Big Win Against Rival Steelers

I know I've been slacking a little on these posts, but it's been a pretty hectic week for me to say the least. But with all that has happened this past week, the highlight was when Billy Cundiff's field goal in overtime gave the Ravens a much-needed victory over the much hated Pittsburgh Steelers. I still smile as I think back to be leaning on my crutches in M&T Bank Stadium, watching hundreds of Steelers fans walk out of the stadium, trying to hide their "Terrible Towels". I had to sit through three games last year as the Steelers barely edged out the Ravens to sweep them and knock us out of the playoffs. Sunday night felt awesome. I feel like I had something to do with the victory, especially when I woke up Monday morning with a nice, hoarse voice after yelling so much the previous night.

However, even though the Ravens won, it wasn't the prettiest game, but they found a way to win. This is the mark of a good team. And I'm glad that for once this season, we were on the positive side of a close game. And I will give credit to where it is due.

Thank you Ray Rice for having a Pro Bowl caliber season; otherwise, we would be eliminated from the playoffs already.

Thank you Paul Kruger for finally making an impact on this team, and for making Dennis Dixon look like he has never started an NFL football games, even though it took until overtime for you to show up.

Thank you secondary, mainly Lardarius Webb and (I can't believe I am about to say his name) Chris Carr. They both played out of their minds to hold the Steelers wide receivers from absolutely destroying us.

And thank you Billy Cundiff for not being Steve Hauschka.

But it is a team game, and the Raven showed up and played a wonderful game. Now they can't loose again, at least in my opinion, if they want a chance to make it to the playoffs. There are too many teams bunched up right now, so the Ravens cannot afford a loss. The two toughest games we have are coming this Monday night, and then 20 days after that, as the Ravens travel to Green Bay and Pittsburgh. As long as they can pull these two off and take care of the Lions, Bears, and Raiders, I see no reason why the Ravens can't make another surge for the AFC Championship, and possibly their second Super Bowl appearance.

We all know what happened last time the Ravens made it to Super Sunday...

A Win is a Win

So it may not have been very pretty last night, but the Baltimore Ravens pulled out a victory, sweeping the season series against the Cleveland Browns. The Ravens offense struggled throughout the night, as the Ravens defense was able to pitch a shut-out, their first shut-out since week 12 of the 2006 season, when they dominated the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 27-0 victory.

The defense only allowed 160 total yards to the Brady Quinn driven Browns offense, forcing two turnovers, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Dawan Landry. The often invisible Chris Carr happened to be in the right place as the right time as he added the other pick. I was very impressed with the defense, but then again, it was the Browns, who are arguably the worst team in the NFL. We'll see what happens this upcoming week as Peyton Manning and the Colts visit M&T Bank Stadium.

The offense was quite worrisome, as we were only able to score one offensive touchdown, by none other than Ray Rice, who seems to be the lone bright spot on this Ravens offense lately. Joe Flacco shows some good plays throughout the last few games, but overall, has struggled the last three games. Flacco has not broken the 200 yard passing mark since week six against the Vikings.

And as for the special teams unit... I don't know how else to say this, except that Steve Hauschka is gone. He just misses too many kicks, and isn't even booting the ball on kickoffs. I would be surprised if he is kicking for the Ravens come Sunday.

So as the Ravens have improved to 5-4, they still have a long road ahead of them, which starts this week with the undefeated Colts. Let's hope that the defense can make Peyton Manning even resemble Brady Quinn, but I'm not betting on that one.