MVN - Most Valuable Network

A Ravens Christmas Carol

     In a game that saw a ghost of Christmas past and perhaps THE ghost of Christmas future, it was the ghosts of Christmas present that lost this game 44 - 20 to Indianapolis on this Sunday night. Mike Anderson (2 carries, 7 yards/ 1 reception, 5 yards) made another one of his visits to the field replacing Willis McGahee (17 carries, 45 yards, 1 fumble / 5 receptions, 7 yards). The game also saw Troy Smith ( 3 /5 , 33 yards, 0 INT) made his NFL debut and carried himself well in mop up duties. He demonstrated the running abilities that he had in college by rushing 6 yards for his first NFL career TD. In the opinion of this writer, Troy Smith should have the helm for these next 3 games to see what he has. That covers the ghosts of Christmas past and future, now lets see what happened to the ones from the presents.

     As I stated at halftime it only took Indianapolis 3:41 to score the first TD and by the end of the first quarter they were up 23 - 0. It would take a Yamon Figurs 94 yard kick off return to get the Ravens on the score board, but by that time the damage was done and Indy lead 35 - 7 at the half.

OFFENSE: Kyle Boller returned to his “little boy lost” ways. At this point in his career it is becoming apparent that he is not the QB of the future for this team. He finished 19/25, 132 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT. While those are not bad stats (except the INT), they are not good either. On Monday night he played like he wanted the starting job next season, tonight he was more like he wanted to sell hot dogs in the stands. Willis McGahee never really got into a rhythm and was in and out of the game with an injury all night. Kyle Boller was sacked 4 times, and was hurried quite a few others. Mark Clayton was the top receiver with 7 catches for 90 yards. Darling was again Boller’s favorite TD receiver with a TD catch late in the game. Tis the season, and it is the state of the Ravens Offense.

DEFENSE:Again starting without the two starting cornerbacks (CMac - knee and Rolle - shoulder), the secondary had no chance or an answer for the Indy passing game. Bart Scott led the way with solo tackles with 6 and Ray Lewis with total tackles with 9. The defense did nothing spectacular in this game, and at times looked as lost as the offense. One could even say they appeared to be simply going through the motions.

     When you look at the remaining schedule on game really jumps out at me. No it is not the Pittsburgh Steelers who were sent packing today by New England 34 - 13. What is that? The greatest QB in the world (according to Steeler fans anyway) did not beat the Patriots. Sorry had to get that in there. Anyway, the game that leaps out at me is the Miami game. The Dolphins are currently 0 - 13 with games against Baltimore, New England and Cincinnati remaining. You just have to think that they have marked the game against the Ravens as the game that will keep them from becoming the first ever 0 - 16 team. The Ravens, who left their pride on the field Monday against New England have to decide whether or not they want to become that team. They also have to decide if they want to finish this season 4 - 12. With games on the road against Seattle (9-4) and Miami, and one at home against the Steelers (9-4), you have to be realistic is seeing that Miami is the only game to prevent ending on a 10 game losing streak.

     Tis the season to be jolly, but not in Raven’s country. What began as a promising season faded weeks ago, and will make for a long off season. I started this season excited. Coming off of the 13 - 3 season and being able to write about it here on MVN. I tried to stay upbeat, but always called it like I saw it. I tried to pump the readers as well as myself. My sails were sunk in Pittsburgh on that Monday night disaster, but I will still be in the armchair every Monday. I will still give my opinions and let you know what I see. I just hope the needed changes are made before next season, because watching this team right now is painful.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 9th, 2007 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Mike Zoran, Ravens Roost Game Recap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.