Quotes of note from week #1 in the AFC North:
"We just suck on offense right now. That’s terrible. We can’t move the ball. We can’t get a first down. We can’t run. We can’t throw. The defense played great, and we just didn’t play good on offense, bottom line.” – Bengals WR TJ Houshmandzadeh
“The Bengals knew we were going to run it. We knew. The crowd knew we were going to run it. And they couldn’t stop it!” – Ravens LB Bart Scott
“Hard to tell which is worse; Browns pass rush or coverage. Down by 21 with 10:13 to play, Browns kick a 34-yard field goal rather than try fourth-and-3 from the 17. Needless to say, the crowd was, uh, displeased … I feel this way about it: If it wasn’t still the preseason, Crennel would have gone for it.” – Tony Grossi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"I think that we played a good game in virtually all three phases. It was not perfect, but I liked the energy and enthusiasm from the people who went out and made plays for this football team." – Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin
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AFC North
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Team
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W
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L
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T
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PCT
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PF
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PA
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Home
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Road
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AFC
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NFC
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DIV
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Streak
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Baltimore
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1
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0
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0
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1.000
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17
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10
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1-0
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0-0
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1-0
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0-0
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1-0
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Won 1
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Pittsburgh
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1
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0
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0
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1.000
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38
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17
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1-0
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0-0
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1-0
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0-0
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0-0
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Won 1
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Cincinnati
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0
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1
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0
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.000
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10
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17
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0-0
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0-1
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0-1
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0-0
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0-1
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Lost 1
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Cleveland
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0
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1
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0
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.000
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10
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28
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0-1
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0-0
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0-0
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0-1
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0-0
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Lost 1
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Week 1 Scores in the AFC North
Baltimore 17
Cincinnati 10
Dallas 28
Cleveland 10
Pittsburgh 38
Houston 17
Baltimore Ravens
Shortly before game time, the
Maryland lottery had their midday drawing and the 3-digit pull was 5-5-5. An omen for what transpired at M&T Bank stadium on Sunday as the Ravens #5 Joe Flacco took the field for his very first NFL start. Flacco ran for a 38-yard touchdown, and the Ravens held the Cincinnati Bengals to 154 yards and eight first downs Sunday in their victory in a game that was far more lopsided than the final score would indicate. Flacco deftly operated within the system of new offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. The rookie went 15-for-29 for 129 yards and no interceptions, and his touchdown run put
Baltimore up 17-3 in the third quarter. Flacco’s touchdown run; which came on a rollout to his right, was 13 yards farther than his longest run at the
University of
Delaware.
Baltimore‘s other touchdown came on a double reverse, a trick play that represented a marked departure from the conservative offense employed by Brian Billick. On
Baltimore‘s final drive, Le’Ron McClain ran for 40 yards as the Ravens ran the last 7 minutes off of the game clock. He finished with 86 yards rushing; he had 18 as a rookie fullback last year.
Baltimore has gone an NFL-best, 20 straight games without allowing a 100-yard rusher.
Cincinnati Bengals
Chad Ocho Cinco, forced by the NFL to wear Chad Johnson on his jersey, was held to one catch for 22 yards. He praised the blitz-oriented defense deployed by Ravens coordinator Rex Ryan. "Two thumbs up to him and what they did today. It was unbelievable, and I told him after the game," Ocho Cinco said. "I don’t know what they were playing. That’s some playground defense."
Cincinnati‘s lone touchdown came on a 65-yard fumble return by Johnathan Joseph. QB Carson Palmer couldn’t take the Bengals closer than the
Baltimore 17, and that drive ended with an interception. "We got outplayed," he said. "It was just an ugly game offensively. When you score three points, it’s never good. And our three points were on a two-minute drive. It’s a sick feeling, and it’s going to feel even sicker when we watch the film." Cincinnati’s only points in the first half came on a 43-yard field goal by Shayne Graham with five seconds left that made it 10-3. "The key were the third-and-one and fourth-and one. We don’t stop them on defense and they stop us," Marvin Lewis said. "They were critical plays in the game. Physically, we have to play better football than we played today. Ocho Cinco has at least one catch in 93 straight games, tying the team record set by Carl Pickens.
Cleveland Browns
Saddled with enormous expectations, the Browns, who were winless during an injury-plagued preseason, dropped to 1-9 in openers since returning to the league in 1999.
Cleveland‘s only touchdown came on Derek Anderson’s 2-yard pass to Kellen Winslow in the second quarter.
Anderson went 11-of-24 for 114 yards but never got into a rhythm with wide receiver Braylon Edwards, who had only two catches and dropped at least two, including one in the first quarter on what would have been a sure TD. "We faced a good football team and made them better," Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. "We dropped balls, missed tackles, missed an interception and let them throw a (touchdown) over our heads. You can’t do that and expect to win. A lot of things went wrong."
Edwards missed three exhibition games with a cut foot and said the time off hurt his timing. "Last time I checked, we still have 15 games so we have a lot of time to get better," he said. "We’ll be fine." The Browns began last season by being trounced 34-7 by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who will visit next Sunday night in a nationally televised game. The Browns were without wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth (groin injury) and return specialist Joshua Cribbs (ankle injury).
Pittsburgh Steelers
Willie Parker ran for 138 yards and three touchdowns during the Steelers victory Sunday that was effectively over early in the second quarter. The Steelers won their sixth consecutive opener, the NFL’s longest streak since
Miami won 11 in a row from 1992-2002. For one game, it seemed like a replay of the Steelers’ Super Bowl-winning season of three years ago. Parker showed no loss of speed or cutback ability resulting from the broken right leg that ended his 2007 season in the Steelers’ next-to-last game, when he was leading the NFL in rushing. Ben Roethlisberger missed on only one of 14 passing attempts until being lifted after three quarters. Hines Ward had two scoring catches among his six receptions for 76 yards, and Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu, coming off an injury-filled season, made his first interception in nearly two years. Parker’s three TD runs were a career high. He ran for two touchdowns last season despite having 1,316 yards rushing. "This team knows I’ll do anything to be the goal-line back," Parker said. "That’s part of being a running back." Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley’s interception led to Roethlisberger’s 13-yard scoring pass to Ward for a 21-0 lead with nine minutes remaining in the second quarter. Parker added a 4-yard TD run on a toss play in the third quarter.
Week 2 Match-ups and Predictions
Baltimore at
Houston
Ray Rice and Le’Ron McClain combined to rush for 150 yards last week. McClain had 19 carries for 86 yards. He had only 37 carries in 4 seasons at
Alabama and 8 carries as a rookie.
Baltimore was 1-7 on the road last season.
After falling behind early against the Steelers in week 1,
Houston rushed for only 75 yards on 20 carries. DE Mario Williams has notched at least 1 sack in 7 of his last 8 games dating back to last season.
Houston is 2-8 in Matt Schaub’s last 10 starts.
ITH PREDICTION –
Houston 20
Baltimore 13
Tennessee at
Cincinnati
Tennessee recorded 7 sacks in their week 1 opener versus
Jacksonville. DT Tony Brown and Albert Haynesworth had 2 sacks apiece. Their last 2 regular season wins have come when Kerry Collins relieved an injured Vince Young. The Titans completed only 3 passes to WR last week.
Chad Ocho Cinco caught 12 passes for 103 yards and 3 TD versus
Tennessee last season. Carson Palmer has thrown 1 or fewer TD passes in 10 of his last 15 starts.
Cincinnati gave up 229 rushing yards against the Ravens last week, which TJ Houshmandzadeh somehow in his mind equates to….”The defense played great”. HUH?
ITH PREDICTION –
Tennessee 27
Cincinnati 23
Pittsburgh at
Cleveland
This is the third time that
Cleveland has opened with back-to-back home games; the first 2 times, the Browns lost the home opener but won their second game. Braylon Edwards was held to 2 catches for 14 yards by the Cowboys.
Cleveland held the ball for only 22:31 against the Cowboys.
Pittsburgh has won 9 straight versus
Cleveland. Willie Parker has averaged 122.6 yards per game in 5 starts against the Browns. Ben Roethlisberger threw 6 TD passes in 2 starts versus the Browns last season. The Steelers recorded 5 sacks versus
Houston in week 1.
ITH PREDICTION –
Pittsburgh 23
Cleveland 16
Week 1 Record and Season-to-date: 2-1
Photo by Sabina Moran
