Maybe I'm just stupid -- which my wife insists is the most likely scenario in virtually every situation -- because I continue to disagree with John Harbaugh and his brothers in the NFL coaching community about the wisdom of kicking off if you win the coin toss.

There was a time long ago when everybody wanted the ball first. Now, it seems, almost everybody -- including the Ravens -- wants it to start the second half. I think that's crazy and I've been beating this drum since the Ravens deferred and handed the ball to Peyton Manning first in the game against the Colts at M&T Bank Stadium.

Here are some facts that may or may not be relevant to this debate. The Ravens have kicked off in 12 of their 14 games and they are 7-5 in those 12, which would seem to slightly reinforce the prevailing philosophy that it's better to take the ball second. Of course, it's a stretch to derive a cause-and-effect relationship from the first play of every game and it's hard to conclude anything from the fact that the Ravens are just barely above .500 -- since that's consistent with their overall record -- so I'll conveniently dismiss that statistic because it doesn't support my argument.

Let's instead take a look at the nine games the Ravens have played so far against teams that are either already headed for the playoffs or still have a chance to get there. In those games, the Ravens are 3-6 and the offensive unit has started with the ball exactly zero times. The only time in those nine games that the Ravens accepted the opening kickoff was in New England and they fumbled it away, allowing the Patriots to start on offense first.

In those nine games, by the way, the opposing offense scored before the Ravens offense seven times, though the Ravens did score first in one of those games on a second-quarter interception return. On the road, the opposing offense scored first every time.

Like I said in the previous post, if the Ravens win the toss and defer to Ben Roethlisberger today, I'm going to kick the TV and go to a movie.

Instant update: My television is safe, but I don't know if the same goes for the Ravens. The Steelers won the toss and elected to receive.