Whether you are competing in the NFL or in a men’s over 30 flag football league, the bitter taste of an ugly loss lingers like an unwelcome in-law. You can’t wait for it to go away and you’d do just about anything to accelerate the waiting. Unfortunately in the case of the Ravens loss against the Panthers leading into their bye week, acceleration is not an option. Individually and collectively, the Ravens will need to wait this one out.
And the waiting is the hardest part.
Sure the team will be encouraged by Brian Billick to recharge the battery and get away from football both mentally and physically. And maybe to a certain extent they will. But in those quiet moments, the ones we all have whether enjoying a hot shower, driving alone in the car or staring out into nowhere while the Playstation reboots, thoughts of the last two losses will surface for these players.
They’ll take a deep breath. They’ll look in the mirror and then ask what they can do to be better individually and as a contributing member to a team effort.
Hopefully they will find their answers.
When the Ravens return to work next week, they will hold no less than a share of first place in the AFC North. Prior to the season had someone told Brian Billick that the team would be in such a place, chances are he would leap to embrace such a position.
But it’s the way they got there that’s a bit troubling.
Yet that shouldn’t matter.
The team needs to take that big collective deep breath and not wait to exhale. They need to think about what they can do to build upon their 4-2 start and how they will attack the 5-1 Saints on October 29 in New Orleans, a team also enjoying a bye this week.
The Saints bye is a bit different. They’ve exceeded expectations and they’ve become the city of New Orleans’ psychological oasis from the daily woes that grip the community of The Big Easy. The Saints are a team on a mission and they are riding a three game winning streak and an emotional wave.
This little semester break in Week 7 might be just the thing that the team doesn’t want. When Mr. Mojo is rising, rising you want to keep on rising. Perhaps this week the Saints and their baby faced coach Sean Payton might get a little too full of themselves and they could run into a wounded tiger in the form of the Baltimore Ravens who could arrive in the Crescent City with a healthy dose of reality.
Who was the last team to beat the Saints in the Superdome?
Your Baltimore Ravens.
Now granted, it was a preseason game against a very different team but a loss nonetheless.
Many have questioned the Ravens Brian Billick over the years in terms of his tactical approach to football. But guiding a team through adversity and harnessing the mindset of an underdog is where Billick shines. They say you can learn much more about a team after a loss than a win. The Ravens will have an opportunity to show what they are made of.
Before the season, many of you likely looked at the Ravens schedule and placed a “W†next to this upcoming game in New Orleans. Yet time has a way of altering the way you might view a NFL schedule because very few things in the league are static.
Keep it in perspective, learn from mistakes and build upon what you’ve established.
The Ravens 2000 season is a perfect example of a team that found its stride and road a wave. The 2005 Steelers did the same thing. So can the 2006 Ravens.
Relax, get the ya-yas out, re-energize and come back ready to go to work. 4-2 isn’t a bad place to be. Tied for first isn’t a bad place to be. What you’ve done to get there is water under the bridge. What matters more is what you do with the position of first place from this point forward. What happened in games 1-6 will not affect games 7-16.
At least it shouldn’t.
The Ravens challenge be not to let it.
The good things they did in Tampa have no bearing on what they will do in New Orleans just as what they did or didn’t do against Jake Delhomme will have no bearing on what they do against Carson Palmer on November 5.
Enjoy the needed rest. Come back with vigor and determination and channel the angst over that bitter taste in a positive direction. Nothing will cleanse the palate of a home loss more than a sweet victory on the road.
Take it on faith, take it to the heart…the waiting is the hardest part.
