Mark Clayton played a super game and need more production of him in the next 4 games.

I agree. It's Clayton all the way. If he can get on the same page with Joe Flacco the way Derrick Mason has all season, it will go a long way to solving our receiver problems. It will also give opposing teams something else to worry about besides Flacco to Mason.

All of the above are important, but especially we need the secondary to continue to play well against better teams (not like they did against the Colts). Last year when both Rolle and McAllister play against NE, we almost beat them, but most of the rest of the season, when those guys were often out, they stunk. So Frank Walker and Fabian Washington need to keep stepping up.

All we need is Clayton to play better than a team's #2 CB. He definitely did that today, and maybe this game will serve as a confidence booster for the rest of the season!!

Gotta be Clayton! played a monster game, I can't remember the last time a Ravens WR had that many spectacular deep catches. could be a breakout game leading to superstardom. Flacco's continued excellence is a pretty close second

Heap.

I hate to repeat Fran but you keep Clayton involved with the ever steady Mason, then throw in some Heap and anything's possible. Would have like to see McGehee some today. What's the logic in holding him out?

Clayton's emergence. That catch on the long TD was incredible.

Le'Ron McClain is a bear, Ray Rice is an emerging star, Joe Flacco is one cool rookie and an impressive young leader of the huddle, and the Ravens defense, led by the best linebacker I've ever watched--Ray Lewis--is pumping away and shutting them down. Congratulations to John Harbaugh for his his team so sharp.

But, to pick the one most impressive performance today, that would be the play of Mark Clayton. I've been touting him and staying loyal to him throughout his first few seasons with the Ravens.

What a happy day to see Mark show his stuff and be the top receiver in yardage gained this week.

Just to be different I will say Clayton..oh wait...um Flacco..herm. I know! the linebackers had fun treating Fitzpatrick like a pinata..
Seriously though, Clayton had more yardage than Fitzpatrick...that's both amazing (for Baltimore) and sad (for cincy)

Clayton. Even if it was Leon Hall that he was beating like a red-headed stepchild (I can say that, I am one), it was still very impressive. And that was a beautiful throw to Mason too...

So now teams have to worry about Flacco, Smith, AND Clayton passing or rushing out of the option plays. And more ways to mess with the opposing D is never a bad thing

I think the bright spot is seeing the offensive play book open up. No more vanilla play calls. It's hard to watch every route be a curl route. Clayton stepped up and did an outstanding job, hopefully that continues, but I think we need to keep being unpredictable.

The fact that the Ravens did not have the old Brian Billick mentality of overlooking a team when it is down and getting their rear ends handed to them, this is huge . In the past the Ravens would have expected the Bengals to lay down for them , but in case no one has noticed lately the attitude of the Ravens is 180 degrees from the old regime, that is the brightest spot in the victory against the Bengals, and the reason the players are progressing the way they are!

Three bright spots for me: First - CLAYTON all the way. Great day for him. Second - my boy Jim Leonhard getting his first pick 6 as a Raven and Third - our secondary hanging in there week after week.

To me the bright spot is the big picture. The Ravens won for the 6th time in the last 7 games, and scored over 30 points for the 4th time in the last 5. Granted, none of those wins were near as impressive as Pittsburgh's win in Foxboro yesterday, and they got handled easily by the best team they played in the one exception to both those streaks, but you have to play the teams on your schedule and take care of business.

The brightest spot is Coach Harbaugh and his staff. The season started with the Ravens in a mess. Their offensive llne was in shambles, we had no Q-B, our running backs were suspect for sure, we had no recievers worth a darn, our defensive backfield was easily beat. No Question this was a rebuilding season for sure. But noooo! What Harbaugh along with his staff, and players have accomplished is nothing short of a perfect season. The Ravens for the first time are playing good, hard-nosed, intergerity laced Baltimore football. It's a pleasure to watch and root for. Ray Lewis has never been so happy. You can see it in him. The Ravens are no longer the thugs of the NFL. We are a respected football team. Case and point is the Networks want and have moved the Ravens to prime time. This is hugh. Baltimore is back into the BIG TIME. Cool! I've been a Baltimore football fan a very long time. I never seen such a positive turn around. Lets give credit were credit is due. It starts at the top with the owner and works it way down to the waterboy. Thanks Ravens and go get 'em, starting with the Deadskins.

Let me try one of those specials....turkey omelette. Clayton was the big bright spot yesterday but so was the secondary. Yes, Fitzpatrick is a JV QB but we shut down TJ and #85. We also beat a team we were supposed ot beat and without any injuries to boot. I think the trend will continue.....yes, 4 tough games are in front of us but this team is clearly playing some good football right now.

Bring on the Landover Redskins!

It was nice to see Flacco finally start throwing to someone besides Mason. He demonstrated a growing feel for Clayton and Heap on Sunday. Now if someone would just watch the old tapes of Heap running a seam route and Boller throwing him a high strike - about 8 ft in the air - where only Todd could get it and then actually execute it, we would have something no one can stop, a true three headed monster receiving corps, with some effective screens thrown.

McClean is not a surprise, just finally getting his chance (though he better work on ball integrity). The key is how McGahee responds during the home stretch drive. If he takes the time to heal and comes on like gang busters, we will be hard to beat. If he sulks, it could be a distraction and hurt our chances.

The bright spot was that we got to play the Bengals twice, whose bright spot is a tie against a .500 team. I just can't get excited against a team that only beats teams that should be beaten. Redskins, Steelers, and Cowboys all look like L's to me and I really hope I am wrong, but 9-7 will not have you playing in January.

Clayton was the star, yesterday, but think about why that happened? It's Joe Flacco and Cam Cameron. Since he has been drafted, Clayton has been misused. He reminds me of Jimmy Orr. He isn't big but he finds a way to get open deep. Since he has been here we haven't had a QB like Flacco who can throw deep with accuracy, and as such, haven't had a offensive coordinator who was willing to throw anything deep because he didn't have a QB that could make it happen and there was always the fear of turnovers. As a result, Mark Clayton caught a whole boat load of curls and dumps for 6-7 yards and his talents were wasted. Now they are playing to his strengths because we have Flacco and Cameron who can get him the ball downfield. Go Ravens, keep it up.

To me, the bright spot against the Bengals and throughout the season as been the outstanding play of the offensive line. Our success all begins here. As Rich mentions, the offensive line was in shambles after the first week of training camp - not to mention last season's injury riddled line that led to our losing record. In addition, Jonathan Ogden retired.

It has been amazing how they have pulled together this season. They have protected Joe Flacco, who isn't the most mobile QB, and have done a great job with pass protection and run blocking. They have adjusted well to the Cam's new variety of play selection. To me, the biggest surprise of the season so far has been the lack of coverage by the Sunpapers sports writers - I'm waiting for them to give the O-line some credit.

It is easy to make a mistake in a game that you should win. The weather could easily have caused problems for either team; however, we did what was needed to win. The team is playing better each week. Remember we should have beaten the Steelers the first time around. If only Harbaugh had thrown the red flag on Mason's touchdown that wasn't called a touchdown. We would have won by 4 points in regulation instead of going to overtime. Don't forget the Titan's game. We were winning that until the so called helmit to helmit penalty against Suggs gave them another chance at the winning touchdown. We were soundly beaten by the Colts and the Giants. Mistakes costs us the Giants game. We weren't beaten down as bad as it looked. Yes we gave up three big running plays, but that totaled most of the yardage. The Giants really didn't run all over us.
We have a chance to win out. I would be happy winning two of the four games, and it is a distinct possibilty. Go Ravens. They are exciting to watch.

I loved that the Ravens not only gave Willie Anderson a gatoraid shower at the end, but also sent for take out from his Cincy fast food joint and had him do the post game press conference. Don't think for a second that some of those Bengal receivers, with contracts due soon, didn't notice the difference between the way Anderson was treated in Cincy and Baltimore. I wouldn't be surprised to see Housh in a Ravens jersey soon.

The individual performances and development of Flacco, Clayton, McClain, and the secondary were all encouraging. As was Heap's continuing to get back to where he was before last year, and the aggresive coaching of Coach Harbaugh and his cords.

But the most encouraging thing of all is the fact that they went into Cincinnati and stomped them into submission. This could have easily been a let down game against a reeling opponent. Instead it was a rout.

Coming on the heels of last week's rout of a dysfunctional Eagles team, it appears the young Ravens are developing a real killer instinct. They're able to identify weaker or struggling teams and absolutley take advantage of them. To me that's the most encouraging sign of all.

The brightest spot for me was Ray Lewis pounding TJ Housh into the turf like a railroad spike after he attempted a peel back block during a Ryan Fitzpatrick scramble down the sideline late in the 1st half. Ray turned his head at the last second,lowered his shoulder and BOOM! Afterwards,Ray stood over him and pointed to his head as to say" Not today TJ, No way!!"

The worst part of the game had to be the black pants with the white jersey. The pants looked like something stolen off the deck of the Marine Science ship Calypso. Ahoy Ravens, it is six bells...time for Speed Racer. Now where is that pesky Mondy the Sea Monster?

The brightest spot for me was the reduction in the number of penalties. The Ravens were penalized only 3 times for 30 yards. That's a lot lower than in recent weeks. If we continue to minimize mistakes, that bodes well for the upcoming games. The team seems a bit more disciplined this year, and I think that's reflective of the coaching staff. I hope it continues - if we don't beat ourselves,opposing teams have a much harder time beating us.

I'm new to this blog, so forgive me if this has already been discussed...When are the Ravens going to bench or cut Figurs?!?! He has got to be one of the worst return "specialists" I've ever seen!!

rich is 110% right...give kudos to the
coaching staff for the way they have
changed the face of this team. also, the way they have developed flacco.
i thought harbaugh might have problems with some of the older
thugs..but he has won them over and
they are playing like a TEAM

The bright spot has nothing to do with the Bungles. It has to do with an amazing overall transformation of the team from whining, showboating, trash talking, me-first, underachieving, penalty-ridden thugs into a competitive NFL team. Give credit to Harbaugh -- and especially Cam Cameron. We got rid of McAlister and hopefully McGahee will soon follow. If Ray will play for what he's worth rather than what he thinks he's worth, I would welcome him back next year. Add a legitimate NFL #1 receiver (no, Mason is not one) and I think the offense could really blossom as Flacco improves.

Flacco throwing the longball consistently and fairly on target. Something that we've lacked in the last few years to keep the defenses "honest".