The Ravens aren’t who we thought they would be this year. Boston writer claims the “Curse of Deflategate” is making its mark. Flacco leads all quarterbacks in a clutch statistic. What the 0-2 start means from a projection standpoint. Doctors and experts are diagnosing injuries in real-time on Twitter. And the Bengals have been a real thorn in the Ravens’ side lately.
The Ravens Aren’t Who We Thought They Were
To get you started off with how I’m sure many Ravens fans are feeling right about now, Joe LaCroix of Purple Reign shares his thoughts on the Ravens’ position at this point in the season. He calls the offense “consistently inconsistent,” which is fair considering Flacco’s three big missed throws on Sunday (to Aiken, Waller, and Smith). His main concern is that, despite their inconsistencies, the Ravens have always managed to pull out wins. They haven’t done that this year, that’s for sure. LaCroix says it may not be too late to turn the season around, but one thing is for sure: the Ravens aren’t who we thought they were.
The Curse of Deflategate makes its mark
Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe goes through all of the teams who have been affected by what he proposes is the Curse of Deflategate. Of course, the title is enough to get Ravens fans upset, but relax. It seems pretty satirical to me, especially when you get toward the end and he starts talking about who “tossed stones at the Gillette Lighthouse.” Keep in mind that this is the same guy who wrote this.
What 0-2 Start Means for 9 NFL Teams
Brandon Gdula of numberFire breaks down the playoff and division chances of the 9 NFL teams who are 0-2. Included in that list, of course, are the Baltimore Ravens. Here is what he had to say about them. The numbers are based in math, not Gdula’s guesses, so don’t shoot the messenger with those.
Division Odds (Initial, Current): 39.2%, 13.2%
Playoff Odds (Initial, Current): 51.2%, 18.7%
nERD (Power Rank): 2.05 (13th)
“Losing to the Oakland Raiders is never a good sign, but the Ravens still rank 13th in our standings despite the 0-2 start. Their efficient offense from last year isn’t quite clicking (they rank 18th in per-play Adjusted NEP after finishing 8th last year), and their defense is a middling 16th. Their two losses were pretty close, but they came to vastly different opponents (Denver ranks 3rd in our power rankings and Oakland is 30th). It’s hard to pinpoint what team will show up in Week 3 when they host Cincinnati (sixth in our power rankings), but Baltimore still has an outside shot to make a playoff push, given their overall efficiency.”
I’d say that losing to the Raiders and still having a 13th overall power ranking is pretty good…
Clutch Encounters: Week 2
Scott Kacsmar of Football Outsiders breaks down the clutch factor from last week. In it, he goes through the Falcons vs. Giants game, the Seahawks vs. Packers game, and the Ravens vs. Raiders game, among others. He says that the Will Hill holding call was the right call (we disagree). Then, he not-so-subtly criticizes Kyle Arrington on the touchdown after the holding call, saying he was just left watching on the play.
But none of these are the reason that I’m linking to this article. I’m linking to it to show you this chart, which couldn’t be any more awesome.
How doctors and experts are diagnosing sports injuries on Twitter
I linked to this yesterday in my fantasy football links, but I thought that it would also work here. Josh Katzowitz of The Daily Dot explains the process of what goes into one of my favorite people to follow – Dr. David Chao, @ProFootballDoc on Twitter. He has 17 years of experience as the San Diego Chargers’ team doctor. He is now using that experience to diagnose players from the comfort of his couch. Of course, without close examination, he’s not always accurate, but he is pretty close to it. Last year, he was accurate 92.6% of the time. If you want a deeper understanding of injuries, I’d definitely give him a follow.
Bengals (2-0) have been thorn in Ravens’ side
Clifton Brown of CSN Baltimore says that the Bengals have been a problem for the Ravens. They sure have, Cliff. The Bengals have won the past three match-ups between the two teams, all in frustrating fashion. In the most recent game, Andy Dalton managed a game-winning drive, which was almost negated by a Steve Smith touchdown that was called back due to a very controversial pass interference penalty. The game before that, Steve Smith scored a long touchdown, but it was followed by a long A.J. Green touchdown. These games against what John Harbaugh calls “the most talented team in the league” have been very frustrating to watch.
