Okay, you all know I'm not a negative guy. Just ask the unwashed horde of angry baseball posters who have been accusing me of shilling for the Orioles all year. But three days shy of the Ravens' upcoming showdown with the Indianapolis Colts, I just don't see how this team can walk out of M&T Bank Stadium with a win.

I suppose it's possible I'm being too pessimistic, because the Vegas oddsmakers opened wagering on the game Tuesday with the Ravens a slight -- very slight -- favorite. The line has moved back in favor the Colts, but it's still being bet as a surprisingly even game. I can't see it being particularly close. Sorry. I hope I'm wrong and everyone gets to take a shot at me here Sunday night for jumping off the bandwagon.

In the meantime, here's my full column on the subject, which appears in today's print edition and is up on the Web site.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Just football
        

Believe it or not, most of the oddsmakers opened the action on the Ravens and Colts game with the Ravens posted as a one-point favorite. The line has fluctuated over the past 24 hours, with the early bettors moving the Colts up to -1 today and some outlets listing the game as dead even.

I'm obviously missing something. If you had told me yesterday that I could get the Colts as an underdog in Sunday's game -- or a pick-em -- I would have taken out a huge home equity loan and bet the house on them. I figured the Colts would be about a 6 1/2-point favorite, and I would have considered that conservative.

But the guys in Vegas are a lot smarter than me -- either that or somebody didn't get the memo on Terrell Suggs -- so that line should bouy the spirits of Ravens who could not take a lot of solace in Monday night's 16-0 victory over the Browns.

I scanned some of the internet betting sites, to see if I could get the lowdown on this, but I still don't see it. There's just no way to look at this from a pure football perspective and see it as an even game, though strange stuff happens every week in the NFL.

The only bit of gambling information that I found to support a line like this is the fact that the Ravens have been strong against the spread (13-5 in their last 18 games) after a straight up win the past couple of years. But that should be offset by the fact that the Colts have a similar recent percentage in the same situations. To further offset that, the Ravens are 0-5 against the spread in their last five Sunday games coming off a Monday night game.

All I can say is that I hope the oddsmakers are right and I'm wrong. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Colts will be listed as a 3 1/2-point favorite by Sunday, which would be a pretty significant four-day shift in an NFL betting line.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
Categories: Just football
        

Well, I guess somebody was impressed with the Ravens' 16-0 road victory over the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football, because they moved up from 14th place to 11th place in the ESPN.com NFL Power Rankings.

Of course, those are the same Power Rankings -- along with SI.com -- that had the Ravens as the best team in the NFL after Week 3 but who's counting. This week, ESPN ranks the Ravens as the best 5-4 team in the sport, jumping ahead of the Eagles, Texans and Falcons. They could jump back to No.6 or 7 with an upset victory over the Colts this Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.

If you're holding your breath on that, you might turn blue.

My first take of the week on the Ravens/Colts showdown will be posted on the Web site later today.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Just football
        

Though no one can be shocked to hear that Steve Hauschka was released by the Ravens today, I also don't think anybody should be happy about it. He's a good kid and he just had his NFL dream shattered, so there is nothing to celebrate here.

This is the point where everybody knows that the Ravens should never have let Matt Stover get away, even if the logic of moving ahead with a young kicker made perfect sense last summer. The fan emotion attached to the situation is further magnified by the fact that Stover will be coming home on Sunday in an Indianapolis Colts uniform. Talk about your worst nightmare if you're an old Colts fan here in Baltimore.

I really hate to see the Ravens give up on Hauschka, but I don't see how they could get around it. That missed field goal in Minnesota put him on notice. His miss during the Ravens attempted comeback against the Bengals last week put him on double secret probation. And last night's early miss (combined with a blocked PAT) left the team little alternative going into back-to-back games against the Colts and Steelers that team officials -- at this point -- can only hope come down to a field goal.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)
Categories: Just football
        

Okay, I know nobody came here to read me gloat about that unlikely Cal State Fullerton victory over UCLA early this morning on ESPN, so let's resume the conversation about the Ravens' 16-0 victory over the Cleveland Browns.

There are two pretty clear sets of people here. Those who think the Ravens proved they are not a playoff-caliber team by failing to score in the first half against the feeble Browns, and the glass-half-full crowd that thinks any road win is a good win.

I'd like to be in the glass-half-full crowd, but after watching the Ravens manage one significant offensive play in 60 minutes of what could loosely be described as football, I can't even find the glass.

That's right, the long pass to Derrick Mason that set up the only Ravens offensive touchdown was really the only play of any consequence by Cam Cameron's offense, which is going to have to look a lot more like the Ravens did in September to have any chance of competing with Peyton Manning and the Colts this weekend.

Whenever the Colts come to town, it opens old wounds for football fans in Baltimore, but I doubt anybody's going to have time for that this week. There's plenty to worry about right in the here and now.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Just football
        

I'm sure there's a way to spin last night's game at Cleveland Browns Stadium as a something other than another less-than-satisfying performance by a Ravens team that needed to make some kind of statement in advance of back-to-back home games against the Colts and Steelers. But I can't come up with anything off the top of my head.

The Ravens played one of the worst teams in the NFL and managed just one offensive touchdown, which doesn't bode well for what might happen when Peyton Manning starts flinging the ball around M&T Bank Stadium. Everyone seemed to agree that the Ravens needed to start quick against the hapless Browns, but neither team scored in the first half -- the first time that has happened in the NFL this season.

Once again, Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense got things going early in the second half, but nine of their 16 points came off Browns turnovers. The inability to make an offensive statement in this game left MNF analysts Steve Young and Matt Millen wondering -- like the rest of us -- just how the Ravens expect to compete against two of the best teams in the AFC the next two weeks.

The Ravens again had trouble moving the chains in the first half. Steve Hauschka missed another field goal. The defense pitched a shutout, but I'm even sure what to make of that after watching Brady Quinn struggle all night.

I'm not trying to be negative. Really, I'm not. But in this case, I don't think you can say that a win is a win and ignore the obvious.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (46)
Categories: Just football
        

Everybody's saying basically the same things about tonight's game between the Ravens and Cleveland Browns. The Ravens need to re-establish their identity and play more consistently.

Trouble is, there'll be no way to really know if that happens tonight, because the Browns are such a supposedly unimposing opponent. If the Ravens win, 37-7, which is the score I predicted over the weekend, it will only prove that they are way better than the Browns, and we can only hope that already has been established.

The Ravens will get pressure on Brady Quinn, but that doesn't mean they'll get any on Peyton Manning on Sunday. The Ravens likely will have success moving up and down the field tonight. That doesn't mean they can do that against the Steelers the Sunday after next. So what are we to look for to get any indication if they are ready to turn things around in the second half of the regular season?

Personally, I'll be looking for more variety on the offensive side of the ball. Marvin Lewis exposed how predictable the Ravens can be in the Bengals' victory last week. When Derrick Mason turned right, there was somebody waiting there to shut him off. When the Ravens went underneath on key move-the-chains situations, the Bengals seemed to know what they were going to do. Give the Bengals credit for being very well-prepared, but that can't be a blueprint for the good teams on the way to Baltimore.

Last year, the Ravens slipped in the occasional trick play or used Troy Smith to force opposing defenses to work harder to prepare for them. This year, they've tried to establish a more dominating attack, with mixed results so for. Look for a few new twists from Cam Cameron over the next few games.

On defense, if the secondary can't totally stifle the Browns passing game, I don't want to think about what Peyton Manning might do this weekend or Ben Roeslisberger in two weeks.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Just football
        

Really, how often has anybody been able to second-guess a decision by Bill Belichick in a big game? He's one of the best strategists in the history of the NFL and there he was last night, looking like he was going to turn green after going for it on fourth down inside his own 30-yard line with a six-point lead and two minutes left in a great showdown against the Indianapolis Colts.

The Pats came up short and basically served up the game on a silver platter to Peyton Manning, who was in the process of directing one of the greatest comeback victories of his career.

The postgame analysts, including former Colts coach Tony Dungy and NBC rookie Rodney Harrison, unanimously blasted the decision. Harrison, who played for Belichick called it the worst decision he ever saw his formere coach make, and -- based on the outcome -- it certainly might have been. Belichick basically gave his defense a huge vote of no confidence by choosing not to punt and force Manning to go the length of the field.

What's worse, he burned his final timeouts unwisely, leaving him unable to challenge the spot on a very close fourth down play.

I can't defend the decision, but I think I can understand it. Manning had just turned the momentum in favor of the Colts with a lightning-quick drive for a touchdown. He made the Patriots defense look tired and helpless. Belichick gambled that Tom Brady could get him two yards and put New England in a position to burn most of the remaining two minutes. He gambled and lost very big, but it's very possible Manning would have gone right down the field again.

One thing is certain. It was a truly great game between the two best teams in the AFC. And the Colts will arrive in Baltimore next weekend still undefeated and working on an 18-game regular season winning streak.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
Categories: Just football
        

The Ravens don't play until tomorrow night, of course, but Sunday has been a pretty good day for them so far -- at least from the standpoint of projecting wild card possibilities. The Broncos have now lost three in a row and are beginning to look like they might be a nine-win team with the Ravens holding the head-to-head tiebreaker against both them and the San Diego Chargers. The Jets also lost today, dropping to 4-5 and making their road to the postseason a lot longer.

The Houston Texans had a bye today, but they may be the team that ends up standing in the way of a Ravens playoff berth. They're 5-4 and they appear to have the easiest remaining schedule of any of the potential AFC wild card contenders.

The Bengals' victory over the Steelers also helped, since it gives the Ravens a little bit more control over their chance of finishing second in the AFC North. Long way to go, of course, but at least the other dominoes are falling in the right direction.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Just football
        

Sorry, but I've got to start the day off with all my shameless plugs. If you read my last blog entry about the Orioles' latest overture to Cuba, you might want to check out my column for the print edition and Website on the same subject right here. And I've also put up my weekly "News Item" column, which you can check out over here.

If that doesn't put you in Schmuck overload, I'm also doing the Saturday Sportsline show on WBAL (1090 AM) starting at noon and taking you up to Navy football pregame coverate at 2:35 p.m. We'll talk about the opening of the free agent market next week and also preview the Ravens' Monday Night Football matchup against the Cleveland Browns.

Out of radio range: Go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon. It's a good day to call in because the show is twice as long as on weeknights and you won't have to squeeze your comments in between traffic and weather.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Just baseball, Just football
        

Everybody likes to play on a national stage on Monday night, but a lot of players still try to downplay the MNF hype. Take Terrell Suggs for instance:

"All I think about it is, all my ex-girlfriends are going to be watching me play,'' he said, "and be sorry they dumped me."

It's not exactly a premier matchup, since the Ravens have slumped to 4-4 and the Browns are just 1-7, but Todd Heap thinks that the atmosphere at Paul Brown Stadium will still be super-charged.

"Us going into Cleveland...the background that goes with it...the history, it's going to be crazy."

The Ravens can do a lot to quiet the crowd by putting up some points in the first quarter instead of stumbling out of the gate and playing catch-up all game long like they did against the Bengals and Vikings in their last two losses.

"That's going to be one of our goals during the second half of the season,'' Heap said, "getting off to a faster start."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Just football
        

It's pretty tempting to look at Monday night's game against the Cleveland Browns as a break in the schedule, but you might want to check with the Green Bay Packers and their fans about the folly of assuming that a struggling team will continue to struggle.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the longest money-line bet on the board in Las Vegas over the weekend, paying 4-1 for a straight up victory. The Packers were about a 10-point favorite going into Sunday's game in Tampa. The Ravens are listed as a 10 1/2 to 11-point favorite Monday night in Cleveland.

Strange things happen on Monday nights, but the Ravens should be able to handle the Browns before a short week of preparation for a visit from the Colts.

Browns coach Eric Mangini said on his conference call today that the Ravens are pretty much the same team that trounced the Browns earlier this year at M&T Bank Stadium, even though they've lost four of their last five games.

"They present a lot of the same challenges,'' he said. "I really like the (offensive) system that they run. They've got a lot of good skills players."

The defense certainly doesn't look like the same one that stifled Browns quarterbacks Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson the first time around, but Mangini dismissed the notion that the Ravens will be more vulnerable this time.

"You go through different periods,'' he said, "but that is a good defensive football team."

Guess we'll see.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Just football
        

Good to see the home fires are still burning here in spite of my recent disappearance. My travels took me to Southern California and Nevada (I'll admit it, I still love the Southwest) and allowed me to recharge my batteries for the baseball offseason and the second half of the Ravens schedule. I'm boarding a plane (Southwest, of course) in a couple of hours and will be back on the job in time for tomorrow's Ravens workout.

What did I learn over the past 10 days? Sadly, I learned that the Ravens may not be a playoff team, which would be a great disappointment after their 3-0 start. I learned I'm not a jinx -- I think it's been the defensive secondary all along. I learned that traffic in Maryland is never really that bad, at least in comparison to Los Angeles. I learned that playing golf on a repaired Achilles tendon is the best excuse yet for the way I play golf.

Believe it or not, I ran into a few of our regular contributors on the blog while I was out West, which made me feel pretty good. Marshall McLuhan's "global village" is a reality, and the proof is right here, from Jim Doss out in LA to our European Prof in Latvia to Kevin in Iraq and all the great local sports fans that have made this one of the top regional blog destinations.

Thanks for carrying my water for the past 10 days. If you spent some of that time over at the School of Roch looking for dating tips, that's fine too. I'm just glad the blog will still be here when I get back tonight.

By the way, just heard the Orioles claimed right-hander Armando Gabino off waivers yesterday. Don't know how I could have missed that.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)
Categories: Just baseball, Just football, Schmuck being Schmuck
        

I've been concerned that I might be putting the whammy on the Ravens by hanging around town during the football season, so I decided to play it safe and fly to the West Coast yesterday afternoon. Sure enough, the Ravens rolled over the previously undefeated Broncos, so I'm going to stay away through next Sunday. I realize the game is in Cincinnati, but you can't be too safe with the team's playoff future in the balance.

If you recall, the only Ravens victory I've been in town for was the the opener against the Chiefs, who were without starting quarterback Matt Cassel and still somehow made it interesting. Then I went overseas and the Ravens beat the Chargers on the road and hammered the Browns at home. I returned to join the team in New England and you know what happened from that point on.

After the Ravens defeat the Bengals, I think it will be safe to come home. Even a Jonah like me can't jinx them badly enough to lose to the Browns.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Just football
        

The Minnesota Vikings had a first and goal from the 1/2 yard line, but apparently they have turned the playcalling duties back over to Brian Billick. How else do you explain a team that has Adrian Peterson in the backfield, throwing the ball on second and third down and then settling for a field goal?

While I'm ranting here, I thought I'd irritate the Steelers fans with a little more official bashing. On the last kickoff return, a Pittsburgh player jumped onto the pile at the end of the play and ripped the helmet off one of the Vikings underneath him. There was an official standing right there looking at the play and the helmet flew right by him, but I guess that's not a penalty at Heinz Field.

And, let's see, didn't a Steelers defender just kneecap Brett Favre? Instead of a flag, the official quickly explained over the PA system that the Vikings player was holding and threw the guy into Favre's legs...except the replay only showed that Tom Brady is in London.

Really, the officials appear to have just decided this game. They took away a touchdown from Favre on a bogus tripping call -- the replay showed it wasn't -- and the Steelers have turned it around with a huge fumble return to take a 10-point lead. The officiating has been awful in this game and -- though it may be a coincidence -- just about all the bad calls have favored the Steelers.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (45)
Categories: Just football
        

Before we embark on a Raven-less afternoon of NFL football, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on yesterday's college football action:

Congratulations to the Midshipmen of Navy for defeating Wake Forest for their fifth straight victory. Coach Ken and his undersized crew again are proving what you can do with great preparation, great discipline and great desire.

Now that I have that out of the way, I totally disagreed with the decision to punt on fourth-and-1 at the Wake 39. I just hate it when a team builds a lead with strong, aggressive play and then suddenly goes defensive at a pivotal moment. Wake was back past the 39 in about 30 seconds and put the game back in doubt with a very quick touchdown. Navy gets one yard there, the Mids run at least another 2 1/2 minutes off the clock in a two-score game. I know it was raining, but I never like handing back the momentum. Turned out okay, but I still didn't like it.

Sort of the same thing in last night's game between Tennessee and top-ranked Alabama. The Volunteers were driving toward a huge upset victory, but went conservative during the last 40 seconds because they were out of timeouts. The Vols sat on the ball when they had time for one more play and a spike, content to take their chances on a medium-long field goal after missing two of their previous three in the game. The kick was blocked, so I guess you could try and make the case that it wouldn't have made any difference, but it certainly did because of the lower trajectory of the longer kick.

I suspect that Florida will be back on top of the AP poll this week after a fairly handy win at Mississippi State. I am always rooting for an upset so that my USC Trojans can get closer in the BCS standings, but who am I kidding. They scored a lot of points and won at home last night, but they had no defensive answer for Oregon State, which is pretty troubling.

There's a lot of college football left to play, of course, and a couple of the undefeated teams will eventually lose a game. I'm starting to think that Iowa might just run the table, though they would have to defeat Ohio State on the road. Even if they do, however, they probably would still be blocked out of the BCS title game because of their strength of schedule.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Just football
        

It's way more fun to be a baseball fan than a football fan when it comes to the trading deadlines in both sports. The NFL's trade deadline passed at 4 p.m. with no activity of note, which probably came as a great disappointment to frustrated Ravens fans who were hoping that Ozzie Newsome would pull a cornerback out of his hat.

Trouble is, I've never seen Ozzie in a hat, so he would have had to find one somewhere else and that's no small trick in a league where in-season trading is relatively rare. I didn't think Ozzie would pull the trigger on a deal because most NFL trades involve draft choices and the Ravens hold onto their draft positions jealously.

Even if the Ravens wanted to make a deal, their timing was awful. They've lost three straight games and their defensive issues are well-known around the league. Opposing teams smell weakness like a shark smells blood in the water, and nobody is going to feel sorry for a team that was No. 1 in a couple of prominent power rankings three weeks ago. The Ravens were in a poor leverage position to pick up a high-quality player, so they stood pat. Can't criticize them for that.

Personally, I don't think they are in such bad shape from a playoff perspective, especially after the Chargers, Jets and Bengals also lost over the weekend. The Bengals are the only potential wild card team that has a better record than the Ravens right now, so it's more a matter of shoring up than catching up.

Here's this week's rose-colored prediction: The Ravens will be 6-3 when the Colts get here on Nov. 22. Book it.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)
Categories: Just football
        

That loss is going to sting for awhile, and it should. The Ravens put their greatest strengths and their greatest weaknesses on display over the course of the game, which may be instructive for the front office over the next couple of weeks, but the outcome leaves the team looking at a much more difficult competitive landscape going forward.

Still, I wouldn't start doing the mathematical calculations just yet. Somebody wrote in and said that the Ravens will have to go 11-5 to reach the playoffs -- which would leave them needing to win eight of their last 10 games. I think that probably would have been a legit observation a few weeks ago, but the situation in the AFC has changed a lot over the first six weeks of the season.

The Tennessee Titans, who were one of the chief wild card possibilities when the season started, have dropped off the map. The Jets and Bengals both lost yesterday. The only team running away right now is the Denver Broncos, which might actually be a good thing if they can hold on to edge the Chargers in the West, since the Ravens hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Chargers if they end up competing for a wild card spot.

There's no way to sugarcoat what has happened the past three weeks. The Ravens have gone from a slam-dunk playoff entry to a team that will have to find a way to pull itself together during the bye period. The good news is that no lead is safe against them, which is quite a change in the competitive personality of the franchise. The bad news is that no lead is safe for them, either. They need to either find help in the secondary or make some serious system patches to account for the way Brett Favre carved it up yesterday.

Oh, and one other thing: The kid missed a kick. That doesn't make him a bad fellow or a choke artist. Guys miss kicks. Matt Stover missed kicks, though he made his living off kicks like that one. I understand, however, how hard it must be for Ravens fans to deal with that missed kick just days after Stover signed with the Colts.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (61)
Categories: Just football
        

Well, if that wasn't the most heartbreaking regular-season loss in recent Ravens history, you'll have to tell me what is.

Steve Hauschka misses a potential game-winning field goal -- which would have made this a victory for the ages -- and now the Ravens have to go home and think about that for the next two weeks.

Unbelieveable game.

Unbelieveable finish.

Joe Flacco showed he is destined for greatness, but the Ravens may not be if they don't get their defensive issues figured out before the Denver Broncos get to M&T Bank Stadium on Nov.1.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (77)
Categories: Just football
        

The Ravens have made an amazing comeback in the fourth quarter, but all that has done is put them in the same situation they've been the past couple of weeks. They got the lead and they put the ball in the hands of the defense, which was not been equal to that task against the New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals.

So, what happens? Brett Favre makes another huge throw and the Vikings are in field goal range.

All those questions about the Ravens secondary apparently are legit. The pass defense can't seem stop anybody when it counts.

It's been exciting, but this is also very hard to watch.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Just football
        

You know, I promised myself I wouldn't mention the officiating this week. I'm tired of it and the Ravens aren't playing well enough for it to be making much difference right now, but I'm just surprised that it continues to be so mediocre.

They eventually got the call right on that incomplete pass that was originally called a fumble, but the Vikings appeared to be way offsides on the next play and there was no flag. The defensive tackle on the left side was in the Ravens backfield before the shotgun snap came into view.

Instant update: And I'm pretty sure the Ravens would have liked to have two flags picked up on the same penalty once in awhile the way the Vikings just did on what looked like a garden variety block in the back. Maybe you people aren't just paranoid.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Just football
        

One of the biggest questions facing the Ravens after two straight losses was the porous secondary, and that question is not being answered the way Ravens fans might have hoped today at the Metrodome.

Brett Favre went right down the field and scored on the Vikings' first possession, finding a wide-open Visanthe Shiancoe for a 21-yard touchdown pass. He did the same thing on his second drive, marching into the end zone against minimal resistance. Bernard Berrian was wide open for a four-yard touchdown.

This has got to be Greg Mattison's worst nightmare. The Ravens needed to find a way to slow the Vikings quick-strike offense, but they've looked almost helpless on those first two Minnesota possessions. It's starting to look like the wrong team is not as good as its record.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Just football
        

Not sure what it is about Kevin Cowherd, but he seems to take some perverse pleasure in delivering the opposite opinion whenever I take an unassailable stand on an important local sports topic. Today's column, which you can read right here, basically is another case of Cowherd just being difficult, and you know how these disputes always turn out -- with me strutting around like Chad Ochocinco. I'm working on a special touchdown dance to do at his desk on Monday.

Remember what happened the last time he tried this. I believe he wrote that Dave Trembley would -- or should, I can't remember -- be fired at the end of the baseball season. I, of course, delivered the eloquent, winning argument that Dave should be retained, which I'm sure was the deciding factor in the club's decision to pick up the 2010 option in his contract. If that wasn't enough, Kevin and I had a video debate, which may still be floating around cyberspace somewhere, in which I had to browbeat the poor, feeble old fellow to a bloody pulp.

Obviously, he's not one of those guys who learns from his mistakes, so after I wrote that the Ravens would go into the Metrodome and toast Brett Favre and the Vikings, he comes back today with a column talking about how the Vikings won't go down quietly (sweet play on words by our headline guys, by the way) because of the noise at the Metrodome.

We'll see, but if the noise is such a big advantage there, why are the Vikes only 16-10 at home over the past three-plus seasons?

OK, to be fair, Kevin does not have a blog to defend himself, so I'll offer him this space for a rebuttal in the next day or two, and he can have a chance to dance if the Ravens all come back from Minnesota wearing hearing aids.

Free Cowherd plug: If you want to hear Kevin debate someone who has never won a sports argument in his life, check him out when he joins Jerry Coleman on the radio. Here's a link to a video of a recent show.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Just football
        

No matter how you feel about the possibility of Rush Limbaugh becoming a part owner of the St. Louis Rams, you have to chuckle at Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay becoming the first NFL owner to stand up against him on principle.

Irsay (left) said this week he definitely would not vote to approve an ownership group involving Limbaugh because of the right-wing talkshow host's sometimes controversial comments about race and the NFL.

"I, myself, couldn't even consider voting for him," Irsay said, according to the Associated Press. "When there are comments that have been made that are inappropriate, incendiary and insensitive ... our words do damage, and it's something that we don't need."

I'm staying out of the political side of this debate, but I think longtime Baltimore sports fans are going to find it humorous that Irsay would suddenly get all high and mighty after his family yanked a beloved NFL franchise out of Baltimore and gave little thought to the horrible effect that would have on this community.

I guess the real irony of the situation is that Limbaugh has joined the effort to help keep the Rams from moving out of St. Louis.

Associated Press photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (49)
Categories: Just football
        

There's a poster on the blog who calls himself The Reaper who has called me on the carpet for my prediction that the Ravens will bounce back this weekend against the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome. He raises some fair points (you can take a look for yourself by clicking on the comments section of my previous blog entry) and wonders just what evidence I have to support my opinion.

I have to admit that there is little in the performance of the Ravens on Sunday to indicate that they are going to go into Minneapolis and knock Brett Favre on his frequently retiring rear end, but that's because they played very poorly for the first time this year. They didn't play great the week before, either, but it was against the Patriots and they were one or two 10-yard pass completions from overcoming a mistake prone game to score a big comeback win.

My opinion is based on their overall performance and some intangible concepts that aren't very logical. The Ravens, for instance, are coming off one of their worst performances of the John Harbaugh era and the Vikings are on a big roll. One of the things that makes the NFL so interesting is the way momentum can shift at any moment -- sometimes for no apparent reason.

I just feel the Vikings are ready for one of those bad Brett Favre days and the Ravens will be in their us-against-the-world mentality. Apparently, I'm not alone, because the oddsmakers have the Vikings posted as only a three-point favorite, which basically just accounts for the home-field advantage. The guys in Vegas think these teams are dead even on paper, and I think the pendulum will swing in favor of the Ravens this week.

Call me crazy. You wouldn't be the Lone Ranger.

Sun plug: Good column by Mike Preston today. He thinks that the Vikings game is going to be one of those defining moments for Harbaugh -- one way or the other. Get Mike's take right here.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (55)
Categories: Just football
        

There were few complaints about the officiating in the Ravens lockerroom after the game, perhaps because they all recognized that they didn't play nearly well enough to win today. The pass interference call during Carson Palmer's final drive -- which was on Frank Walker, not Ed Reed -- was a tossup, but everyone seemed to agree that the game should never have come down to that final drive in the first place.

"I want to give a compliment to the Bengals,'' said coach John Harbaugh. "They are a good football team. They came into a tough environment and did what they needed to do. We didn't play well enough to win. We didn't play well enough in any of the three phases of the game."

For most of the game, the only points on the board for the Ravens came from Reed's interception return early in the second quarter.

"We made some plays, but they made more,'' said Terrell Suggs. "In our stadium, that's unacceptable."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (54)
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Thanks, in part, to an unnecessary roughness penalty on Ray Lewis late in the drive, Carson Palmer and the Bengals completed another late comeback to take over first place in the AFC North with a 17-14 victory over the Ravens.

No doubt, there will be more gnashing of teeth about the officiating, but the Lewis penalty was legit. He hammered a defenseless Chad Ochocinco, knocking his helmet off, as the ball sailed well out of the reach of anyone.

There were three defensive penalties on the final drive, which evoked a stadium-wide chant that the referees, well, stink. Don't know if you can blame this one on them. The Ravens never looked particularly sharp in this game, and they were fortunate to be leading in the final minutes.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)
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The Ravens appeared to be in full self-destruct mode when Ray Rice was called for a chop block to take them out of field goal range. Rice made up for it in a hurry, catching a short pass from Joe Flacco and breaking out of a scrum to sprint all the way into the end zone. The 48-yard touchdown pass put the Ravens back in the lead with just under seven minutes to go, but they've shown some cracks on defense in the second half.

It's Carson time, which is a frightening proposition when you consider that he's been the kind of the last-minute victory this season.

Rice update: Rice said after the game that he didn't need any redemption because he wasn't anywhere near the play that he was called for that penalty. "If I get fined, I'll definitely appeal,'' he said.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Mark Clayton just let go of the ball as he went down near the Ravens 20-yard line. The ball was picked up by Bengals safety Chinedum Ndukwe and returned to the end zone, but Clayton was ruled down by contact and that call held up on replay.

What a break for Clayton, who had the big drop last week in New England. The replay was very marginal. It looked like the ball was starting to come loose before his knee touched the ground, but it was not conclusive enough to overturn the ruling on the field. Conversely, if the original call had gone the other way, I doubt it could have been overturned either.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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The Ravens defense set Carson Palmer up by over-stacking the left side and Ed Reed streaked in front of Chad Ochocinco to pick off the ball and sprint all the way home. It was Reed's sixth career interception return for a touchdown. He is the franchise leader in that department.

Oh, and by the way, I'm starting to like the 8 1/2 points again.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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In essense, the Ravens and Bengals each gave back three points in the first quarter. The Bengals -- thanks to a series of clutch catches by Chad Ochocinco -- drove to within range of a routine field goal on the opening possession of the game, only to have Kelly Gregg deflect the kick.

Joe Flacco drove the Ravens right back down the field, but his third down pass intended for Todd Heap in the end zone was plucked out of the air by Jonathan Johnson at the last moment. The ball was right on target, but Johnson made a terrific effort to catch up to the ball and make a fingertip interception.

So, we start from scratch in the second quarter. Don't know if I like the 8 1/2-point spread anymore.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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My old colleague, John Eisenberg, wrote this weekend on the Ravens Web site that today's game against the Cincinnati Bengals is a "must win" situation for the Ravens. I'll have to disagree with him, but first, a shameless plug for both John and I.

John is a sports author of note, and he has a new book coming out later this week on the 1959 Green Bay Packers. Berg is going to join me on Sportsline (WBAL 1090 AM) on Tuesday night at seven to talk about the book and all things Vince Lombardi. If you're a student of NFL history, you'll want to join in that conversation and pick up a copy.

Okay, now that I've buttered John up, I'll continue with my contention that this is probably less of a must-win game than any other the Ravens have played so far. The Bengals are 3-1 and the winner will take over first place in the AFC North, but there will be 11 regular season games left afterward and the competitive challenge facing the Ravens will not change at all.

With all due respect to what the Bengals have done so far, I'm pretty sure the Ravens (whether they win today or not) will come down to it with the Steelers at the end, and the Steelers were nice enough to lose two of their first three games this year to give the Ravens (and, I guess, the Bengals) a little early season cushion.

Of course, when you play in your own division, every game is very important for a variety of reasons, but this particular division game does not have the make-or-break quality that likely will be attached to either game against the Steelers.

Certainly, if the Bengals win today, it will give them a huge credibility bounce going forward -- and a leg up in any future tiebreaker situation -- but that's really more about them than it is about the Ravens. Now, if the Bengals win today, then we'll be able to talk "must win" when the Ravens visit Cincinnati next month.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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It just dawned on me that I'm a Ravens jinx. I was looking back over the past four games and it just sort of hit me. During the time I was laid up with my Achilles injury over the summer, the Ravens went undefeated in the preseason and had a fairly injury-free training camp. Then I show up for the regular season opener and they inexplicably struggle against the lowly Kansas City Chiefs.

So, I head out of the country for 10 days and they score a nice road victory over the San Diego Chargers and hammer the hapless Cleveland Browns at home, only for me to return in time to join them in Foxborough (which I believe is right next to Foxboro) for the frustrating and controversial loss to the Patriots.

I'm going to test this theory by attending the game on Sunday against Cincinnati at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens are a pretty solid favorite to break the tie at the top of the AFC North standings with the surprisingly 3-1 Bengals. We shall see.

If the Ravens lose, I think it's pretty obvious what I'll have to do -- move back to the Middle East for the remainder of the football season. Baltimore sports fans have suffered too much over the course of the baseball season for me to put the possibility of a Ravens Super Bowl run at risk.

I hope it isn't necessary, but I've included the accompanying photo to give you an idea of what I'll look like if anyone decides to head over there and look for me. I won't be wearing my usual floral prints, because you really don't want to stand out too much in such a volatile region, but I doubt I'll be too hard to find.

Not surprisingly, my absence had the opposite effect on the Orioles, who did not win a single game during my trip to Israel, then won four straight to close out the regular season upon my return and also picked up the contract option of manager Dave Trembley. I'm sure I'll get a nice bouquet any day now.

Photo courtesy of Robert Johanson

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (46)
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Nobody likes to lose and nobody likes to think they got jobbed by the officials, but yesterday's loss to the Patriots also was full of signs that this Ravens team has places to go and things to do this year.

Obviously, the biggest downside was the four mistakes in the first half. Whether you think the Suggs roughing penalty was legit or not, the Ravens hurt themselves in enough ways before halftime to lose a game to just about anyone. They fell behind by a couple of scores to the Patriots on the road and that probably should have been that.

Of course, the good news is that it wasn't. They forced a fumble that got them back into the game in the third quarter and went nose-to-nose with a very good team the rest of the way. If Mark Clayton catches that last pass -- and he should have -- they were very possibly looking at a one-point victory at Gillette Stadium.

I don't care about the woulda-coulda aspect of that. The Ravens are 3-1 and in great shape going forward. I just like the way they reacted to all the adversity. Lesser teams get blown out when things go that bad early in a game against a tough opponent on the road.

The one caveat going into the game -- as people sorted out whether the Ravens really belonged on the top of the ESPN.com and SI.com Power Rankings -- was whether they had played good enough competition to consider their 3-0 record all that impressive. It was a fair question, but I think they answered it, even in defeat, against the Patriots.

That was obscured by their complaints about the seemingly uneven officiating, which may have been warranted, but immediately becomes irrelevant after the game. The way I look at it, if the game came down to a ball spot that was 18 inches short, you probably didn't play well enough to win.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (44)
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If you get a chance later tonight, you can check out my column in which Ray Lewis goes ballistic about the lengths NFL officials are going to keep quarterbacks from getting hit in the pocket. In fact, Ray might just get hit in the pocket for speaking out publicly about the officiating in today's game.

Hard to argue with him after the damaging penalty that was called on Terrell Suggs for brushing past Brady's knee during today's game.

Brady, not surprisingly, disagrees that quarterbacks are getting a free ride, but he may have made Ray's point with his light-hearted response to the complaints by the Ravens that he -- and some other marquee quarterbacks-- get special treatment from the officials.

"Certainly not,'' he said with a smile. "Are you kidding me? They've got to find ways...We're holding the ball, we're unprotected, just sitting there defenseless, so they've got to stay away from me. They deserve to get flagged."

He clearly was having some fun at the Ravens' expense, just as he did during the game.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)
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Once again, the NFL replay system proves itself to be something less than dependable. The Ravens challenged the spot on that fake field goal in the fourth quarter, which might have given them the ball before the final Patriots field goal, but there was no clear angle and the officials let the play stand. It looked like the Ravens stopped the play, but the Patriots got another in a long series of favorable spots and the Ravens lost a timeout.

To add insult to injury, after the replay was denied, the referees gave Willis McGahee a very stingy spot on the fourth down play at midfield, but the Ravens didn't have a challenge remaining.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)
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John Harbaugh doesn't like his players acting out, but he has been all over the officials during the course of this game, and it's hard to argue after the offensive pass interference call that was just dropped on Derrick Mason.

Mason went downfield and faked right into the defender before turning toward the sidelines and catching a pass for a big gain. The play was called back and a 10-yard penalty assessed.

Why is this a big deal? Because Patriots receiver Wes Welker did the exact same thing on the third play of the third quarter and Chris Carr was called for illegal contact for standing his ground, which led to so much chatter from the Ravens bench that they also were called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

It'll be interesting to see who Harbaugh handles questions about all of it after the game.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
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Just about the time I was going to post an item about the way the ball has been bouncing in the direction of the Patriots today, Terrell Suggs forced that fumble, Dwan Edwards fell on it in the end zone and it's a whole new ballgame.

I'm guessing, up to that point, Ravens fans were seeing it the way I was, especially after Kevin Faulk fumbled that punt and the ball bounced right into the hands of teammate Leigh Bodden. The play looked just like the Chris Carr fumble on the opening kickoff, except for the uniform of the player who fell on the ball.

By the way, Suggs was credited with a sack on the Ravens touchdown that gave him the all-time club record for sack yardage.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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The interception that Joe Flacco just threw at the New England 8 yard line was the fourth serious mistake the Ravens have made in the first half. No way to sugarcoat that. The Patriots are too good to beat on the road making a couple of key mistakes in a game, much less a handful like that.

There was an obvious miscommunication on the play, since Mark Clayton turned into the end zone on the pump and Flacco threw the ball to the sideline, where Patriots defender Leigh Bodden made a fine play to grab the ball and stay in bounds. That mistake cost the Ravens at least three points. The other three gaffes each contributed to a Patriots score.

Not good.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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Offensive tackle Jared Gaither apparently suffered a neck injury and is being removed from the field on a stretcher. The nature and severity of the injury is unclear, but coach John Harbaugh seemed to be saying "He's okay" as he came off the field.

The reverse angle replay showed Gaither's head slamming into the back of quarterback Joe Flacco, who was sandwiched between Gaither and a couple of New England rushers after throwing an incomplete pass. Flacco was not shaken up on the play.

Patriots fans gave Gaither an ovation as he was wheeled off the field. I'm sure we'll have an update soon.

Instant update: Gaither was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for further evaluation of his neck and shoulder. The team announced he does have movement in all extremities.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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What a way to start a game against the Patriots on the road. Chris Carr fumbled the opening kickoff to give the Pats the ball at the Ravens 12 yard line. You knew this game would come down to a big mistake, but the Ravens have to hope they can overcome a three-point giveaway.

The good news. Trevor Pryce just sacked Tom Brady on third-and-long to force the Patriots to settle for the field goal. Well, there's the point spread, so it should be a pretty evenly matched game the rest of the way.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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It started out as an uneventful morning, if you consider a ninth airplane flight in the last two weeks uneventful. I was headed for New England with our Ravens beat reporter, Jamison Hensley, when stuff started to go wrong.

First off, I boarded the plane and -- because of my banged up ankle -- needed to steady myself to wedge into my middle seat, because I was on another flight yesterday (from LA to Baltimore) when everybody else did their on-line check-in. So I reached up to grab the edge of the luggage bin just as another passenger was slamming it shut. That would have been bad enough, but the guy assumed when the door wouldn't close that he just didn't slam it hard enough, so he did it again. I have to admit, it would have been funny if it had happened to someone else, but my second career as a concert pianist is probably a no-go.

Wait, it gets better, or worse, depending on how you look at it. The weather wasn't too great and about halfway through the flight, there was a bright flash and a loud bang right outside our window, about where the engine attaches to the left wing, which was kind of a mood-changer for all the Ravens fans on the flight. I'm sure the Patriots fans weren't too keen about it either, but most of them were passed out already since it was almost 11 a.m.

I think Jamison was a little apprehensive, though I couldn't ask him because he was busy converting to several of the major religions and a couple of the lesser ones I didn't recognize. I even heard him mention Tom Cruise at one point, though I couldn't tell if that had something to do with Scientology or some sect based around the Mission Impossible movies.

All's well that ends well. The pilot explained that it was something called "static discharge" and said that it happens all the time and there was absolutely never anything to worry about. I'll take his word for it, but I've flown about 2,000 times in my career and that was a first for me. Anyway, we got down safely and are looking for a place to get some clam chowder.

Today's plug: Keep an eye out today for my Sunday print column on the Dave Trembley rehiring. I weighed in on the situation in the blog yesterday -- and that post was picked up in the paper -- but I'll go at it from a different direction today.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (43)
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Nike has just announced that it has not re-signed Michael Vick to a promotional contract, saying it has only agreed to supply Vick with its products, which it does for many other athletes who do not show up in the company's advertising campaigns.

Though that makes a lot more sense, the whole situation seems pretty fishy. Sounds like Nike is trying to have it both ways here.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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Nothing really surprises me anymore, but I do find it interesting that Nike has decided to get back in bed with Michael Vick some two years after pulling out of his promotional contract because of his involvement in a reprehensible dogfighting operation.

I mean, what's the company's slogan going to be when it splashes Vick's face all over the sports planet? Oh, here's an idea:

Nike: Just don't do it anymore

Feel free to come up with one of your own.

I'm sure Nike has come up with a way to spin the whole thing into an interesting advertising campaign -- probably one of those dark, edgy shoots with Vick looking remorseful and talking about paying the price.

What I'm not sure of is whether Vick will ever regain his superstar status, as it relates to anything but his disturbing past. The Eagles used him in a number of situations last week, but he didn't exactly light up the stadium.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
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John Harbaugh was nothing but complimentary about the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick during his afternoon news conference today, pointing out how the rest of the league wants to emulate the New England franchise, but also wants to roadblock it when the head-to-head opportunity arises.

"That's what the NFL is all about,'' he said on the Ravens' first day of preparation for this weekend's road showdown at Gillette Stadium.

But when he was asked whether, as a coach, he gets an extra charge out of facing a guy with three Super Bowl titles, he played it largely for laughs.

"The good thing about the game is that the coaches won't be lining up and teeing off on each other during the game,'' Harbaugh said. "I don't think anybody would pay to see that right now. I'd like to think I'd have the edge, though. If we were in a hamburger drill, I think I'd have the edge, but coach (Belichick) might not think that."

Frankly, if I knew they had something called a hamburger drill, I probably would have gone out for football in high school.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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If the Ravens are supposed to be a run-first team, they have an interesting way of showing it. They spent the preseason heavily imbalanced toward the pass -- which was explained away by the fact that they had to audition receivers -- but came out throwing to start today's regular season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Joe Flacco as flinging the ball all over the place, and would have had a touchdown on the first drive if Derrick Mason hadn't bobbled the ball on his way out of the back of the end zone. The Ravens settled for a 44-yard field goal by Steve Houschka, but are giving the impression they will be going up and down the field with some ease today.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
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This is a pretty big day if you're a Ravens fan, and it's an even bigger day for me. This may be the first Sunday of the NFL season -- and the day of the first regular season game at M&T Bank Stadium -- but it's going to be a particularly upbeat day for me because it's the last day I have to wear this giant orthopedic boot on my right foot.

WBAL sports guy Keith Mills was nice enough to drive me to the stadium this morning, but he shouldn't have to do it again unless I get carried away today and try to kick a field goal or something. I should be walking tall by this time tomorrow.

Back to today's game, which is what you really care about. Banged up Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel was out on the field early this morning testing his sprained knee. I've said before that I don't think Chiefs coach Todd Haley should expose him to the Ravens blitzing defense, but I guess he'll play if he feels like it.

The Ravens are anywhere from an 11-point to a 13-point favorite. If I'm a Ravens fan, I'm not too worried about this game no matter who calls the signals for the Chiefs, but keep something in mind. I wasn't too worried about USC when they kicked off last night against Ohio State in The Horseshoe, but I was plenty worried as the clock wound down in the fourth quarter.

Which reminds me, I've got to find Stan White. There's no 15-yard penalty for taunting in the press box.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
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Actually, Ravens coach John Harbaugh was very upbeat after the Ravens completed their undefeated preseason with a 20-3 victory over the Altanta Falcons. His team came out of the game healthy and most of the bubble guys played well enough to make the upcoming final roster cut a real challenge for the coaching staff and front office.

"We made a commitment when we started training camp,'' Harbaugh said. "We wanted to be the best Ravens we could be, and I think we are the best Ravens team we can be."

The Ravens have to be down to 53 players on Saturday, and there still are several roster spots still in doubt. In some cases, it may have come down to the final minutes of the game. Evan Oglesby, for instance, capped a solid all-around performance with a impressive interception in the fourth quarter.

"It's going to be really hard to get down to 53 players,'' Harbaugh said. "We've got more than 53 good players on this team."

It does not appear, however, that it will be a struggle to settle the kicking situation. Steve Hauschka nailed a 46-yard field goal near the end of the game and appears to have locked up the job, even if Harbaugh wasn't ready to make that announcement after the game.

"We'll talk about that over the next day or two,'' Harbaugh said, "but coming out there at the end and making that kick, that was good...and he also made a kick on a bad snap."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
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Even though the second half of the last preseason game doesn't feature a lot of guys who will see a lot of playing time against the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular season opener, you can see by his body language that John Harbaugh never stops demanding perfect execution.

He wasn't happy when Ernie Wheelwright dropped what would have been a touchdown pass, and went looking for answers when long snapper Matt Katula bounced the snap on the 33-yard field goal by Steve Hauschka. He had to be shaking his head when the normally dependable Katula also delivered a low snap on a punt in the fourth quarter.

The Ravens appear to on their way to an undefeated preseason, but you can bet that Harbaugh's postgame news conference will focus on the penalties and other mistakes. That's what it's all about with 10 days remaining before the opener.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
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Terrell Suggs is on the field and appears completely healthy. He already has a sack and looked quick chasing down running back Jason Snelling from behind. Don't know if he'll come back out for the next series, but the Ravens have to be happy with what he did during the Falcons' first possession.

John Harbaugh can't be completely happy with the way the rest of the defense played on that first set. Twice, the Falcons benefitted from offside penalties.

Demetrius Williams already has caught three passes from third-string quarterback John Beck on the Ravens' first drive, and also accounted for a big gain when he drew a pass interference penalty on the first ball Beck threw downfield.

Rooke fullback Jason Cook picked a good time for his first reception as a Raven, catching a short pass from Beck near the goal line and barreling into the end zone.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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When I heard that Brian Billick had written a book, I was pretty stoked. Finally, I thought, we’ll get the inside story on his surprising dismissal by the Ravens, his up-and-down relationship with Steve Bisciotti, that strange Super Bowl press conference during which he chastised the media for its treatment of Ray Lewis…and a lot of the other behind-the-purple-curtain stuff that we’ve all been wondering about since he was fired after the 2007 season.

So, when the publisher sent The Sun an advance copy of the manuscript – entitled “More Than a Game: The Glorious Present and Uncertain Future of the NFL” – I waded right in.

I’ll give Billick this much, he delivers an interesting take on the state of the sport and – in the early chapters – a primer on what it’s really like to be an NFL head coach. He brings along some additional wisdom from the guys he coached for and against, including Bill Walsh, Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher and more. And he proves that even a super-focused NFL coach is capable of seeing beyond his own horizon.

In the course of the 250-or-so pages, he travels across the football spectrum, explaining the Cover 2 defense in one chapter and the intricacies of the NFL Network’s various cable and satellite deals in another.

What he doesn’t do is what most readers in Ravenland probably will wish he had. He does not dish on the Ravens front office and Bisciotti. He has very little to say about the dynamic players who helped him win a Super Bowl. There is the occasional rationale for the way he handled a certain situation – the ill-fated attempt to develop Kyle Boller into a franchise quarterback comes to mind-- but the book is really not about the Ravens.

It’s more about Billick expanding his image as a major player on the NFL scene, which should be helpful in his new career as a television analyst and won’t be hurtful to any future opportunity to coach another NFL team.

I don’t know if he was consciously playing it safe for future employment reasons, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I mean, I’ve seen the guy punt on fourth and short inside the 35 yard line. What I do know is that Billick is not interested in fading out of the NFL picture, and this book allows him to project himself more as a football statesman than just somebody manning the Telestrator in the FOX broadcast booth.

I’m not going to give away the ending, but Billick takes a look at the gathering labor storm that is threatening the NFL and offers advice to both the owners and players on how to navigate through it without damaging an extremely successful industry.

The book, which is co-written by Michael MacCambridge and hits the shelves next week, is a quick read that may enlighten you to some of the challenges of putting a winning – and losing – NFL team on the field, but you’re probably not going to come away feeling like you know a whole lot more about Billick and the Ravens than you did when you cracked it open.

Now that I’ve piqued your interest, I’ll be back in awhile with some more specific observations about Billick and his new book, including his aforementioned explanation for why Boller didn’t pan out.

Sun file photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
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There was a moment tonight when all was right with the sports world in Baltimore. Cesar Izturis was at the plate with the rain pounding down on him and the O's needing him to drive home the go-ahead run from third in case the game was rained out. He delivered a triple to break the tie and bring on the tarp. Unfortunately for the Orioles, the rain eventually relented, though not before creating a plumbing disaster in the dugout.

The reason that moment was so significant to me was because of what was happening at almost exactly the same time down in North Carolina. Joe Flacco connected with Todd Heap for a nifty touchdown pass that put the Ravens ahead of the Carolina Panthers to stay in their third preseason victory. Both teams took the lead simultaneously, but only the Ravens could keep it. No great surprise there.

The Izturis hit, of course, had no chance to be as significant as the Heap catch, even though the Orioles were playing a regular season game and the Ravens were not. The Ravens have been looking for Heap to re-establish himself as a go-to tight end, and he certainly looked like that with four catches and the touchdown in tonight's game.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)
Categories: Just baseball, Just football
        

The Jets scored in the final 22 seconds of the game and could have tied the score by kicking the point after, but Rex Ryan obviously wasn't interested in taking the game into overtime. He kept third-string quarterback Erik Ainge in for the two-point conversion, but his pass over the middle was batted away.

Nevertheless, Ryan was all smiles when he hugged John Harbaugh at midfield after time expired.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)
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Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, who got the Ravens defense off to a great start with his interception and touchdown return in the first quarter, was pleased that the Ravens' first defensive unit shut out the Jets in the first quarter.

"We weren't planning on that,'' he said at halftime. "I think one of the things we mostly have got to work on is stopping the run. We take a lot of pride in that. We didn't do too well, so we've got to go back and fix that. But it was good that we were still able to have a dominant defense."

Ngata said he was just in the right place at the right time for the big interception.

"I was supposed to have contain on that play,'' he said. "I saw the running back coming out, so I tried to stay in between (the quarterback and the running back). I saw the quarterback looking aat him, and then he threw the ball. I just jumped up, and it hit my stomach. My stomach swallowed it, and I caught the ball."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Following last week's offensive explosion against the Redskins, I kind of expected Cam Cameron to come out today with a more run-oriented approach, if only to keep Rex Ryan's defense from teeing off on Joe Flacco.

It didn't work out that way. The Ravens again threw the ball much more than they ran it in the first half. Flacco was 8 for 18 for 120 yards and Troy Smith was 2 for 3 for 22 yards after taking over late in the second quarter. The Ravens ran 21 passing plays and just 12 running plays. Ray Rice got eight of those carries and totaled 29 yards and a touchdown.

The receiver distribution also was quite a bit different. Derrick Mason had three catches for 68 yards and Demetrius Williams and Le'Ron McClain had two each. Last week's leading receiver, Justin Harper, is not on the stat sheet yet.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez hooked up with running back Leon Washington on a 19-yard touchdown pass with 5:57 to go in the second quarter for the first points scored against the Ravens defense in the preseason. Washington beat Jameel McClain on a wheel route on Sanchez final series of the game to salvage what started out to be a dismal performance.

Sanchez didn't light up the stadium, completing 3 of 8 passes for 43 yards and throwing for a touchdown for each team, but he's got to feel a lot better about things now than he did a 15 minutes ago.

Instant update: McClain didn't spend a lot of time beating himself up over the Jets touchdown. He just picked off Kellen Clemens in the final minute of the half and ran it in from 16 yards out to give the Ravens a 21-7 lead.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Joe Flacco just hooked up with Derrick Mason for 43 yards to the Jets 3 yard line, then pulled a nifty pump fake and behind the back handoff to Ray Rice for the touchdown. The Ravens now lead, 14-0, which the defense remains unscored upon in the preseason.

It wasn't a particularly clean start for Flacco, because the Jets brought pressure throughout the first Ravens offensive series, but when Mason got loose, Flacco delivered a perfect strike. The cumulative score of the preseason so far:

Ravens 37, Redskins/Jets 0. Looks like they might have to polish up another game ball for new defensive coordinator Greg Mattison.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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It didn't take long for the Ravens defense to welcome departed defensive coordinator Rex Ryan back to M&T Bank Stadium. On the second play from scrimmage, top Jets draft choice Mark Sanchez got hammered by a blitzing Ray Lewis and threw the ball right into the hands of tackle Haloti Ngata, who ran it back for a Ravens touchdown.

And it could have been a lot worse. Sanchez dropped back on the second play of the Jets next possession and threw the ball right into Lewis's breadbasket, but Ray could not come up with the ball. Otherwise, it would probably be 14-0 with less than two minutes gone in the game.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Ravens

CB -- Samari Rolle
OLB -- Terrell Suggs
WR -- Mark Clayton
WR -- Biren Ealy
T -- Stefan Rodgers
LB -- Dannell Ellerbe

Jets

K -- Jay Feely
DB -- Darrelle Revis
CB -- Donald Strickland
RB -- Jehuu Caulcrick
LB -- Joshua Mauga
OL -- Damien Woody
DT -- Kris Jenkins

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Don't know if it was a coincidence or what, but at a time when NFL fans and commentators around the country are bemoaning the preseason because the games cost too much and mean too little, the Ravens have been blessed with intriguing matchups with great local appeal in each of their two home preseason games.

Nobody was complaining after the offensive extravaganza in the preseason opener against the Washington Redskins, which ended in a 23-0 shutout and game ball for new defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. Tonight marks a quick homecoming for new Jets coach Rex Ryan, who remains very popular in Baltimore after all those years of leading one of the most stalwart defensive teams in the NFL.

Heck, Rex (left) was even nice enough to throw down the gauntlet early on by calling out the Ravens for giving No. 99 to rookie Paul Kruger. Ryan didn't think it was appropriate, considering that number was worn by Ring of Honor great Michael McCrary, but it was really a tempest in a teapot that only drew much-wanted attention to tonight's game at M&T Bank Stadium.

The Ravens were so offended they're doing a pre-game video tribute to Rex. Let's just hope he's so touched by that gesture that he doesn't use any of his blitz packages against Joe Flacco in the first half.

Of course, Rex isn't the only guy doing the prodigal son thing today. Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard are in the Jets starting defensive lineup tonight and assistant coaches Dennis Thurman (defensive backs) and Matt Cavanaugh (quarterbacks) also have Ravens roots.

Associated Press photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Brett Favre did start tonight's preseason game between the Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs, but he wasn't around long. He played two series -- going 4-and-out after the Vikes recovered a fumble and 3-and-out in his other possession. He threw four passes and completed one of them for four yards. Tavaris Jackson took over late in the first quarter.

Hardly auspicious, but what could anyone expect? The guy has been in camp for a couple of days and he's two months removed from shoulder surgery. I'm a little surprised Brad Childress even sent him out there.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
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The Ravens are going through their afternoon practice at McDaniel College and Jamison Hensley reports that Derrick Mason is wearing No. 9, which is the number his close friend Steve McNair wore for both the Tennessee Titans and the Ravens.

Don't know the significance of today's practice, but it's a nice gesture and I'm sure we'll find out Mason's reasons soon enough.

Update: Mason did not comment today on the uniform change, but Hensley reported in his Ravens Notebook today that the team's leading receiver will wear No. 9 in practice for the remainder of the season as a tribute to McNair. Mason will, however, continue to wear his usual No. 85 during games.

Ray Lewis on WBAL tonight: While we're talking Ravens, you'll want to join me at six on Sportsline (WBAL 1090AM). My guest tonight will be future Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis. If you're not in signal range, go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)
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Just a few thoughts while I ponder whether Brett Favre's shoulder is healthy enough to throw a football across the credibility gap he and Vikings coach Brad Childress have created over the past four weeks:

Now that I've gotten a chance to watch the replay of Favre's news conference from last night (I couldn't watch it live because I was doing the radio show), I'm still not convinced that the whole thing just bubbled up again over the past couple days. I'm in the Cris Carter camp on this. There's no way that Favre was just home enjoying his retirement and got a call on Monday from Childress and said something like "Hey, why not?"

Maybe it was the unnamed Vikings players who were quoted at about the same time saying that Favre's arrival had been in the works for for weeks. Maybe it was the inconsistencies in Favre's explanation at the press conference.

Favre said in basically the same sentence that he was sure he was retired, but still talked to orthopedic specialist Dr. James Andrews recently about his ability to play. Sounds a lot like he was firming up plans to report to the Vikings. Sounds like the contract already was waiting for his signature -- though, to be fair, it was probably waiting for his signature on the first day of training camp.

None of this makes him a bad fellow, but I think that Favre's reputation as a straight shooter has been damaged by this, as has the credibility of Childress in the Vikings lockerroom. All will be forgiven if Brett leads the Vikes to the promised land, but I'll be surprised if this doesn't turn out to be a purple replay of the Jets fiasco last year.

Okay, maybe -- when I'm not apologizing for the Orioles -- I'm just a cynic. Is anybody buying what Favre and Childress are trying to sell?

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)
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The Ravens receiver corps took another hit in tonight's game when Marcus Smith went down with a knee injury that coach John Harbaugh described as potentially serious.

"Marcus is getting checked out,'' Harbaugh said. "It could be serious. It could be an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament)."

That would be very bad news for a team that already needs everybody to stay in the competition for the receiver reps. Smith said after the game that the injury didn't seem all that painful on the field, but that doctors were concerned that it did not respond well when he was examined afterward.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
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Running back Ray Rice carried the ball five times for 22 yards and caught three passes for a total of 38 yards as the Ravens first-team offense moved the ball well against the Redskins early in the game.

"I think it was all confidence,'' Rice said. Washington has one of the best defenses in the league. Now, it's no knock on them, but we see the best defense every day in practice. It would be like a slap in the face to our defense if we didn't come out here and move the ball."

Rice said the highlight was just getting out on the field against a real opponent.

"We finally got to hit a different color jersey,'' he said. "Just being at game speed against another team, trying to get a win, that's what's so exciting."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Troy Smith played about two quarters and winged the ball all over the place. He completed 14 of 30 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown, involving just about every receiver who was available to play. It wasn't the most efficient performance -- partly because of a handful of dropped passes -- but it was fun to watch him put his athleticism on display for an extended look.

If you were hoping to get a sense for the pecking order in the receiver corps, good luck with that. Nine different receivers and running backs caught passes in the second quarter and a total of 11 caught passes from either Flacco or Smith in the first half. When it was over Flacco, Smith and John Beck used a total of 15 receivers and running backs.

"It's been drilled into all our heads to spread the ball around,'' said Smith, who returned to the game near the end when Beck got banged up. "Hugh Jackson (quarterbacks coach) has down a great job of broadening our horizon."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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John Harbaugh seemed very pleased with both of the quarterbacks in the first half, applauding the two-minute execution by Troy Smith that resulted in a touchdown pass to Justin Harper with just seconds left before intermission.

"That's the way to finish a half -- get the turnover and then a touchdown...How about that?'' he said. "That last drive is a pressure situation and we practice it all the time. Troy executed it well. I'm happy for him and really happy for Harp, who came back to score the touchdown."

Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron agreed: "The two-minute drive by Troy and the guys we had out there was outstanding -- just very well executed. Good for Troy."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Ravens QB Joe Flacco seemed to enjoy his first taste of 2009 competition. He was 9 for 15 for 103 yards in a little more than a quarter.

"It felt great to be out there,'' he said at halftime. "As an offense, everything felt really good. I was happy with the way our receivers and running backs were moving. Our line did a heck of a job for being their first time out there. I didn't have to do anything but sit in the pocket and make throws. I think this was a pretty good first outing so far. We'll go back and look at the film and see what we have to clean up now."

Flacco on top draft choice Michael Oher: "I didn't feel any pressure. From what I hear from the guys on the sideline, he is doing a great job. He was nasty out there, which is what I like to see. If he keeps that up, he'll be fine."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Joe Flacco had his first pass of the preseason batted down, but hit Demetrius Williams on a quick slant for a first down and then connected with running back Ray Rice on a 34-yard pass play across the middle to the Redskins' 17-yard line. Not a bad start, though the drive stalled at the 3 and the Ravens settled for a 21-yard field goal by Steve Hauschka.

Tough first drive for Ravens top draft choice Michael Oher. He got beat by Phillip Daniels to create the pressure on the tipped pass, then banged heads with defensive end Renaldo Wynn near the goal line and had to leave the game bleeding from a gash above his eye. He is in the lockerroom receiving stitches to close the wound.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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The Ravens open their preseason schedule tonight against the Redskins at M&T Bank Stadium, and I couldn't be more excited.

No, not because the first preseason game has any measurable competitive significance to anyone but the bubble players on the roster. It's a big night because I'm actually going to be there -- and I won't be on crutches.

It's been five weeks since my mid-life basketball career came to an end with a complete right Achilles rupture, but thanks to the great people at Johns Hopkins Sports Medicine, I'm back on my foot and headed to the stadium. Can't drive yet, because I have to wear this big black orthopedic boot for another month or so, but WBAL sports guy Keith Mills was nice enough to offer to pick me up and bring me home.

So, I guess I owe Keith a radio plug. He'll be hosting the pregame coverage on WBAL starting at 5 p.m. Future Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden will be a regular presence on the pregame show this season, and the format will be much more interactive than in the past. Keith and Jon will take questions from fans in the show tent at the Federal Hill end of the stadium as well as by phone.

The pregame show will also feature a long list of guests, including myself, WBAL-TV's Pete Gilbert, The Sun's Jamison Hensley and the in-game broadcast crew of Gerry Sandusky, Stan White and Rob Burnett.

It doesn't end there. Keith also will host the post-game show, which will include interviews with the players and coaches, as well as postgame analysis and -- most important -- your calls. It's a great way to pass the time in postgame traffic. I'll be joining Keith after the game tonight, and if I do good, he said won't make me limp home.

Pregame update: The stadium just got a nice rinse, but the skies appear to be clearing and we're still 2 1/2 hours from kickoff. Some of the Ravens are loosening up on the field. Joe Flacco is playing some light catch. There are even a handful of players kicking a soccer ball around. And the sun just peeked through. Nice.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
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Join me at six for "Sportsline" on WBAL (1090 AM). We'll have Ravens defensive lineman Kelly Gregg to kick off the show and we'll look ahead to Thursday night's preseason opener against the Washington Redskins. If you're outside of signal range, go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (47)
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The news that Derrick Mason has decided to end his brief retirement and rejoin the Ravens has to prompt a huge sigh of relief for fans and the front office alike. Mason is important to the Ravens in a number of ways, most importantly as the team's go-to receiver, but also as a security blanket for sophomore quarterback Joe Flacco.

Clearly, Mason was devastated by the loss of his friend and long-time teammate Steve McNair, which understandably put his own family very much in focus. He did the right thing by going home and giving himself time to grieve, as well as take a long look at himself, his career and how another season or two might affect his family.

Selfishly, Ravens fans wanted him back and rightfully so, but I was impressed with the way readers and posters here seemed to understand the situation and give him the space to make a very personal decision.

I don't know how much his shoulder injury and his contract situation played into it, but you have to figure all of it was weighing on his mind during that horrible week after McNair was shot to death in Nashville. I'm guessing all things football-related didn't seem very important in the immediate aftermath of that, but Mason is a football player and he you had to figure he would get more excited about the upcoming season after training camp opened.

The fact that the Ravens' receiver crisis is over is just a bonus.

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
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Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco will join me at six o'clock tonight on Sportsline on WBAL (1090 AM) to talk about the first few days of training camp and some of the issues facing the Ravens offense heading toward the 2009 season.

If you're out of WBAL signal range, just go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon. You can also join in the conversation as we talk both Ravens and Orioles during tonight's program.

While I'm plugging stuff, look for my latest Orioles column a little later today on the Web site and in tomorrow's print edition and, while you're at it, take a look at Rob Kasper's take on today's Orioles Cookoff at the ESPN Zone, which benefitted the Maryland Food Bank. Roch Kubatko also weighed in on the event -- which you all know I would have attended if humanly possible -- over at The School of Roch.

If you couldn't make the event, which was won by O's catcher Gregg Zaun and his famous Chicken Enchiladas, you can still make a donation to the Maryland Food Bank right here.

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Derrick Mason's bombshell retirement announcement on Monday left room for a number of opinions about what may have motivated the Ravens popular and very productive wide receiver to claim he is hanging up his cleats.

Here's my column from the Web site and tomorrow's print edition.

There's a different view in The Toy Department from my colleague Ken Murray.

For more info on this developing story, here's an update from Jamison Hensley at Ravens Insider.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Ravens receiver Derrick Mason reportedly has decided to retire, citing a lack of enthusiasm for continuing to play football. If you want to read Jamison Hensley's story on the Sun website, you can do that right here.

Mason, who was deeply shaken by the death of close friend Steve McNair last weekend, told jocklife.com that his motivation to continue has been in question since the Ravens lost to the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game. He's pictured at right speaking at McNair's memorial service last week.

"I have been thinking about this since the season ended,'' he said on the jocklife.com site. Emotionally, I am just not that enthused. I have not been that enthused to get up and work out...it was getting to that point. This decision has nothing to do with the contract situation; I have made enough money, more than enough money. Emotionally there are things that are more important. It's time right now."

Despite his insistence that the contract situation had nothing to do with the announcement, the fact that he did not announce this through the team is a pretty good indicator that there's more to the story. Mason seemed less sure of his decision when he was interviewed on ESPNNews later in the day.

Radio dogma: Obviously, the subject matter for tonight's edition of Sportsline has changed in the last few minutes. If you'd like to talk about Mason's great career, and tremendous contribution to both the Tennessee Titans and Ravens, tune in to WBAL (1090 AM) at six. If you're out of signal range, go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.

Associated Press photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (30)
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If you want my take on the Ravens' iffy receiver situation, you can read my latest column right here. If you want my opinion on whether they should seriously pursue troubled wideout Brandon Marshall, you're already in the right place.

I've been going back and forth on this all day. I've consulted Ravens beat reporter Jamison Hensley, who said on my radio show that he thinks Marshall would be a difference-maker for a team that fell one game short of the Super Bowl last year. I consulted my talkshow callers, who were pretty much split down the middle on the issue.

For me, it becomes a matter of personal consistency. I argued strongly against the decision by the Orioles to sign Albert Belle (left) in 1998 entirely on the basis of his character issues -- and Albert had a small fraction of the off-field baggage this guy would bring to Baltimore.

So, I vote no.
AP file photo

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
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Stopped by the Ravens facility today for the media portion of the team's rookie camp, which runs through Wednesday and is the last OTA before the team opens training camp in Westminster in six weeks.

Got a chance to talk to coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron about the receiver situation, and the reports that the Ravens might be interested in trading for troubled wideout Brandon Marshall (left). If you want to know more about that right now, check out Jamison Hensley's story here.

If you want to get my take on the overall receiver situation situation, check back in a little while and my latest column will be up on our newly redesigned Web site.

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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The emphasis of this week's OTA is on gameplanning for the AFC North, so the team worked on the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday, the Cleveland Browns today and will tackle the Steelers tomorrow. Based on last year's performance, maybe they should have allotted all three days to the Steelers and just waited for the Bengals and Browns to unravel on their own.

The Ravens just completed Day Two on a steamy morning at the Owings Mills facility. Now, it's time to have some fun.

The team stocked the pond on the grounds and is now holding a fishing tournament and bar-b-que for the players who are in camp, though the fish are not going to be on the menu. Coach John Harbaugh said it will be a "catch and release" affair, which is probably the only time he will advocate that philosophy this season.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
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No, I'm not kidding, but in my own defense, I was not the reporter who asked Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (right) what he thought of top Orioles prospect Matt Wieters. The hack who threw that out there was local Fox radio wrangler Jerry Coleman, which saved me the trouble of embarrassing myself by artificially feeding the Wieters hype machine.

"He's obviously going to be a very good player,'' Flacco said. "He's a big guy who can hit from both sides of the plate. They're getting 30,000-40,000 people, so he's drawing some interest."

Coach John Harbaugh was at Orioles Park over the weekend and got a big ovation when he was caught on the video scoreboard.

"That really surprised me,'' Harbaugh said. "I was there with my daughter (Alison) and it was really a big thrill holding her up there like that."

Harbaugh didn't grow up rooting for the Orioles, but he has been very supportive of the Ravens' fellow Camden Yards tenant and says he will continue to be.

"Why wouldn't you,'' he said. "They're the Orioles and it's fun watching them. Dave Trembley is doing a great job. Why wouldn't the coaches on both teams support each other. If the Orioles are good it helps the Ravens, and if the Ravens are good, it helps the Orioles."

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
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The Ravens are allowing the media to observe today's OTA and will open the locker room later, so I'm here to do a story on what the football players think of Matt Wieters.

No, not really.

I don't know what I'm going to do at Ravens camp yet, but while I figure it out, I'll encourage you to check out Jeff Zrebiec's story on Erik Bedard and Mike Preston's column today on the Ravens' tight end situation.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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The Ravens decided not to draft for need and instead draft for human interest. Each of their first three picks in this year's draft have a compelling life story, from Michael Oher's rise from homelessness to big-money first-round pick to Paul Kruger's dramatic brush with death to the checkered past of third-round pick Lardarius Webb (left).

Webb, a 5-10, 179-pound cornerback from Nicholls State, grew up in a troubled home and got dismissed from team at Southern Mississippi for violating team rules. He moved to Nicholls State, where he established himself as a solid all-around defender and kick returner. He's a great fit for the Ravens, who have soured a bit on Yamon Figurs as a return man and lost Jim Leonhard to free agency.

In an interview with nfldraftbible.com, Webb said that his mother was on drugs while he was growing up and his father is an alcoholic. He said he got in with the wrong crowd at Southern Miss, but turned his life around at Nicholls State. He was one of the players the Ravens brought in for a pre-draft visit. They obviously were impressed.

Oh, one other thing, he ran the fastest 40 (4.46) of any cornerback at the combine, which is nice.

The Ravens will make their fourth-round pick in the next 20 minutes or so.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)
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The Ravens added a big brick to the wall around Joe Flacco with the deal that moved them up into the 23rd slot in the NFL draft and put them in position to draft Mississippi offensive tackle Michael Oher. He's a premier pass protector who can only aid in the further development of Flacco as a marquee quarterback.

Oher is a great story. He was "rescued" from homelessness by a family that steered him toward a college football career at Ole Miss. Now he's going to be a major player on a team that fell one game short of the Super Bowl last season.

"I'm just happy to be a part of the NFL,'' Oher said. "It's been a long journey. Baltimore got a great player and I'm not going to let them down. I can't wait to get started."

The Ravens are believed to have traded the Patriots a fifth-round pick to move up three slots to get Oher.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
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Can't say I'm surprised that the Ravens have agreed to terms on a multi-year contract extension with linebacker and team leader Ray Lewis. I never really doubted that he would be back, even though it seemed like the team eroded its own bargaining position a couple of times during the process.

Don't know that Ray played it right either, since he offended some fans with the way he seemed to court other teams in that NFL Network interview before the Pro Bowl, but all will be long forgotten by the time the Ravens open the 2009 season six months from now.

Ravens fans probably should be more relieved that the team signed veteran center Matt Birk today to replace the departed Jason Brown. That's a big fill right there.

Shameless radio plug: We're going to talk football on WBAL's Sportsline tonight. Ravens beat guy Jamison Hensley will join me during the first half of the show and Ravens announcer Gerry Sandusky will pop in during the final half hour. If you're outside of signal range, go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon. Should be fun.

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (44)
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While the Ravens work to get Ray Lewis back under contract this weekend, it's hard not to look back on the past season and wonder just what I was missing. The team appeared to be as tight as it has been in years, performing well above expectations and responding to new coach John Harbaugh, but on the first day of free agent activity Friday, a key offensive player (Jason Brown) and a key defensive player (Bart Scott) jumped ship and rumors were flying all over the place that Ray Lewis was harboring some deep-seated resentment toward the team.

Maybe those rumors about Ray were totally erroneous. We'll find out soon enough. But Brown and Scott are gone, taking a chunk of this team's big heart with them.

I've never believed Lewis would leave, and it looks like he won't, but if he does, this is going to be a team with more question marks than anybody ever imagined.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (62)
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Can't imagine it was an accident that Ray Lewis turned up on the NFL Network to talk about his pending free agency and reveal that he has no intention of giving the Ravens a hometown discount. Certainly not a coincidence that he's speaking highly of the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets.

It's all gamesmanship, of course, aimed at creating a lively market for Ray's services in this, his last opportunity to make a big score at contract time. Ray's positive response to the Cowboys rumors lends a bit of credence to the speculation last week that they didn't necessarily come out of Dallas.

We'll find out soon enough how this plays in Bisciottiville. The Ravens' owner is something of an expert on employment matters, and he seemed comfortable making statements about re-signing Lewis on a couple of recent occasions that didn't seem to help the team's bargaining position.

Maybe I'm missing something, but Bisciotti has said all the right things in public about Ray, and Lewis' statements in the NFL Network interview (Check out Jamison Hensley's story here) are borderline provocative. Could it be that for the second time in about a year, Bisciotti is about to do a dramatic about-face? Inquiring purple-and-black-tinged minds want to know.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (92)
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Remember when Ravens special teams guy Daren Stone committed that brainless personal foul in the AFC championship game and backed the offense up at the start of what might have been the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter?

Of course you do, though you've spent the past couple of weeks trying to forget. No one will ever know whether that stupid player trick cost the Ravens a chance to play the Arizona Cardinals for the NFL title, but we now know it did not cost Stone a trip to South Florida for Super Bowl Week. The celebrity gossip site TMZ posted video of Stone being interviewed on his way out of a Tampa strip club a few days ago.

Here it is for your viewing displeasure, complete with a cheerful Stone shouting out to "coach" that he's drinking only bottled water and has a limo to take him home. I'm sure John Harbaugh is glad to see he's being so responsible.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (48)
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Though I know there are a lot of Ravens fans out there who can't bear to think of the Pittsburgh Steelers clearing space on the shelf for their sixth Lombardi Trophy, I think Baltimoreans are a classy enough group to tip their Ravens caps to Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes, who -- in a perfect world -- should have shared Super Bowl MVP honors for their clutch combined performance. (Both are shown at right during the post-game trophy ceremony)

We already knew Big Ben was one of the greatest playmakers of his generation, but he showed again why the game is never over when he has the ball in his hands. Holmes, whose 65-yard catch and run against the Ravens two weeks ago makes me long for a case of repressed memory syndrome, was named Super Bowl MVP after catching nine passes for 131 yards and the dramatic title-winning touchdown. Maybe it's small consolation, but at least it wasn't Hines Ward.

If anyone cares, I crawled back to finish the season tied with Ravens beat writer Ed Lee for first place in the Sun's 2008-09 staff football picks, but I give credit to Ed for having the guts to pick the underdog and leave the door open. We'll happily share the prize for first place, which probably is a hearty handshake from league commissioner (and sports editor) Ron Fritz.

Though I hit the Steelers' score right on the money, I underestimated the Cardinals by 10 points, so getting the game right was no great achievement. I also went off half-cocked on Bruce Springsteen's 12-minute set. Got Born to Run right (who wouldn't have) and it was logical that he would play the title song of his new record, Working on a Dream. I was off on Born in the USA, was pleasantly surprised when he opened with Tenth Avenue Freezeout and should have figured The Boss (left) would play the sports-themed Glory Days.

Got a text from Roch Kubatko at the end of the set that read, simply, "Greatest halftime show ever!" Coming from Roch, who TIVO'd the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction about 2,000 times, that's saying something. I wholeheartedly agree.

Oh, and one other thing: Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in 13 days. Spread the word.

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (69)
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My mixed feelings about tonight's Super Bowl already are well-known, at least to me. I predicted in The Sun that the Pittsburgh Steelers will defeat the Arizona Cardinals, 27-13, which would allow me to finish the season tied for first place in the Sun staff picks. Ravens writer Ed Lee, who interrupted my wire-to-wire run for the title by taking over the lead with two correct picks (to my none) in the league championship games two weeks ago, was the only Sun guy to take the Cardinals (21-13).

So, if the Cardinals win the game and somebody on the trophy stand says that nobody ever gave them a chance, think of Ed, who will be at home tonight bouncing a new baby on his knee and basking in the glory of his victory over his co-workers. Sadly, because of the tough newspaper economy, there is no prize for first place this year, but Ed will get a nice warm feeling -- if only because he's never been very good with Pampers.

Back to my mixed feelings. Though I'm picking the Steelers, I'm going to be rooting for Kurt Warner and the Cardinals, who are too good a story to pass up. If that means I don't get a share of the paper's prognostication title, so be it. It'll be worth it just to watch Bruce Springsteen sing Born in the USA and Born to Run at halftime, along with a song from his new record, Working on a Dream. That's my other prediction.

Can't wait.

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
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When I woke up this morning and read some more of the reports from Super Bowl Media Day -- my favorite day on the entire sports calendar -- it just made me want to go back to bed until Monday.

It still rankles me to think that I could have been that guy dressed as a woman trying to interview Kurt Warner. This was the year I was planning to go full lunatic and join Hand Puppet Interview Guy and Pick Man (Nickelodeon is still my favorite cable channel) and, of course, dazzling Latin beauty Ines Sainz from TV Azteca, who's there every year to show what serious sports journalism is all about.

But no, I'm sitting here wearing a T-shirt that says "All my friends went to cover the Super Bowl and all I got was this lousy ice storm." So far, the highlight of my week has been jumping into the icy Chesapeake Bay on Saturday to benefit the Special Olympics, and that actually was last week, but special thanks to those of you who donated about $1,200 in my name just the same.

I'm not expecting any sympathy, of course. I'm sure you wanted the Ravens to win so you could either go to the Super Bowl or -- at the very least -- post thousands of gloating comments on the Steelers message boards. We're all in this together, this being the two days of snow and ice, the collapse of the Maryland men's basketball team and me having to do a couple straight weeks of "Sportsline" on WBAL. Feel free to call in between 6 and 9. It's not like you're going to be out jogging or anything.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
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The Vegas oddsmakers already are looking past this week's Super Bowl to the probabilities for next season, and the Ravens -- at 11-1 -- are listed as the sixth-most-likely team to win the NFL title.

Here's the link to a story on the Detroit Free Press Web site that contains the entire list from the Las Vegas Sports Consultants, a firm that advises casinos on betting lines. The New England Patriots, presumably with Tom Brady back at quarterback, are the Super Bowl favorite at 6-1, with the Pittsburgh Steelers close behind at 7-1.

I'm not surprised. The AFC again figures to be the dominant conference, with four of the top six teams. The Ravens have some questions to answer, but the progress of Joe Flacco and the prospects of retaining most of this year's defense will make it hard for them to sneak up on anybody next season.

The reason the future odds were of such interest to the people in Detroit is because the hapless Lions again will have the longest odds or winning the Super Bowl at 150-1.

Shameless plug alert: I'll be hosting Sportsline tonight on WBAL (1090 AM). If you're outside of signal range, you can log on to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
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The Ravens held a news conference at their training facility today at 2 to announce coaching changes related to the departure of defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. The new defensive coordinator will be linebackers coach Greg Mattison, who has a long history with the Harbaugh coaching family.

Mattison coached under Jack Harbaugh at Western Michigan in the early 1980s and was on the same staff when young John Harbaugh was learning the family trade. He has never been an NFL coordinator, but was co-defensive coordinator for three years at the University of Florida.

The Ravens also announced they have promoted special teams coordinator Jerry Rosberg to Assistant Head Coach and that Vic Fangio will coach the linebackers.

Here's a link to the news story in The Sun.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
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Before everybody starts talking about what a great season it was in spite of tonight's loss, I'm going to wallow in it for a minute. Cam Cameron's offense did very little and the defense had very little margin for error, yet it still may have come down to one very stupid personal foul that deprived them of a chance for a short drive and a lead-changing field goal in the waning minutes of the game.

Don't think that's much consolation for the Ravens fans who were dreaming about Tampa when the Ravens appeared to get the ball back at their 40-yard line after the second Willis McGahee touchdown.

Joe Flacco (and the rest of the team, for that matter) exceeded all expectations this year, but he's still got some growing to do, no matter how cool he looked for a rookie. The guy he has often been compared to, Ben Roethlisberger, showed how much experience counts.

The Ravens also need to come up with a big-play receiver by next season. Mark Clayton made some big plays this year, but all you had to do was watch Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald in the earlier game to see how one guy can make a huge difference. That's an extreme example, of course, since he and Cardinals QB Kurt Warner are borderline unconscious right now, but you've got to have someone to go up and get the ball when Flacco throws the ball up for grabs down-field.

That has to be a priority this offseason if the Ravens are going to build on their surprising 2008-09 performance.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (166)
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The AFC Championship Game is just two hours away and I'm getting ready for some serious multimedia fun. I'll be on the Ravens pregame show on WBAL Radio (1090 AM) in about an hour -- doing my usual Reporters Roundtable with Steve Davis and Pete Gilbert, then will host a live chat on the Baltimore Sun site on Twitter throughout the game.

I'll also be blogging during and after the game (this may require more than two hands, so don't try it at home) before joining Davis to co-host the postgame show on WBAL. Of course, if you're a Ravens fan who is living out of radio range, you can log on to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Good to see I'm not the only Baltimore Sun columnist getting under the skin of Steeler Nation. Kevin Cowherd took some light-hearted shots at Pittsburgh's famous Primanti Brothers sandwich, and one of the local Pittsburgh television stations fired back. Here's a link to the video.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
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I'm pretty impressed with the response from Steelers fans to my good-natured (at least I thought so) entry poking fun at them and their city. For the record, I'm actually a big fan of Pittsburgh, particularly PNC Park, which has the most striking city views of any ballpark in the majors.

If you read to the end of the jokes, you could see that I was also poking a little fun at Baltimore at the same time, but passionate Pittsburgh supporters didn't see it that way. I'm just glad they took the time to chime in. Check out the comments, some of them -- on both sides -- are hilarious.

Steelers fans also made a solid early effort to hijack The Sun's poll asking if the Ravens will beat Pittsburgh tomorrow night. For awhile yesterday, the No's were carrying the day by a wide margin, but Ravens fans have stepped up to push the number of Yes votes into the 80 percent range. That's why I love this rivalry.

Schmuck media blitz: Tune in at noon today for The Peter Schmuck Show on WBAL (1090 AM) and WBAL.com. I'll also be part of pre and post-game coverage of the Ravens broadcast on the radio tomorrow and will be doing a live Twitter chat on the Baltimore Sun site during the AFC Championship Game.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
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Of course, I'll be saving my best material for the Eagles fans at the Super Bowl, but I've got to get some things off my chest about the Steelers faithful. I mean, have you ever seen so many people who don't know the proper use of a towel. You'd think by now that somebody would have added a "Terrible Bar of Soap" to the ensemble.

Pittsburgh is a gritty town. I'm not sure I believe this, but somebody told me the city's official bird is soot.

I'll say this. Steelers fans have a reputation for traveling well. There are thousands of them for every road game. This should not come as a surprise. If you lived in Pittsburgh, wouldn't you find any excuse to dress up in dark clothing and sneak out of town? Think I'm joking? One of the big stories this week was that the mayor doesn't even use his real name.

There also seems to be a huge number of Steelers fans living in just about every major city, which says even more about their hometown. People used to joke that the city's marketing slogan was, "Cleveland, only better."

If Baltimore's motto used to be "Believe," Pittsburgh's should have been "I can't believe I'm still here."

C'mon, what kind of sports town can it be if all anybody cares about is the football team and the major league baseball team is a total joke. Oops, never mind.

Confidential to Steelers fans: I'm awaiting your Baltimore rips, but nobody gets on the blog if the post includes any variation of "You're a Schmuck" or "Your name really fits." Not because I'm sensitive -- I'm not -- but because readers of The Schmuck Stops Here, regardless of their fan affiliation or hometown, are way more clever than that. Bring it, but bring it good and I'll feature some of the best comebacks.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (196)
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Whether the Ravens advance to the Super Bowl with a victory on Sunday night or lose to the Steelers and complete their surprising season, the team is requesting that fans do not try to meet them at BWI Airport or the Ravens facility when they return from Pittsburgh.

The team, bowing to a request from airport officials, will not come through the terminal upon their return, so the team is tentatively planning to have the buses stop at the Owings Mills Mall on the way back to the facility so fans can greet the team. Fans who wish to greet the team should assemble outside Boscov's department store (right off the Red Run Blvd. entrance to the mall), where a special area will be set up for that purpose.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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There are only a few things I think are truly sacred. My faith, my family, Easy Cheese (of course) and the sanctity of a strange last name. That's why I'm up in arms over the decision by Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl to ceremonially change his name to Luke Steelerstahl until after the AFC Championship game on Sunday.

I bet J.J. Putz would feel the same way if he ever decided to pronounce his own surname correctly. Distancing yourself from your heritage is, in my mind, a sign of poor character, so I'm shocked that a politician would choose to turn his back on his family to make political points with a bunch of grimy football fans.

When I say "grimy," I'm referring to Steelers fans, not football fans in general. Pittsburgh is a tough, gritty town, and the reason the football fans there wear black jerseys is so they won't show the dirt.

Mayor Ravenstahl issued a proclamation temporarily changing his name after he was taken to task by a local radio station for having Raven in it. I think Pittsburgh should just consider itself lucky that its mayor doesn't have more important personal issues to worry about.

Haven't heard what the two mayors are going to wager on Sunday's game, so all I can do is speculate. If the Ravens win, Ravenstahl would probably send some of those weird sandwiches with the french fries in them. If the Steelers win, I'm guessing we'll just give him something from Best Buy.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
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Let's review: I picked the Giants to soundly defeat the Philadelphia Eagles today and you know how that turned out. Impressive performance by the Eagles defense. Solid game by Donovan McNabb (right). Bad call by me.

In my column today, I predicted that LaDainian Tomlinson would suck it up today and make a contribution against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He isn't even going to be active for the game. My crystal ball might as well be a bowling ball.

Though I thought Tomlinson would play and have a positive effect on the Chargers, I did pick the Steelers to win the game to set up a third head-to-head matchup of the year against the Ravens. Maybe that bodes well for the Chargers.

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
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There isn't a Ravens fan worth his or her purple salt who isn't going to be almost as interested in today's Steelers/Chargers showdown as the Ravens' 13-10 victory over the Tennessee Titans yesterday. I believe that makes seven victories in the last eight road games, by the way, which is a nice stat going into the AFC championship game a week from today.

Right now, however, it's time to make your choice for their next road stop. Do you want the Chargers to win today and set up a sun-and-fun showdown in sunny Southern California? Or head-to-head battle No. 3 this year between the Ravens and Steelers at Heinz Field?

Personally, I want the Steelers, even though they won both regular season games against the Ravens this year. Actually, not even though they won both regular season games, because they did. It's called unfinished business and the Ravens took care of some of that yesterday. It's also the thing unimaginative sportswriters like myself call "destiny." The road to the Super Bowl -- in my mind -- has to go through Pittsburgh.

Now it's time time for your thoughts. I'm going downstairs to watch the Giants dismantle the Eagles and fulfill their end of the bargain. They have to be in Tampa, too, in my perfect world.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
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I suppose it's unfortunate that the Ravens' victory tonight will be viewed as tainted in Tennessee because of that highly questionable non-call when the play clock appeared to run out during the winning drive.

To be fair, I think the officials should have whistled the play dead, but it's not like the Ravens didn't have a few stupid ref tricks go against them during the regular season -- including that ticky-tack roughing penalty on Terrell Suggs that helped the Titans score their 13-10 regular-season victory at M&T Bank Stadium.

Guess what goes around really does come around, but I feel for the Titan fans tonight. Tennessee had a great season and overcame a lot to have the best regular-season record in the NFL. If I'm Kerry Collins, however, I'm probably pretty tired of losing big postseason games to the Ravens.

Collins did not play poorly. He moved the Titans up and down the field, but threw one interception and watched helplessly while teammates fumbled the ball away twice in the red zone.

The photo above is of a play that neither Ravens fans nor Titans fans enjoyed very much. Collins was brought down hard by Terrell Suggs, who sprained his shoulder on the play and missed the rest of the game.

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (44)
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New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre (left) isn't going to rush into his next retirement decision. He said this week that he's going to wait several weeks before informing the Jets whether he wants to play another season. Here's the ESPN.com version of the story.

That's great. The Jets don't even have a coach yet, so they don't really know whether they're going to need an aging quarterback who ran out of gas down the stretch and basically got the last coach (Eric Mangini) a new job in Cleveland.

What he also promised he isn't going to do is hold another tearful news conference that everyone can throw back in his face if he changes his mind again. I think that's a mistake. The one thing we still want to see him do is cry.

It's sort of like that hilarious Cheers episode where Norm gets promoted into a job where he has to fire people, but can't seem to do it without bursting into tears. When he finally gets control over his emotions, the employees who are getting fired start to demand that he cry during each of their termination meetings. I'm feeling the same way about Brett. How about you?

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Posted by Peter Schmuck at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
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When Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron was asked today if young quarterback Joe Flacco and the rest of the offense fully grasp his system yet, his answer was pretty interesting. He basically said "no" and that he doesn't expect them to ever have a total handle on it.

"It is ongoing,'' he said. "The system is never-ending. You never just know it. You are constantly learning."

That includes Cameron himself. He says the offensive scheme is more about evolution than creation.

"I don't have it mastered,'' he said. "Defenses don't allow you to master it, per se."

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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The lines are out for the next round of the NFL playoffs and the Ravens are listed as a three-point underdog on the road against the Tennessee Titans. That's not surprising, considering the Ravens lost to the Titans at home during the regular season and the Titans are the top-seeded team in the AFC, but it doesn't mean all that much.

Considering that the home-field advantage is factored in at about three points and the Ravens are one of the best road teams in football, the game is something of a tossup from the perspective of the oddsmakers. It is the tightest line of the four Divisional Round games coming up this weekend,

In case you were wondering, the Giants are posted as a four-point favorite over the Eagles. The Steelers are a six-point favorite over the Chargers. The Carolina Panthers are the heaviest favorite, giving 10 points at home to the Arizona Cardinals.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
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In what must have seemed like an act of shameless self-promotion, I reminded everyone in my previous post that I called Ed Reed's two interceptions in The Baltimore Sun's midweek Ravens predictions. I meant the "personal pat on the back" as something of a joke, since I didn't get the score right and I wasn't exactly the Lone Ranger picking the Ravens this week. For that matter, it was no great act of clairvoyance to predict Reed's two interceptions, since he had two picks in each of the team's previous three victories.

The great thing about predictions is that nobody -- including me -- remembers them when they're wrong and everyone -- also including me -- is quick to remind you of the ones that are right. I didn't even remember my Wednesday prediction until somebody pointed out that Roch Kubatko predicted the same score (23-9) in his blog, but we both would have been pretty puffed up if the Ravens had settled for a field goal at the end instead of Joe Flacco's QB draw for a touchdown.

I'll try to do better next week.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)
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The most impressive thing about today's 27-9 victory over the Dolphins was the five forced turnovers. The Ravens intercepted Chad Pennington four times and recovered a fumble against a team that had turned the ball over just 13 times during the regular season. The Dolphins led the NFL in fewest turnovers, but also lost the regular season game against the Ravens in part because of a pick six by Terrell Suggs.

The road doesn't get any easier. The Ravens now have a short week before facing the AFC's top seed, the Tennessee Titans, but they've proven week after week that they are not affected by the difficult logistics they have faced since losing their bye week early in the season.

Personal pat on the back dept.: If you go back to Wednesday and read the advance staff picks for today's Ravens game, you'll find I missed slightly on the score (23-9) but hit the nail right on the head with my prediction. If Ed Reed can just hold onto the ball after each of his two INTs, the Ravens should be able to win for the second time this year at Dolphin Stadium. If you don't believe me, you can check it out here.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)
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Just as they did in the Cowboys game, the Ravens created their own adversity in the early minutes of today's playoff showdown with the Dolphins. Le'Ron McClain turned the ball over during a promising first drive and the Dolphins drove back to score the first points of the game on a 19-yard field goal.

But that drive was a harbinger of things to come. The Dolphins had a second-and-goal at the Ravens 1-yard line and failed to get in. The defense took over at that point and got a pair of interceptions, the second returned for a touchdown by Ed Reed, who was nice enough to hold onto the ball for the entire run.

Time for kickoff. See you after the game.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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There were a lot of people who already had the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl, but they went one and out last night in a first-round playoff game the San Diego Chargers seemed determined to lose until the final minutes of regulation.

When Darren Sproles fumbled the ball into the end zone from the 2-yard line in the third quarter and quarterback Philip Rivers followed with a disastrous end zone interception on the ensuring possession, I was sure the Colts had dodged enough bullets to get them all the way to Tampa. Instead, the Chargers made a great defensive stand deep in Colts territory with two minutes to go in the final period and drove back for a game-tying field goal to send the game into overtime.

Which, of course, led to the most decisive play of their season -- the overtime coin toss. The Chargers won it and took advantage of a couple of Colts penalties to get in position for Sproles to sprint 22 yards for the game-winning score.

The Ravens aren't looking beyond today's first-round matchup against the Dolphins, but I doubt any of them are heartbroken that the Colts are out of the picture.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
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Undefeated Utah put a solid beating on No. 4 Alabama last night and became the latest team from a non-BCS conference to poke a big embarrassing hole in the BCS system. Don't know how, if you're the NCAA, you can defend the status quo when the only remaining undefeated team in Division I is not even under consideration for the national championship.

Say what you want about the schedule Utah (13-0) played this year, they just spanked the team that was ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25, USA Today Coaches Poll and the BCS rankings for five of the final six weeks of the college football season.

If this isn't the best argument yet for an eight-team playoff to determine an undisputed national champion, please write and tell me what is or why not.

Posted by Peter Schmuck at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
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