No mistakes are always the key. Stay away from fumbles/interceptions and your QB keeps you in the game. We saw what happened with the Ravens turnovers by Rice, gave Cinn 7 pts and Heap, cost the Ravens a possible FG.
Kind of like if the Orioles pitches could stop walking/hitting batters and making errors, it makes the game much easier.
However beating a team like Pittsburgh is another story. Their offense is much better. The Bengals are just going through the motions until Lewis is fired. There is some coach/gm/owner issues there.
I'm not sold on Cleveland yet. Anderson is a 1 yr wonder so far. Let us see if he is solid this year.

Very impressive. After a very mediocre training camp (and that's being kind) Cam Cameron surprised us with 2 wild calls that both scored touchdowns, the rookie qb nearly flawlessly ran a new no-huddle offense, an outstanding performance from the much maligned o-line and a superb outing by the "ageing" defense. So much (maybe) for the no-imagination Billick era. Yes, it was just the Bungles being bungles, but we were dogs in our own house for the opener. Much work to do but much to like.

Pete- I'm sure by now you've seen the thing with Mel Brooks starting a foundation along with demonstrations to preserve the word "schmuck". If not let me know and I'll forward it to you.

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Pete's reply: Yes, thanks. I've seen it and it has my full support.

Why does evryone keep givong Todd Heap a pass on his awful and soft play, if he does his job we would have one even more impressivley than we did. If the refs don't blow the call on the punt return and Heap does his job and Stover makes his usually routine kick we win 30-3!

I think any sane Ravens fan looked forward to this game with a healthy dose of skepticism. The Ravens answered a lot of questions that fans had. Let's just hope they can keep it up. Great game.

this was a great game, we shoul dof won by way more than the score showed, droped passes were my only concern in this game, and im getting tired of all you sun reporters ripping the ravens and saying how we had no chance in this game, lets go to houston and start 2-0!

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Pete's reply: Matt, I think if you actually read the Sun's predictions, you'll see I picked the Ravens to win the game.

I wouldhave to say that receivers dropped more big passes than the ones they caught. Heap dropped at least 3 that I counted, one of which would have been a touchdown. Ray Rice dropped a catchable ball that would have resulted in a big gain, possibly even a touchdown. This was a big contributing factor to Flacco's stats looking less impressive.

I'm also a little worried that the Ravens points continue to come on plays that you normally can't count on, such as a broken QB scramble for 30+ yards, and an end around for 40+.

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Pete's reply: That's fair, but the scramble was not a broken play. It was a good decision made by Flacco.

Flacco showed more poise and discipline in one game than Boller has in his whole tenure here!

peter i thought joe flacko was outstanding for a rookie qb.yes he will make some rookie mistakes as the season moves on,if he doesn't get hurt he sure looks to have the potential to be the qb the ravens have been looking for over the years time will tell if it wards off any skepticism. for right now we can salavate on todays game

The Bengals aren't as bad as they looked today. Palmer and Ocho/Hooshyerdaddy will light up lesser defenses. It's a great win and I won't diminish it. Hell, the fundamentally solid QB play (for a change) was enough to make me giddy.

Yeah but how many other teams have to play with monitoring devices on their ankles?

I don't think Joe Flacco has been given enough credit for running the offense. Sacked Zero times.. No Interceptions... Looked cool and calm...

The man did great... Give the guy MORE CREDIT!

I think three things: 1) the Bengals can't tackle very well; 2) Marvin Lewis will be looking for an assistant's job in January; 3) Heap needed some time in the exhibition games.

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Pete's reply: Agree with all three.

I hope the Ravens commit to Flacco - he's shown me enough to earn the label 'starting quarterback'. Better than Boller, Better than Smith. Let's have stability at quarterback unless circumstances warrant otherwise.

This team showed a lot of poise, and a lot of resilience today. There weren't many people, not in the media, not even in their own city that were giving them much of a chance to win this game today. Flacco looked like a football player, which was encouraging, and Le'Ron McClain may have been the most impressive part of the offense. He ran with a tremendous amount of purpose. The defense was spectacular. I never even saw Samari Rolle until his called-back fumble recovery, and I think that's the best thing you can ever say about a cornerback: "I never even saw him". The pass rush was solid, if not amazing, and the run defense, in particular Ngata and Bannan in the middle, was superb. And special teams produced a punt return TD, if not for a blown call on a block in the back.

True, this was against the Bengals, and I'm not saying it wasn't. The key is, with this win today, and a possible win next week against Houston, who were dismantled by Pittsburgh today, this team has the potential to get some real momentum going. Especially if Flacco continues to get better everytime out, which he has shown he is apt to do.

I'm trying to temper my excitement, but maybe this will relax all those fair weather fans out there, at least for one week.

Lost in how good Flacco looked is how much better the O looked as a whole. WR could be better, but the line and the backs looked good. The play calling gets major credit as well. Good job Flacco, good job team.

It was a team effort for sure. The defense played better than I expected and did it against a good offenseive team(one catch for Cinco. His new name "Oucho Uno") and they stuffed Cincy's run game. Big hits,gang tackling, timely plays. Haloti Ngata is a monster. The 4th down play where Cincy ran for it, Ngata stood up his man with one shoulder and stunned the runner with the other. Joe Flacco was as expected. Not overwhelming but efficient and effective. He will get better too. He has the best arm in Baltimore since Bert Jones. He's cool and plays the position very well. His mechanics, movement and instincts are all good. Still too many pass plays short of the first down marker and not enough passes medium and deep.(Cam and Hue fix it). And how many drops? Flacco's TD run is an example of his feel for the game. Pass was covered, run was there and he took it. He used his blockers and even faked out a tackler at the end. Oh, how about his blocking on the Clayton TD. He's a blue collar player. Go-Joe Flacco!

im not so concerned with flacco. he looked good out there. there were two passes that should have been caught by the receivers that bounced off their chest. my question is what happened to heap. he was non existant to a point where i finally noticed him it was cause he was messing up.

one more thing i personally dont want to see mcgahee come back. rice has a little barry sanders in his legs and mcclain looks like jamal lewis when he was great. im looking forward to seeing flacco get more comfortable in this offense and im specifically looking forward to seeing how cameron is going to make the offense to fit flacco which is what i think boller needed. the offense today looked way better than that mess billick ran, but i have to ask again what happened to heap????

I'm looking for the Jared Gaither bashers... are there still any? I remember reading some of their comments on here during training camp. What do you all have to say now? That kid is a BEAST.

-- The Big Texas

The one thing I loved about Flacco today was that he was being cool in the pocket all day. He did not panic whatsover and I think he will improve as the season continues.

Beside the obvious good things (linebackers, secondary, Oline, QB ball control), two positives and one negative came out of game. The two refreshing good things were a two dimensional fullback performance (Billick never used the position for much beyond blocking) and the overall depth at running back (McGahee will enhance it even more and Neal is a great backup FB). The negative is Heap. He looks gun shy and might be worn out from all those years of up the middle hits.

Peter,
I'm actually very relieved over this performance on both sides of the ball.
D did not give up a TD and simply handled Cincy's talent by hitting them up on every play.

Except for the fumble, the O was very impressive. Heap fumbled but most important stat was NO QB TO'S. That's the one I want to see. remember last year when McNair et al coughed up the ball 7 or 6 times. For this alone i give Flacco a B+ and Cam Casmeron an A.

Good start...

They still need to replace Namby Pamby and now buter fingers HEAP!

Peter! I must know. Are you Whacko for Flacco? I am!

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Pete's reply: I've been whacko for Flacco since they drafted him.

Overall, much better than I imagined they'd be...the defense applied pressure to Palmer; the offensive line both opened holes and protected Flacco; and McLLain showed very quick feet, acceleration and plenty of power, which was totally unexpected.

Cameron showed me HE knows how to control the clock with the lead, something Billick never seemed to grasp.

The score was no where near indicitive of how much the Ravens dominated play on both sides of the ball and they were a couple of dropped passes from a complete blow-out.

Flacco looked like the reincarnation of Trent Dilfer...limit the mistakes, make a few big plays, let the running game pound the opposition and watch the defense do their thing...it worked in 2000!!

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Pete's reply: I think he's going to be a lot better than Trent.

Re: Flacco's stats. Had his receivers not gotten butterfingers a few times his stats line would have been very impressive for a rookie making his first start and would have included at least one TD (arguably two). He can only throw the ball. He can't catch it too.

Having said that, if his stats are the only knock against him after this game I'd take a mediocre line week if he plays the way he did today.

Today's game was fun! When was the last time you looked forward to seeing the Ravens actually get the ball. The O-line and backs were running downhill the entire game, the D was teeing off on anythin in orange, great crowd support, few orange jerseys, just a great day! Flacco and company looked great and Cam Cameron was our best off-seaon acquisition.

Sitting at the game, watching Flacco's TD run, I thought, "wow, that's crazy."

And then I thought, "Crazy Joe Flacco." Kinda sounds like the Seinfeld character Crazy Joe Davolo.

So, "Whacko for Flacco" or "Crazy Joe Flacco." I think they both work.

Flacco hit Heap between the 8 and the 6 in the end zone. Other dropped passes...but Flacco never showed up his receivers...just trotted off the field. I hope Heap got his bad game out of the way....and next week he resembles the player he really is.

START FLACCO NEXT WEEK !!

flacco has the ability to take this team to the playoffs. the team will follow in sinc when the offense performs. barring an injury to our offensive line and flacco, its a click.

I don't know either but right now it feels pretty good. I like a solid running game and they looked pretty solid with over 200 yards, The defense played extremely well. I think the passing will get better but 129 yards and NO interceptions with a rookie QB you gotta love.

Still it was the Bengals at home so, I'm not booking my SuperBowl tickets just yet.

UNDEFEATED!

Go Ravens!

PETE: great win for our young offfense. i was at the game, and saw the same thing as last year, the #2&3 receivers not going into their routes with any speed, and are not open if they are needed...WHY IS THIS HAPPENING AGAIN THIS YEAR ??????

My only concern is if Flacco's still going to be able to be QB when he is spontaneously elected mayor of Baltimore.

LET'S GO FLACCO!!

Hey Joe,
In case you read this..... Could you possibly not curse so much in your postgame comments?
Lots of kids listening.
I noticed a lot of We fought like H--
We played our A-- off. I don't know too many parents that want their ten year olds talking like that.
I know it's football and all that, but maybe you'll understand more when you have children.
Thanks

Suggs, Ngata and McCallister had great games - flying all over the field. The O-Line wore down their D-Line so bad, we were running at will in the second half. McClain is a beast with speed and power. Very uplifting compared with the preseason.

Other than dropped passes, the Ravens were outstanding. Todd Heap needs to go.

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Pete's reply: Let's not get carried away. The guy was rusty after missing so much time. He's still one of the best in the business. Be glad he got that performance out of the way in a win.

Agreed with all that's been said!

Just watched Footbal Night In America (NBC pregame to the Colts-Bears game) where they went through all of today's highlights. Except to mention the horrible offensive play by the Bungles, I don't think they mentioned the Ravens once the entire hour. They even did a segment on outstanding rookie play for this Sunday in which nothing was mentioned on Flacco, Rice or Harbaugh.

Same as usual, Ravens get no respect! Hope they (B'more) thrive on the lack of respect this year as in the past!!!

Good to see the QB play with poise. That will go a long way in keeping this team competitive.

Heap has to step up and play better, and the receivers need to make plays sometimes with the rookie back there. They are going to have to help him more against good teams.

Can't put the ball on the ground either. We just aren't good enough to hand other teams the ball in our territory.

Great to see that drive at the end. Demoralized the Bengals D line. All in all, nice to get the win, because I wasn't counting on it.

Schmuck is still a clueless unknowing 1 grey call media idiot.

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Pete's reply: Thanks very much for your support.

I dunno who sneaked into the Ravens' locker room & stole their uniforms today, but can those guys please continue to do so?

Seriously, that was NOT the team I've been watching for the past couple years. It was so much better...

It may just have been the Bungles..but I saw a QB today that showed great poise in a game that was faster than anything he ever saw in College. He looked for receivers,threw the ball away when he had to and never had that "deer in the headlights" look. I'm not crowning him king, but he was very composed for a young man that wasn't supposed to be playing..A++ for Joe, the O-line and the Defense.

In his first game, Flacco looked better than Aikman, Elway, and both Manning brothers. If that along with the progression he's made thru the preason is an indication of things to come; he's someone to look forward to for many years if he stays healthy.

And if one more moron says "look what happened to Boller by putting him in early", remember: "moron!". Think of some of the Sun writers and local radio sportscasters who have repeatedly said that.

You either have it (Rothlisburger, Brady, Favre, Romo,...) or you don't. Flacco simply has "it"; a good arm, good judgment, and pocket presence.

I wish I didn't have to play against him today...

Joe Flacco looked better in his first game than Boller ever looked in any game. I wish Boller well and may he find success elsewhere. It was also great to see the offense move like a normal NFL offense. Maybe a certain "Offensive Guru" could explain why his offense never functioned like this ? It was a total TEAM efftort today ! Very refreshing to say the least. I'm very optimistic about this Ravens team !
Cogratulations coach Harbaugh

Well, it certainy doesn't wash away all my concerns, this was the Bengals after all, but it was so refeshing to not see penalty flags fallling like snowflakes. I'm not yet convinced the Ravens have the horses to go to the playoffs, but if they can just continue to play with some cohesion and discipline, they can be respectable.

hey Rusty, I know you didn't just say "THAT". Get real dude.

!!!!!!!!GO RAVENS!!!!!!!!!!!!

While you have to give credit to Flacco for managing the game well, and to the defense for being as solid as ever. Ray Rice and Ron McClain deserve credit for moving the ball and keeping the clock running, forgiving Rice's mistake.

The best thing Flacco did is the thing he didn't do - he didn't remind us of Kyle Boller by turning the ball over.

By the way, give the O-line some credit. The Ravens may win a few games this year if they keep playing like that.

ORIOLES!!

" If the refs don't blow the call on the punt return and Heap does his job and Stover makes his usually routine kick we win 30-3!"

Posted by: Mike B. |"

Mr. B,

The ref did not blow the call on the punt return. Walker stupidly pushed the Bengal player in the back when he did not have to.

Heap is rusty. He needs to play and and they need him so he will keep going out there unless you can bring in Shockey or someone like that.

That was a bad miss by Stover. When kickers go bad, it usually happens very quickly.

Flacco did very well but this was, as Harbaugh says, a total team performance. When the Ravens
made similar mistakes last year the team would deflate. This year they are picking each other up.

The Ivy injury worries me though because Ryan has been shuffling his secondary wonderfully and this injury limits his options.

One game doesn't make a season, but it says quite a bit when you dominate in almost every phase of the game as the Ravens did today. Kudos to Harbaugh whose team was better prepared than Lewis' and to Cam Cameron for recognizing that Le'Ron McClain could be an effective tailback with Lorenzo Neal leading! Aside from Flacco's flawless debut, the biggest surprise had to be the play of the much maligned "O" line. This is a young, big, athletic group that will only get better with time, providing they can stay healthy! As for the "D", dominant as usual and, with this more versatile "O", they will surprise a lot of teams this year....

It's great to see a win and what we needed to start off the season, particularly after last year's disaster.

There's been a lot of comments, many of them going a bit too far.

I disagree that Rice had a solid debut. Fumble for a return and only a 2.9 yard per carry average. I thought that the two fullbacks did a better job in the running game, and caught a few passes, too.

For the passing game, I thought Heap and D. Williams were disappointments, and like in the Billick era, they did not use the field vertically. Flacco averaged only 8.6 yards per completion, and only 4.5 yards per pass. The long was 15. Flacco also missed a number of open receivers on short passes that should have been completed. If the game was close, these could have been critical. But on the positive side, the massive give-aways from last year weren't there.

Overall for the offense, they scored just 17 points, the same as their average from last year, which was near the bottom of the NFL.

The defense overall looked good, with the Bengals looking just horrible and uncoordinated, so it wasn't a real challenge.

So, not a bad start, but we'll have to see if the offense differs significantly from last year, and moves it down the field. Flacco has the arm strength for that, which McNair did not have last year. D. Williams will have to get going, and perhaps Yamon Figurs (the start of the game) will be able to use his speed, to give Flacco some targets.

Rich

Please stop writing about football...I specifically sign onto baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/ to read about baseball, I hate professional football and hate having to read about it.

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Pete's reply: You don't have to read about it if you don't want to. There's a little button on your computer that allows you to scroll down to the baseball items. If you read the introduction to this blog in the upper right hand corner of the page, it has said from the start that I will be writing primarily about baseball, but also about football and other things.

Gotta give a bit of credit here....I am not a Ravens fan per say - I like the "other" local team growing up in the DC suburbs and yes we suck so save the insults. Back on topic, watching the Ravens today I was impressed, very impressed. Flacco looked way damn better than I thought he would and overall the quality of play was more than I expected from the Ravens. The Bengals played like poop today but the Ravens beat them on both sides of the ball and certainly earned this victory. Kudos to my Bmore friends, Flacco has a lot of learning and growing to do but he is the real deal. Congrats Ravens fans...

It's just one game, but Flacco showed a lot of poise for just his first game. I think one reason why QB's like Unitas, Montana, Brady, & even Billy Kilmer have been so successful is the qualities that they possess: poise; in-game decision-making; intangibles aren't measurables that can be tested in workouts or at the Indianapolis Combine. Those qualities have nothing to do with arm strength or 40 times.

Even more impressive than the fact that he ran 38 yds for a TD was that Flacco read the defense & called an audible.

Now, let's just hope & pray that the offensive line protects him. But, a QB can help the O-line, too, by not holding on to the ball too long a la David Carr.

peter, you are a nice guy but you make your stock fall on Fridays when you share a mike with c4 as he is an idiot.

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Pete's reply: I don't agree. C4 is the one guy I can be certain will laugh at my jokes.

Please stop writing about sports...I specifically sign onto baltimoresun.com/sports NOT to read about sports, I hate professional sports and hate having to read about it. So please don't make me.

"After a very mediocre training camp (and that's being kind) Cam Cameron surprised us..."

In a post game interview Ryan said he intentionally reveals nothing about his regular season defense in pre-season games. I assume the same thing is true of Cameron.

2 things - the Ravens didn't keep going to the well. In the past, Billick would throw the load on Jamel or Heap or McGahee...so predictable. The balance on offense was, well, balanced! Everyone participates, everyone contributes. The plays I liked about Flacco were - the quarterback sneak for a first down, and the blocks (more than 1) he threw on the double reverse. Any I never saw him hang his head. Simply put, he took charge.

Christmas present, a book for Troy Smith:
"The Day Off that Never Ended: The Wally Pipp Story; "

Pete,

I was impressed in the first half because they went downfield with the longball at least three times. Didn't connect, but they did throw the ball long.
As an aside. Why did they sign a 36 year old QB as a backup when Chris Simms was available. Did the injury do him in or was it $$$ ?? Bill C

A few comments:

1. I've always been a Heap fan but he should be fined is he is seen anywhere without a football in his hands. Remember from high school?
2. The O line was great. I could have hit a couple of those holes.
3. The running backs pounded the bungles, blocked great for each other, and protected Flacco
4. Loved the shots of Flacco's parents in the stands.
5. Defense was solid and almost mistake free. No temper tantrums.
6. The officiating almost had my conspiracy theory juices flowing.

Impressive all around. A whole team victory. I said it before the season started and when everyone else was critical. I said, give this team a chance to play first and then make judgements. Also, this is only the first game and they can only build and get better. I predicted then and still will say they will when the AFC North and Win the Super Bowl this year or next. (Its just a good feeling I have because of the defense)

Antoine

So far, so good. Let's see what they do with the Steelers. It's always easy to go overboard after an opening day win. Remember, the Bengals aren't exactly the class of the league, but it was encouraging to see them play so well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

If nothing else, I was impressed by Jersey Joe's poise. Nothing seemed to phase him, like ice running through his veins or something. My hat's off to him for his calm and his recognition of what's happening on the field. Most of us can imagine the sight and the outcome had Kyle been in there.

Had my expectations for him set low, stat-wise, and he about met them. Just turned out that he was more successful than Carson Palmer this day, largely owing to a nice effort from the defense. I don't get all tingly over his 63.7 QB rating and roughly 50% completion rate. The D just did a great job of making sure that Palmer had a worse outing than Joe.

Just my two cents. I thought both the O-Line and D-Line dominated up front and the defense was well...the Ravens D. I think the praise should be tempered though for Flacco. I thought he looked great mainly because of the O-Line and the running game. He completely missed or underthrew several receivers when they were wide open. He had a decent game against a defense that, let's be honest here, can only look good against a Billick coached offense. Either way, I think Harbaugh and Cameron showed that there is a lot of talent on this team and that they will be a force THIS season.

The game was very exciting here in Columbus. It was nice to see no sense of panic on the offenses' part after the fumble recovery for a touchdown by Joseph. That was reassuring. Also the big back combo was great with Ray Rice mixed in. Flacco made me feel better about the direction of our team and with Houston next week, he should be comfortable come Pittsburgh.

Prior to the start of the game...sunpaper writers including u Shmuck claimed "the defense is too old, they lost a step"....."Dont start a rookie QB"..."BLAH, BLAH".......now is your foot in your mouth. This defense if healthy will be just as dominating as ever and did that place go crazy at M&T Bank when they announced Ed Reed they tricked us all!! Also Flacco is the future of this team and the future is NOW!! Im not happy about the QB injuries but happy for Flacco since nobody thought he had it.....its sad when a rookie QB is more poised and mistake free then the other QB'S we have had......this is going to be a fun interesting season remember, in the NFL you never know, look at all the upsets. Ohhhh and I loved the double reverse to Clayton and Cameron's play calling
GO RAVENS!!!

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Pete's reply: Perhaps you should read more carefully...or listen more intently, since I wrote that Flacco would do fine. I've been writing that I'm Whacko about Flacco since the draft. I also said on yesterday's pregame show that the Ravens would win and the defense would be the difference. My prediction that the Ravens would win was also in Friday's paper, so I actually have proof. I'm sure there are others on this blog who will back me up on that.

It's amazing what a difference it makes when a quarterback is protected by his offensive line. Flacco did a fine job, but that wouldn't have been the case if he was running for his life on every pass attempt, as has been the case for years. Look what pressure, which the Ravens defense couldn't manufacture last season, did to Carson Palmer.

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Pete's reply: Amazing and impressive...and four-time Pro Bowl guy Willie Anderson hasn't even played a down yet.

flacco will be a star in the nfl, he has a cannon arm, I saw him throw the ball 76 yards at that QB compitetion, he will soon make people forget he is a rookie

1st-lets all get off of Todd Heap's back, the guy's one of the best when healthy.He'll be fine. That was one of the best all around games I've seen here in a long time. The block downfield that Joe threw reminded me of John. I saw him do that quite often.Both lines get an A

The kid has John Unitas like poise and downplays everything like Unitas used to do. With those attributes, the ability to think and perform under pressure without getting dancing feet, and with the strong arm he has, he could be special in the correct offensive system. He needs some time to grow on the vine, and some decent receivers to throw to, but it appears he is going to be a good one.

Just curious Pete, when you eat a cheesesteak(that means real cheese, not liquid plastic cheese whiz) do you have your right hand closest to your mouth or your left? Or do you clench both hands together like your strangling it?, How you eat it syas something about your psychological profile. Not that it has anything to do with football but when I read one of your articles I get hungry.

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Pete's reply: Sorry for the late answer, but I was so curious I had to go out and get one to figure it out. I prefer the Whiz, but I do hold the sandwich with both hands and strangle the life out of it.