Peter King, a Sports Illustrated writer I usually hate reading because he writes like a gossip columnist, made a great point in this past week’s Monday Morning Quarterback. He didn’t pick a number one team in his “Fine Fifteen.” He’s right. There are no elite teams in the NFL this year.
Every team is flawed in some respect. Think about it. The best team record is 7-2 and they are teams the Ravens have either beaten (the Jets) or lost close games to (Patriots & Falcons). Let’s look at the records.
The Jets? They barely won two close games in overtime to teams (Detroit and Cleveland) they should have crushed. The Patriots were nailed to the wall by the Browns and haven’t looked dominating until they beat the Steelers last week. The Squealers? The beat Miami on a hotly disputed end zone call and were exposed by New England. The Colts own a very uncharacteristic 6-3 record with 2 losses to mediocre Houston and Jacksonville. Very unlike 2009 when the Indy Irsays went 14-0 before their management decided to rest their starters and, by doing so, let the Jets into the playoffs. (Editorial comment: still hacked about that).
Our beloved Ravens? Hard fought wins over the Jets and Steelers are counterbalanced with inexplicable 4th quarter defensive lapses against New England and Atlanta, with near misses against Cleveland and Buffalo. Yes, we are 6-3, own the tie-breaker with the Steelers, and lead the AFC North. We also could be 4-5 and screaming for John Harbaugh’s scalp.
Bottom Line (to again quote Ray Lewis); it’s a fine line between victory and defeat for all contenders.
The fight now is to be among the Select Six AFC playoff teams at the end of the season. Even though the Ravens lost to the Falcons Thursday a week ago, we got some help from other teams. Miami slowed down the Titan Express and the Patriots took apart the Steelers. The same could happen this weekend. The Colts play in New England and somebody good, a conference contender, has to lose. Resurgent Oakland plays at the big ketchup bowl in Pittsburgh and Houston visits the Jets. Both home teams are 7 point favorites but I like the Raider’s chances to at least keep it close and I think Houston has one more good game in them against a good opponent. The playoff scenarios are getting interesting.
Around the Ravens and Around the League – a Fan’s Football Tweets
Ray Lewis has repeatedly stated his opposition to regularly scheduled Thursday Night games and, after the Ravens’ meltdown in the ATL, it’s easy to see why. Playing on a short week, away from home, in a dome, is usually a recipe for a Ravens’ loss. In fact, I would have been surprised if the Ravens walked out of the Georgia Dome a winner. But it’s also a player safety factor. If I were the NFLPA, I’d make it a contract discussion point.
Boos to Cheers: The Dallas/Fort Worth press corps, a gang that can rival, for pure vitriol, anything written by the New York tabloids, has fallen in love with Jason Garrett. Can we have a reality check here? This happens all the time. Easy-going coach gets taken advantage of by players. Team loses lots of games. Coach gets fired by owner. New sheriff rides into town (in this case moves to a bigger office), and lays down The Law. Players out-perform in next game. People quickly forget new coach was part of the problem. I’d like to see a few more games out of the Cowboys before we compare the Redhead to Tom Landry.
Memo to Redskins Fans: This is what you get when your team picks a fight with the Eagles before the game: 333 yards passing and four touchdowns, rushing for 80 yards and two more touchdowns. Yep, that’s six scores and 413 total yards. Yep, that’s Michael Vick.
Dead Men Walking: This edition of Coaches on the Hot Seat includes: 1) Brad Childress, Minnesota. Widely disliked by fans and players alike, that and his underachieving 3-6 record puts him at the top. 2) John Fox, Carolina: A done deal. 3) Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati: Has his bags already packed. 4) Gary Kubiak, Houston: Has to make the playoffs to keep his job. 5) Chan Gailey, Buffalo: His team always plays hard, but they’re 1-8. DMW Emeritus: To misquote a former president, “You don’t have Wade Phillips to kick around anymore.”
Lockout/Player Strike Update: Speaking of dead men walking, that describes the current state of labor negotiations. In the past few weeks, Pats owner Bob Kraft has sounded hopeful and Roger Goodell is saying the right things, and Jags owner Wayne Weaver has promised his season ticket holders there will no work stoppage. But here’s the reality: The current contract expires in March. There are lots of issues to resolve. No new labor negotiation sessions are currently scheduled. They can’t even agree to meet. My chances of a work stoppage remain at: 95%.
18 Game Schedule: I can’t get my arms around the idea of playing 18 games in a season dovetailing with the NFL’s safety initiatives such as concussion intervention and prevention of violent, helmet-leading tackles. In fact, I can’t get my arms around a lot of other things concerning this. Most season ticket holders, such as me, don’t want to pay regular season prices for exhibition games. In fact, I hate it. The owners, using fan disgust with the preseason games as a pretext, only want the extra income from 2 more regular season games. The players want a reduction in organized team activities (OTAs), reduced use of helmets and pads during practices, an extra bye, and an increase in game-day squad size from 45 to 53. It all sounds reasonable to me. But, let’s apply the Law of Unintended Consequences here: Do we really want to watch a Super Bowl in mid-late February?
This Week
The Ravens have had 10 days to rest and prepare to play the worst team in the league. Carolina’s starting quarterback and running backs are both on the I.R. The Panthers will start a former Ravens backup, Brian St. Pierre (of fond memory), at quarterback, a career clip board holder who has thrown a grand total of 5 regular season passes. If the Ravens are half as hacked as I am over the Atlanta game, they should come out smoking on Sunday. Even if they’re not, they should still make this a mercy killing (metaphorically). The Panthers are a flat out inferior opponent that the Ravens should chew up and spit out. No excuses.
Ravens 34, Carolina 3.
