FRAN THE FAN: A Monkey off our backs!

It was a great win in

Miami on Sunday by the Ravens – a real team effort.  The Ravens played stout defense and shut down

Miami’s trick offense of the year, the “Wildcat.”  Joe Flacco managed Cam Cameron’s offense beautifully.  Here are my Studs and Duds for the Dolphin game:

STUDS

·         The Ravens defense put

Miami’s vaunted “Wildcat” offense in the trash can where it belonged.  Rex Ryan coached a gap control defense that prevented Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams from spreading the defense out and creating lane opportunities.  But you know it was bound to happen.  Gimmick offenses don’t last long in this league.  If it wasn’t the Ravens, it would have been another good defense that put this puppy to rest.

·         The Ravens offensive line exceeded my expectations.  Chris Chester swapped out his tight end jersey for a lineman’s number and played very well.  With two of the starters on the right side out for extended periods, you had to wonder if the line would show up.  It did, and they have 145 rushing yards to show for their efforts.  They provided decent protection for Joe Flacco and gave him plenty of time to pick his receivers.

·         Speaking of Joe Flacco, the Delaware Flash had his best statistical day as a pro finishing with a QB rating of 102.  I liked the fact that, after he and Derrick Mason mis-communicated on a route that nearly resulted in a

Miami interception, Joe went right back to Derrick to complete his first TD to a receiver.  If he and Todd Heap had connected on 2 slam-dunk end zone passes, the score might have been 2 TDs higher.  You still gotta worry about some of those errant passes he throws, though.

·         Terrell Suggs having one his best days as pro. 

·         Willis McGahee showing the heart of lion.  He gained 105 tough yards and scored the last TD.  He’s clearly not 100%, as evidenced by his pass catch and run that ended in a fumble at the Dolphin 5 yard line.  Last year he would have taken that to the crib.

·        
Cam Cameron:  It’s true….Revenge IS a dish best served cold.  That Gatorade bath he got from Harbaugh and Ryan must have felt great.

·         Sam Koch:  He boomed them out all day and never gave the Dolphins great field position.  Finally, a coffin-corner kick!  Sam is quietly having a Pro Bowl year.

·         The Fans: I don’t know how many Ravens fans were in Dolphin Stadium last Sunday, but whenever Todd Heap caught a pass, the “Heap” chant was clearly heard on the radio and TV broadcasts.

DUDS

·         Special Teams: Kickoff coverage remains terrible.  It seemed that

Miami was always starting 1^st and 10 from their own 40.  As good as the defense was in closing running lanes, our coverage on kicks looks like the I-695 / I-95 interchange – providing plenty of them.  And what was with that pooch kick by Matt Stover in the 4^th quarter?  Bang it, baby!

NEWS & NOTES:

·         The Brian Billick Coaching Tree is getting seriously pruned.  Mike Nolan was fired in

San Francisco and is there any doubt that Marvin Lewis will get his walking papers at the end of the season?  Have you seen him lately?  He looks absolutely miserable.  Two good coordinators in untenable head coaching positions.

·         Ditto for Wade Phillips.  Great coordinator, bad head coach.  The death watch has been started by the

Dallas media.  Great drama In Big D, but, then again, it always is.

·         Congrats to former Raven coach Mike Singletary.  Or, at least I think so.  You gotta wonder about taking a position coach and promoting him to the head job with so little coaching experience.  I bet Mike Martz is sharpening his back stab maneuvers as you read this.

·         The Redskins finally did something for

Baltimore.  They beat the Browns and kept them a game behind the Ravens.  I hate to admit it, but I was rooting (and sweating) for the Skins in this one.  But I’m all better now.  I can go back to hating them until they play the Steelers.

FORECAST

Last week I wrote in a fit of despair that the

Miami game could very well be the turning point of the season.  Maybe it was.  Maybe not, depending on how the next few games go.  Playing mediocre teams over the next 3 weeks, the Ravens can position themselves to be 6-3 by the middle of November before beginning that brutal stretch against the NFC East.  But let’s take them one at a time.

I don’t like the spread for the

Oakland game one bit.  Not 7 points.  The Ravens have yet to show me that they can play consistently well, game to game, on offense.  Therefore……

I pick the Raiders to cover and the Ravens to win, 17-13.