Be Thankful We Live In Baltimore

There are a lot of pathetic teams in the NFL this season, and a few front offices around the league are actually starting to admit it. Let's be thankful that we either live in Baltimore, or that you route for the Ravens. The two teams that have been in the news this week are the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Browns.

As for the Redskins, none other than Daniel Snyder, the owner, spoke out to apologize for the team's performance this season. Snyder is an extremely wealthy individual who rarely speaks out about how the Redskins are playing and how he spends his money. However, at a charity event on Tuesday, Snyder spoke out about the embarrassing play of his team. Snyder's words were, "It hurts. It really hurts. We are really trying very, very hard, everyone at Redskins park, the coaches, the players. The organization's quite frankly held together well, and I think we've got an opportunity the rest of the season to hopefully get it going. But to date, we've let everyone down, including ourselves, and we know that and we're just apologetic. We've blown some games that we obviously should have won." He was also asked about other issues this season, such as banning signs and other forms or protest inside his stadium this season, which he declined to comment on. Personally, I do not think that this man knows much about football, and it is evident in his exorbitant spending on his players, which obviously isn't working out for the Redskins. They have lost to some pathetic teams this season, giving the Lions, the Panthers, and the Chiefs their first wins in quite some time, as well as barely edging out the Rams and the Buccaneers. And as for their upcoming schedule, I do not see them winning many, if any, of their remaining games. They do play at the Raiders, but that isn't a guarantee by any stretch of the imagination.

And now for the Cleveland Browns, who may even be worse than the Redskins. In this case, the Browns owner, Randy Lerner, met with two die-hard Browns fans who are attempting to have a protest at the Ravens @ Browns Monday Night Football game on November 16. Fans Mike Randall and Tony Schafer met with Lerner for two hours on Tuesday. The protest that they are trying to hold is to make sure that no Browns' fans enter the stadium until after kickoff on the Monday night game to show the nation that the fans aren't happy with the Browns' futility. After the meeting, Randall said that it went well and that Lerner was receptive to his ideas and that Lerner is "doing everything he can to improve the Browns" and "he wants it to happen- now". Well, then he is going to have to do a lot- now. The Browns are terrible. Awful. They just had George Kokinis removed as general manager, who head coach Eric Mangini handpicked to hold that position. How is it Kokinis' fault when he was been there for less than a year? And from what I have heard, Kokinis is a great NFL mind. He came from the Ravens, so I'm sure he has a good track record. But hey, who am I to say that it isn't his fault, with two futile quarterbacks in Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson. Since the new Cleveland Browns have been around since 1999, they have only made the playoffs one time and just continue to be basement dwellers year in and year out. What a terrible time to be living in Cleveland. Not only is their football team appalling, but the other night, in the World Series, their last two opening day starters took on one another in Game 5 as C.C. Sabathia took on Cliff Lee, and it seems as though LeBron James may or may not come back to play for the Cavaliers.

Like I said Baltimore, just be thankful that we live in Charm City. Yeah, the Orioles might be struggling a little bit, but they are turning things around (keep your fingers crossed), but hey, we have the RAVENS! Needless to say, just take a look down 95 at the Redskins and across the division at the Browns, and no matter what, you will always be having a better day here in Baltimore.

NFC Prime Time Games

This past week ended with two much anticipated primetime games. On Sunday night, the Arizona Cardinals took on the New York Giants, and on Monday night, the Philadelphia Eagles took on the Washington Redskins. A lot was expected of both games, and both of them delivered.

As for the Sunday night game, a lot of people had their eye on the New York Giants, seeing if they could rebound from their embarrassing week six blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints by taking on another formidable offense in the Cardinals. The Cardinals came in at 3-2, seemingly having to prove to people that last season wasn't a fluke. The Giants, at 5-1, had to show why they were considered one of the top teams in the NFC as well. I expected quite a high scoring affair, but I would be disappointed. Instead of a high-flying performance by many young wide receiver superstars, it was the running games and defenses that showed up. Both Beanie Wells and Brandon Jacobs showed good vision and power as they both had decent nights on the ground, but neither one of them was utilized as much as I thought they should have been, especially when they got off to such great starts. Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin combined for nine catches and 158 yards, which is a decent night combined, but not quite the show that we wanted to see. And for the Giants, the ball was distributed quite evenly, with Hakeem Nicks being their top receiver, hauling in a touchdown where the ball got tipped by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie but ended up in Nicks' hands.

Both quarterbacks threw the ball a lot, with Eli Manning getting the short end of the stick by getting picked off three times. His final interception came with 1:08 left in the game, which put a stop to any last minute comeback that the Giants were hoping for. Arizona's defense showed that they can be a force to be reckoned with, and if the offense continues to get in rhythm, they could be a tough team down the stretch.

As for the Monday night game, it was a chance for one of two teams to rebound after coming off of embarrassing losses to sub-par teams. The Eagles had just lost to the Oakland Raiders, who seem like the laughing stock of the league this season, and the Redskins gave yet another team their first win of the season by loosing to the Kansas City Chiefs in week six. This game went about as expected as the Eagles prevailed in a somewhat boring game. Thank God for DeSean Jackson who provided some excitement by scoring two times, once on a 67-yard run and another on a 57-yard catch from Donavan McNabb. He also added some decent kickoff returns. Besides Jackson, the Eagles offense looked rather flat, and if it weren't for the Eagles' defense picking off Jason Campbell for another touchdown, the Redskins might have been able to steal the victory. But the Eagles were able to hold on and win. However, they may have lost at the same time as Brian Westbrook got injured, looking rather shook up as he was helped off of the field in the first half. Hopefully LeSean McCoy can fill his shoes. McCoy has done a decent job this season, but we'll see when the Eagles take in the Giants this upcoming Sunday.

After these two NFC Prime Time games, it still remains to be seen if any of these teams are in the elite class of the NFC. Obviously, the Giants and Cardinals are almost there, but you still have to like the Minnesota Vikings (who barely lost to the Steelers) and the New Orleans Saints (who had to come back late to beat the Dolphins) as the favorites to make it to the NFC Championship game. But as I have said before, it is early still, and the NFL season is a long and grueling one. A lot can happen between now and January, so a lot of things are going to shake out in the next few weeks.