December 9, 2008

I Think I'm With Domski On This One...


Oh man, the Ravens. I mean, where do I begin?

Should I talk about how they've won seven of their last eight games? Or how over that same stretch, supposed rookie phenom, Joe Flacco has only thrown three total picks? Or how he's also thrown 12 TDs? Should I talk about how friggin' Le'ron McClain is leading their team in rushing with 606 yards and 7 TDs on the year? Or how 75 year old Derrick Mason is leading them in receiving and could easily end the year with over 1000 yards (he's at 871)? Or maybe how their defense, despite being two men down in the secondary has nabbed 12 INTs over those last eight games? Or how Ed Reed's second in the league to only Troy, with five of those 12 picks?

Or MAYBE I could talk about how their numbers are eerily similar to ours on Defense in general? Yeah, how about that. Right now everyone knows the Steelers are #1 across the board. But playing a close second fiddle is Murdermore Baltimore.

Total Yds Per Game - 253.4 (Pitt = 241.9)
Rush Yds Per Game - 77 (Pitt = 73)
Pass Yds Per Game - 176.4 (Pitt = 168.9)
Pts Per Game - 15.4 (Pitt = 14.1)
TDs allowed - 16 (Pitt = 16)

Of course, our 45 total sacks dwarf their measly 28. But you can't really deny that they seem to have their shit together.

Alright, so yeah, they played the Raiders, Browns, Texans and Bengals in there, but they also only lost to the Giants, who you know, are apparently the second coming of Christ...errr, were, until the Eagles told them what was what on Sunday. And the Giants kind of made them look like the Rams, actually, as did the Colts. Of course, we lost to both of those teams, ourselves. Albeit by a significantly lesser margin...

Anyways, my point being - we haven't seen the Ravens since September 29. And even then, we barely eked out a win in OT. We've got a real big game on our hands this week.

Now, I know you're all going to cry about me cupping the Ravens balls like this. But look, do you really think the Ravens are just going to forget that they're playing sick Defense right in time for our randomly-consistent Offense? Dude, they've had this game circled on the calendar since they lost to us in September. And definitely since they lost to the Giants a few weeks back. I'll bet any amount of money that Ray Lewis will be in there tomorrow screaming at those assholes about how everyone's talking about Pittsburgh, and how if they win this game they tie up the division and split two games with us. Not to mention how he's a murderer. Yadda yadda yadda, you've heard all this before.

I'm just sayin', we better be ready come Sunday. No screwing around this week, Arians.

Hines Ward - I don't know where YOU were last Sunday, but you better show up for this week. We're gonna need you. In addition to Heath, Santonio, and Nate Washington. Something tells me if we can't muster more than 70 yards on the Cowboys, with four guys contributing to that, we won't be running the ball much on the Ravens either.

And one more thing - their punter, Sam Koch, averages just about 43 yards a punt (2nd in league). Our punter is Mitch Berger. Need I go on?

Oh well, at least we've got Steely McBeam...


You know what? I'm just gonna watch this video again...


And also, this one...


This one's pretty good too...


This one, not so much...


What's that, Hines?


Good call...

Thoughts?

8 comments:

tiny350Z said...

Is "randomly-consistent" an oxymoron?

I am not looking forward to the stress-induced Sunday I will experience this weekend.

Cotter said...

Technically, yes. But because this isn't English class, and I thought "randomly consistent" sounded slightly more encouraging than flat out "inconsistent," I made an editorial choice.

I mean, we're consistently efficient, every so often. Nahmeen?

Anonymous said...

hopefully enough gametape has piled up on flacco to help Lebeau expose a weakness or tendency.

both defenses are probably going to take away each others running games, so ravens o-line and flacco or steelers o-line and ben?

tiny350Z said...

I like oxymorons. They're kinda fun.

So, Flacco's been sacked 23 times so far on the season - to Ben's 38 (which is not the highest in the league!). I heard some stat that said most of those sacks (26?) came from the NFC East teams, and 11 came from the other 9 cames we played.

Baltimore had 3 sacks against our o-line, we had 5.

In my long-winded analysis, there are things we can definitely improve upon - our randomly consistent offense is my biggest concern.

Anonymous said...

Being that we are 13 games deep, it's probably safe to assume that our offense isn't going to come around as we had hoped earlier in the season. (at least with brainchild Arians running the show)

As long as the D can keep us close, I like our chances this Sunday and any other sunday. Ben can't make stupid mistakes.

Cotter said...

domski ~ I can only assume that creative handle is your brainchild...yeah, the good news is Flacco's still a rookie, no matter how he's playing. While Ben's seen the Ravens D a number of times over his handful of years in the league, Flacco's only seen our Defense once. So maybe that's a good thing?

tiny350z ~ Seriously. That's the only thing keeping me from being confident about our chances down the stretch and into the playoffs. If only we could play New England every week...

matt ~ Indeed. A recipe for success-ish. I'm still holding out hope for the Offense, though, probably against my better judgment. I just can't help but think we'll put it together when we really have to...like the 4th quarter on Sunday. A little late, but it was then or never and they did enough to tie it up, with the momentum on our side should that thing have gone to OT. I haven't forgotten all of our other performances, and it was damn frustrating watching them waste good field position. But it came down to do or die and well, you saw the game.

domski43 said...

i think there is hope for the offense down the stretch. the o-line is playing much better and giving ben time in the pocket.


hopefully a miracle, (similar to Indy's run to super bowl when their defense all of sudden woke up)happens for the Steelers offense as soon as the playoffs come around.

HHHEEEEEEEEEEEAAATTTHHH!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I am all for mascot sacrificing for a win against the Ravens.