, but it was not an erratic sign of things to come. Zero turnovers, two touchdown passes, and an overall strong performance from the guy half of Baltimore would love to see fail.

GREAT
20-13, Ravens. It was not a blowout like I expected, but like Ed Reed said after the game: "Bottom line, we won."

Will Chad Pennington play?

The four-letter network's John Clayton today reported that Chad Pennington is 50/50 for this afternoon's match-up between the New York Jets and the Baltimore Ravens.

His ankle is feeling better, and he has lobbied the coaching staff for a chance to give it a go. For the past few days it was all but certain that backup QB Kellen Clemens would make his first NFL start.

Just in case you missed it the first 108 times that I mentioned it, regardless of whether or not Pennington plays, the Ravens will win big.

Things I like about the Jets

I've spent the better part of a week now trashing the New York Jets. It's nothing personal. Like Ray Lewis said, "The bottom line is the Jets pulled a bad draw. It's just the way it comes down."

But I'm feeling generous, probably because en route to the couch on which I sit is a sausage, egg & cheese bagel and some coffee.

So here is a list of five things I like about the New York Jets.

1) J-E-T-S... Jets, Jets, Jets! It's the best chant in the NFL. Simple, original and not effectively copied. If you disagree, listen to Eagles fans try to pull off E-A-G-L-E-S... Eagles!

2) Draft Day presence: If the league decides to move the draft out of New York, one of the things I'll miss is watching hordes of angry Jets fans complain about the team's selections.

3) They're not New England: I don't want to get much into Bill Belichick's spying, but the short version is that "Belicheat" should have been suspended.

4) Chad Pennington: His shoulder is made of butter and his arm strength negligible, but Pennington knows how to play quarterback, and while at Marshall he helped put Randy Moss on the map.

5) The fans: Never in a million years would they do something crass like boo an injured player.

Ravens/Jets preview: player quotes

Today Jets QB Kellen Clemens makes his first-ever NFL start, and unfortunately for him it's against the league's best defense.

Clemens: There's not a lot of weak points in that chain. They're very talented. They'll be a challenge for us."

Baltimore's take:

Trevor Pryce: "If you let one of those random, unknown guys to build some confidence, they can hurt you badly. Some young guys don't really have enough sense to be afraid. They don't think about the consequences, so they just wing it. Sometimes you'll see a young cocky kid out there, and he'll say to himself, 'This is like high school. I'm the man!' That's when you know you're in big trouble. Trust me, you want to crush their confidence right away."

Jarret Johnson: "We definitely try to rattle young guys. With an older guy you know that getting hit probably doesn't bother him. That's not always true with a new quarterback, so you hit him to find out if he can take it or not. You want to be aggressive and try to intimidate him."

Ed Reed: "We're not a typical defense that you can pick up. It's something that takes time for a quarterback that's coming in for the first time. I'm sure he's excited, but at the same time somewhere in the back of his mind he's a little shaken up."

Ray Lewis: "I don't know one person in this organization, as well as our city, that's thought about 0-2. The bottom line is the Jets pulled a bad draw. It's just the way it comes down."

Source: Ravens beat reporter Aaron Wilson.

Waiting for the Jets game

I've been in Baltimore for less than 24 hours, with a little more than 24 hours to go before kickoff, and so far I've done nothing but immerse myself in south Baltimore. I love San Francisco, but Baltimore is a city that flies under the radar with a lot to offer. Or maybe I'm just biased because I grew up in Charm City.

This morning it was Federal Hill, Mother's specifically, where "Polish D" and I wet the whistle and made plans to smoke a pork shoulder for tomorrow's pre-game festivities. It was a return to the scene of the crime, where last night in Federal Hill unnecessary tequila shots encored free Ravens koozies, or maybe it was the other way around?


Fact: Beer tastes better in a Ravens koozie.

It has been a long eight months since I've been to M&T Bank Stadium, where last January the Ravens defense shut down Peyton Manning and the high-powered Colts offense, only to watch Steve McNair & Co. get shut down completely by the typically weak Colts defense.

It looks as though Steve McNair will start tomorrow, but honestly I think you could line up Troy Smith under center tomorrow and the Ravens beat the Jets. Tomorrow will be all about Willis McGahee.

Brian Billick last week was so desperate to prove that he can field a balance offense that he got away from what works and instead found himself calling upon Kyle Boller to get it done in the red zone with the clock ticking. If he pulls that sort of lame-brained play calling this week, Ravens fans will be calling for his head, and many of them are already.

Prediction:
Ravens 27, Jets 0.

Ravens - Jets: post-game podcast planned

The previously mentioned podcast-preview of Sunday's Jets/Ravens game will now instead be a post-game podcast, taped Monday evening and hopefully made available that same night. Our schedules didn't allow for a pre-game podcast, so post-game it will be.

The only difference will be that instead of discussing with NY Green Machine a hypothetical a$$-whooping of the Jets, I'll be talking about what by that time will be yesterday's a$$-whooping of the Jets.

I guarantee the Ravens will win big.

Side note: Word is that Steve McNair practiced today, which increases the likelihood that he'll play on Sunday.

Side note, deux: I just arrived in Baltimore for Sunday's game. I'll also be here for next week's game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Go Ravens.

Ravens - Jets preview (podcast in the works)

Sports Cartel Blog Network has invited me to do a podcast-preview of Sunday's Ravens/Jets game. Also participating will be NY Green Machine, a Jets blogger.

Worth noting: The president of Sports Cartel Blog Network is a Ravens fan, and can be found online at Ravens TD.

There's a lesson to be learned here, kids: Cheer for the Ravens and someday you will be president. Of something. Currently I'm president of the imaginary Stevie Thompson fan club. Growing up, Thompson was my favorite college hoops player.

Stevie Thompson yucks it up with his former coach, Jimmy B.

I'm not sure what to expect, but I imagine it will involve me discussing all of the reasons why the Jets stand no chance of winning in Baltimore. I'm game for that.

As soon as we figure out the details, I'll post them here.

Guarantee: Ravens crush the Jets

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.

###

Prediction: Ravens 27, Jets 0

New England Cheaters (oops, Patriots)

It has been reported that the New England Patriots are being investigated by the NFL for using a video camera to steal signals from the New York Jets.

From the four-letter network: NFL security confiscated a video camera and its tape from a New England Patriots employee on the team's sideline during Sunday's game against the Jets in a suspected spying incident, sources said.

This same spy "employee" was removed from the Patriots/Green Bay Packers game last year after security officials suspected him of similarly shady video-camera behavior.

The Packers' president had this to say about last year's incident: "From what I can remember, he had quite a fit when we took him out. We had gotten word before the game that they [the Patriots] did this sort of thing, so we were looking for it."

I like Tom Brady. He's a great competitor, humble and clearly one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL. But with regard to what I like about the Patriots, that's about it.

In what is pure schadenfreude, I hope the recent allegations are true.

Remember last season when Belichick refused to shake hands with New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini after Mangini's Jets beat the Patriots, 17-14?

Sour grapes.

Head coach Bill Belichick is smug, and the team's fans are more obnoxious than most, though in all fairness the latter may just be guilt by association with Red Sox fans.

New Jork Jets: Justin Miller arrested

The New York Jets had only one Pro Bowl player last year, Justin Miller, who also happens to be the only Jets player who spent this morning in handcuffs. Ever since NFL commissioner Roger Goodell enacted the league's stricter conduct code, it seems players have taken it as a challenge. They just keep getting themselves arrested. Friday it was Cincinnati's roster that took a hit, and today it was the New York Jets.

Miller allegedly punched a woman in the face, that much is clear. He wasn't trying to hit her. Sounds like he was aiming for a guy and missed, but that won't matter. Punching a woman in the face is a no-no, Justin, even in the NFL. Tsk, Tsk, Justin Miller.

Miller made the Pro Bowl as a kick returner, but he also plays cornerback. He hasn't done much in his first two seasons as a defensive back (no interceptions and only a handful of passes defensed) but the Jets can't afford to take any steps backward on defense, especially since Tom Brady will actually have a decent wide-receiver corps in New England this year, headlined of course by Randy Moss.

2007 NFL Draft: New York Jets (2.47)

Midway through the second round and the Jets pick Michigan LB David Harris, whom I was hoping would slip to the Ravens at the bottom of the second round. That's the breaks. He's a great player, one whom I've had my eye on since the beginning of this past season. He's undersized, but that's not a huge deal if you've got a good defensive line. If the Jets' defensive line can keep Harris free from blockers, he'll be very successful making plays in the AFC East.

2007 NFL Draft: New York Jets (1.14)

This pick originally belonged to the Carolina Panthers, who traded back to the Jets. The Panthers gave up this pick along with the 199th pick (sixth round), which is the same pick the Patriots used to pick Tom Brady. In return, they get three of the Jets picks: first round (25th overall), second round and fifth round. That's a lot, but so is 11 slots in the first round.

The Jets pick the draft's first cornerback, Pittsburgh CB Darrelle Revis. A bit surprised this wasn't Michigan CB Leon Harris, who now might go to the Steelers. Revis is explosive, fast, has good instincts and nice hands, but too often gives up the short pass. Revis, have fun playing against Tom Brady, who is a master with the short pass.