Ravens: Not sneaky enough
Maybe this is why I'm not a football coach. The Ravens had a first down at the Colts 1 yard line and Joe Flacco took it almost to the goal line with a QB sneak. The Ravens had two more shots and chose to hand the ball twice to Willis McGahee before taking the lead on the fifth field goal by Billy Cundiff.
Sorry, but I don't know why Cam Cameron didn't send Flacco up there to sneak it at least one more time. The line surge should be enough to get another foot or two.
Now, it's fair to say that the Ravens should have been able to score either way, but they didn't and now they're much more vulnerable to the game-winning Matt Stover field goal everyone has been agonizing about for the past week.
Comments
Pete, trust me. You're not the only guy wondering that.
First and goal from the one. And we cannot score a TD?
Pathetic.
Posted by: Barry | November 22, 2009 9:37 PM
Earl Weaver's short stint as a baseball broadcaster was well-deserved as he was surprisingly uncolorful as a color man. However, I remember one little nugget when Gene Mauch was bunting away in the early innings. He said, "Play for one run; lose by one run."
There's a HOF or future HOF coach looking at the Ravens and saying, "Play for a FG; lose by a FG."
Bill Belichick may have the same what-could-have-been feelings as John Harbaugh when it comes do dealing with the '09 version of Indy, but at least he went down swinging.
The Ravens won five scores to three but lost 17-15.
Of course, it wasn't just Harbaugh who was goofy. There was the goofy snap and timing making the second-easiest FG of six the only miss. There were the rushes up the middle that hasn't worked since Sam Gash was deemed expendable. There was the inevitible one lateral too many we knew would someday surface with Ed Reed.
Sad, too. Most players (and coaches) had a good game. Most had an untimely blemish or penalty. And all coming on a day when PIT and CIN lost a gimme. Very sad.
Still, the Ravens are only one game behind PIT, DEN, JAX and HOU (if they beat TEN tonight). The best part of the season hasn't been played yet.
BAL still plays PIT twice, and PIT isn't looking like the '08 version themselves. PIT also playes GB and MIA.
BAL owns the tie-breaker with DEN, and DEN is spinning out of control. DEN also has upcoming dates with NYG, IND and PHI. (Mike Shananhan will be looking pretty good by January.)
HOU and JAX still need to play each other, and both have upcoming appointments with IND, MIA and NE. JAX also has SF for good measure.
The Ravens have five losses. Most have been close enough to point fingers. Three have been against teams currently 7-3 while the other two were against MIN (9-1) and IND (10-0).
Let's move forward. But let's also have the audacity of going for the jugular rather than relying on the juggler with 20 seconds left.
Posted by: waspman | November 23, 2009 9:29 AM
waspman--Well said.
Posted by: Barry | November 23, 2009 11:20 AM