Ask Baltimore Beatdown: Ravens Blogger

would rather face Cassel than Thigpen. Tyler looks like he moved the team in the air pretty decently late last season and knows the team better than Cassel. If Cassel is still hurting, he may be more susceptible to our pressure and toss a couple of picks. Meanwhile, Flacco has been lights out (sorry Merriman!) in pre-season and while that means nothing in terms of wins/losses, his full year of experience plus the entire off seaosn to prepare as the starter, compared to being thrust into the role late in pre-season last year, has shown a huge progression. He just has a rocket arm and a calm demeanor that fits the NFL and position so classicly. O-Coordinator Cam Cameron has taken the reins off of him and we threw much more than ran this pre0pseason to give him even more reps.

As far as the defense, the loss of our D-Coordinator will make as meaningless a difference as it did when we lost Marvin Lewis and Mike Nolan to head coaching positions that they have not succeeded in since they, along with Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard, left the shadow of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and company.

Dawan Landry is back at safety for the Ravens and while little Jimmy Leonhard had a decent season, he is nowhere near the thumper that the beast Landry is. Tavares Gooden will be the next great linebacker next to Ray Lewis following Scott, Adalius Thomas, Edgerton Hartwell and Jamie Sharper.

on a trashy, but cute side.

Notice how mediocre both those D-Coordinators and those LB’s have been without Ray Lewis to make them look good? Hmmm…

I think we have to wait to find out. Obviously Ray is past his prime, but its hard to tell how effective he’ll be without actually watching how effective he’ll be.

I dont doubt the Ravens Defensive ability but I dont expect to see the defense that led them to the SuperBowl. That leaves me enough hope that the Chiefs can compete hard enough to WIN

in saying Lewis is past his prime, but he still prepares himself and the rest of the defense, much less the entire team, better than any other player or team in the league, which should not be underestimated. Ask any new Raven who comes here, and they say they never prepared for a game like they do here in Baltimore. He is such a great student and watcher of tape that his loss of speed is made up by positioning and knowledge of what the opponents are going to do before they do it and he is still as quick sideline to sideline as any ILB in the league. Watch him closely this Sunday and you will see how he psychs up the fans and is the best to ever play the game at his position.

by the media and fans. The CB’s know he is as tough a possession receiver as there is in the league. Did you know thqt other than Brandon Marshall, Reggie Wayne and Larry Fitzgerald, NO ONE in the NFL caught more passes than Mason over the past two years!?

He might not be the game breaker that the other guys are, but he is a great route runner and has incredible hands and moves the chains. He is healthy and looking great and wants to go out with a ring.

Great questions from a great blog site. Keep ’em coming!

New England and Indy, the Ravens have the best homefield record in the league since 2000.

Good enough?

this year, with another year of experience for the younger kids. Plus we added Matt Birk at center to replace Jason Brown who wet to the Rams for ridiculous bucks. Birk may be older but he is a 6-time Pro Bowler used to fighting off the Williams’ twins in practice at Minnesota and the trenches of the NFC North.

LT Jared Gaither is only 23 years old but this is his 3rd year in th eleague and 2nd starting. He is a massive human at 6’9" and 340 pounds. Of course, we just added our #1 draft pick, Michael Oher, the kid they wrote the book about and the movie is coming out in November (‘The Blind Side’). Oher is 6’4" 310 pounds with no belly fat and is in great shape and has preformed super on the right side.

Our issue is not with the starters as they should be among the best o-line in the league opening up huge holes for our three-headed running attack. It’s our depth which has the Ravens, media and fans a little nervous.

We might make in-game adjustments but more than likely they’re part of the gameplan. For instance, expect to get a healthy dose of Ray Rice most of the game but when we’re up in the late-third and fourth quarter, expect a lot more of McGahee and McClain to wear down the defense. Tough bringing down a 230 and 250 pound back time after time, as we usually run so much we control time of possession which wears down defenses.

We did this for about every game last year, so, yeah, expect more of it!

…will you still respect and feel that way when we trounce you guys Sunday?

spunky for denver

and you guys are the class of SB Nation from what I’ve experienced and thanks to Chris, Joel Matt and all of you for visiting and helping us with our numbers over at The Beatdown. Pass it around and pay it forward. Thanks again.

punt coverage is better. Return game on both kickoffs and punts should be improved witht he free agent addition of former Titan Chris Carr. Carr took Tennessee’s return game from #26 to #1 in the NFL last year, so expect him to improve ours as well, although to think we’ll go to #1 is a stretch. Our kicker has a stronger leg than the legendary Matt Stover, but accuracy for a second year kicker and first time as the man, will be there for all to judge.

We will take our medicine like we did have to three times with the Steelers fans last year, which was quite painful. But kneel before us as well if the Ravens back up our smack, fair enough?

23-13 Chiefs

I meant that as a reply to J-man :)

to Apollo Creed!

i love rocky 4

A drunk guy stood up at the bar and yelled, “All lawyers are assholes!”
A guy at the other end stood up and screamed back, “Hey, I resent that!”
The first guy said, “Why, are you a lawyer?”
“No,” the other guy said. “I’m an asshole!”

but Ray hits harder still, as he knows tackling and leverage. However, Suggs will always get more sacks so your QB better find T-Sizzle when he goes backto pass. Also, Suggs plays against the right side of your o-line, which is the weaker pass blocking link, right? Ouch.

(but no Chiefs either).
Rice will be the breakout star of the three. Willis will get a bunch of carries later in the game but will be a pretty weak play. I wouldn’t be surprised to see McClain still get the bulk of the goal line carries and rack up the TD’s though.

Skip them and take the Ravens team defense (and play them Sunday!).