Year after year, the Baltimore Ravens have fallen short to the Pittsburgh Steelers whenever Ben Roethlisberger was active. Joe Flacco has a 40% win percentage (4 wins; 10 games) against the bitter rivals. Two of those wins came against back-up quarterbacks, Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch. This means that Flacco has never defeated Roethlisberger until this season. Just 3 days ago, ESPN senior analyst, John Clayton stated that “Joe Flacco is an ELITE quarterback”. He has to be some kind of psychic because “Joe Cool” backed up that statement during the Ravens’ final possession of last night’s game.
Not only did Flacco obtain his 9th career, 4th quarter comeback, but he also threw for 300 yards and wasn’t intercepted. May not sound like much, but the last player to accomplish that was some guy named Tom Brady. Have you heard of him? Of course you have! Flacco may not be anywhere near Brady’s level of greatness, but as a young QB, Joe is doing just fine.
Now as far as the sweep goes; we all can brag and cheer as if we won the Super Bowl, but I’m keeping my game face on and I hope the Ravens are doing the same. The Ravens are 2-0 in the AFC North, meaning there are 4 more division games to play. Although Baltimore swept Pittsburgh, that doesn’t guarantee them a full division sweep. Rookie Quarterback, Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals hold a record of 6-2 and are currently on a 5 game win streak. Next week, the Bengals will be facing off against the Steelers. Some of you may not be worried, but keep in mind how similar the Ravens and Steelers are to one another. The game against Pittsburgh will basically be Cincy’s warm up game before they travel to Baltimore on Sunday, November 20th.
The Bengals have been very impressive. Although they lost, they were still able to hold the (7-1) San Francisco 49ers to 13 points. The 49ers average a total of 25 points per game. If that doesn’t impress you, the Bengals were also the first team to defeat the Buffalo Bills, a week after they defeated the New England Patriots. Still not convinced? Well what if I told you that Cincy has defeated the two teams that Baltimore fell to? Remember Jacksonville and Tennessee? Well the Bengals have beaten both teams by 7+ points.
As for the Cleveland Browns, although they’re 3-5; Former Texas quarterback, Colt McCoy is a player that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Starting at quarterback with a mediocre receiving corps is hard to do. Just ask Donovan McNabb during his years in Philadelphia before they signed Terrell Owens. Even with the mediocre receiving core (just like McNabb) McCoy is still able to find the end zone and put points on the board. The Browns are ranked 6th in total defense and are the best at shutting down the passing game; only allowing 165 yards through the air.
With that being said, the Ravens should quit celebrating and put those game faces back on. There are still 8 games to play until the post season and no team has clinched any playoff berths. Baltimore has been struggling against teams with minimal wins and celebrating isn’t going to help the team overcome that.
So while Baltimore is busy celebrating this “historic series”, the Bengals and Steelers are plotting on how they can re-obtain that number one spot!
And they’ll be waiting for the Ravens to stumble in the Pacific Northwest.
