Quarterback: B+
Joe Flacco continued his solid play against the Browns. He remained cool, calm and collected, even after the Ravens fell behind by two touchdowns. He showed nice touch on his throws and made some spectacular passes into tight coverage. There is still a bit of a learning curve (intentional grounding penalties, being one of them), but the rookie continues to make positive strides.

Offensive line: A
This unit was solid throughout the game. Flacco was well-protected throughout the game and had plenty of time to make his reads downfield. The line opened up holes for the most part, but softened up when it counted most.

Wide receivers: B+
Welcome to the offense Mark Clayton. The wide receiver notched his first touchdown in two seasons. Derrick Mason continues to be Flacco’s favorite receiver, snagging nine passes for 136 yards.

Running backs: A
Ray Rice continued to dominate among Baltimore’s running corps for the second week in a row. The rookie averaged just over seven yards per carry, and created running lanes of his own. Le’Ron McClain was solid in his performance, and added a touchdown that was setup by a beautiful Rice run.

Defense: B-
The defense did a solid job of stopping the run, but struggled a bit against the pass. If the Browns hadn’t insisted on running the ball against the best defense capable of stopping the run, the Fabian Washington and Frank Walker would have been in for a long and brutal day. If Braylon Edwards doesn’t drop that very catchable ball from Derek Anderson, the outcome of the game might have been different. Bart Scott led the team in tackles (10) and Terrell Suggs snagged a key interception and returned it for a touchdown that sealed the victory for the Ravens.

Special teams: C+
The Ravens were helped immensely by the Browns’ ineptness, which setup great field position for the Ravens for much of the first half. The special teams coverage continues to have ups and downs. In this game, they had both, and sometimes at the same time. For instance, Matt Stover punts a 62-yarder, which is pretty good for a 40-something. The bad news is that the Browns’ Josh Cribbs returned it 92 yards for a touchdown.

Well now… that was one doozy of a game.

The Ravens scored early, faltered often, scored late and some how pulled out a win - even if it wasn’t the strongest, most convincing victory in recent memory.

Here are some quick thoughts coming out of the game…

Game Balls: Offensive game ball goes to Ray Rice. 150 yards on 21 carries, including a huge run late in the game to set-up the go ahead score. Rice was strong throughout the game, even when it appeared the offense was having issues. He ran straight at blockers and only made moves when he had to. And boy, those moves were pretty. Standing in for Willis McGahee, you can’t say enough about Rice’s performance as a rookie.

Honorable Mention: Mark Clayton, welcome to the 2008 Baltimore Ravens offense. We’ve been waiting years to see this guy contribute in the way he did today. Cam Cameron and the Ravens finally seemed to figure out how to use Clayton in this offense: send him down field and challenge defensive backs to catch him. Sending Clayton downfield opened up the offense in other ways too - drawing linebackers out of the box and asking safeties to cheat. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s just 48 hours to game time, the injury reports are in, the match-ups are locked; you’ve had all week to think about this weekend. So now it’s time to lay it on the line. The 3-4 Browns against the 4-3 Ravens, in Cleveland, for a whole lot of momentum heading into the 2nd half of the season.

Here’s what our staff has to say…

Debbie Downer, I mean, Ken: Browns 24, Ravens 10. With a weakened secondary and a suddenly undisciplined offensive line, the Ravens return to their struggling ways away from the comfort of the purple seats. The Browns have found a winning stride, while the Ravens are still trying to handle theirs.

John: Browns 17, Ravens 14. Defensive struggle for most of the game. Neither team puts up impressive numbers. Browns and Ravens have trouble running the ball. Anderson hits a big play through the air that makes the difference.

Andrew: Ravens 24 Browns 21. The Browns will pick on the Ravens battered up secondary quite a bit, but for the most part the Ravens front seven will get enough pressure on Derek Anderson. The Ravens offense will continue to progress and get just enough production to win. This will be a close one.

Spen: Ravens 17, Browns 14. The Ravens and the Browns meet for a tough close game. Flacco has a rough day and yards are hard to come by but the Ravens grind out around 17 points. The Brownies score late to make the game appear closer than it was. Good guys continue on their road trip happy.

Danielle: Ravens 17, Browns 13.  Just as easily could go the other way with the same score. It’s going to come down to who’s effective in the red zone. Right now the advantage is to Le’Ron McClain over Jamal Lewis.

John B.: Ravens 31, Browns 10. Cleveland’s overall defense is still near the bottom of the league, while Baltimores offense is slowly creeping up overall. The pressure from the defense on Anderson will neutralize Edwards, Winslow & Jamal Lewis. The chants for Brady Quinn will be heard in the backround by mid way thru the 3rd quarter.

Dan: Ravens 26, Browns 6. Take a look at the numbers and you’ll see that even in their recent victories, the Browns haven’t exactly been shutting down their opponents. They won’t find much room to move against the Ravens this week.

The midway point of the season is upon us as the Ravens enter their eighth game of the season against the Browns - the first divisional rematch of the season for either team in 2008. Oh, how things have changed since that game win Week Three in Baltimore.

The Ravens enter at 4-3, riding their second two-game win streak of the season, and feeling good again. Not only are they winning, but the offense has shown signs of life against two weaker opponents.

Meanwhile, the Browns enter at 3-4, have won three of four games, including beating the defending champion New York Giants. The Browns reversed that 0-3 pretty quickly and confidence is running high in Cleveland these days. The big question is can the Browns keep up and truly return to the playoff-caliber team we saw last season?

As we look at this Week Nine match-up, here are two key player-to-player battles to keep an eye on…

Ravens Defense vs. Browns Offense

LB Terrell Suggs vs. QB Derek Anderson

The Ravens defense must not have liked getting embarassed by the Colts three weeks ago in Indianapolis. Since then, against two weaker offensive opponents, the Ravens defense has found its fire again, and the Dolphins and Raiders were the victims of all their built up rage.

Fronting the charge for this defense in both games, though, was not Super-Raven Ray Lewis. Instead, it was Lewis’ younger, pass-rushing protege Terrell Suggs that was really on top of his game and giving the defense its life.  Over the course of the season, Suggs has shown his strength not only as a Pro Bowl caliber player, but as a legitimate defensive leader. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a snippet of some of the comments from fans of the Cleveland Browns over at DawgBones.com and The Browns Board. Things seem to be imploding in the Dawg Pound as fans call for the heads of quarterback Derek Anderson, head coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Phil Savage. Interestingly enough, two of those people are former Ravens employees. So, what’s Art Modell have to do with it? Read on…

Read the rest of this entry »

Phew…. what a game that was!!! The atmosphere in the stadium was electric throughout… the only lag coming in the mid-second quarter, but quickly rejuvenated by a stunning start to the 3rd. Here’s what I see right off the bat…

• Joe Flacco made a few mistakes… but he never lost his confidence and he rebounded by making some pretty impressive plays. Honestly, the second interception should hardly count against his record… it was a known risk going into the gadget play of that type. The first was just a bad pass. He appeared to miss some open receivers for big games, settling for lesser gains instead, but he still had the offense moving.

• Welcome back to Willis McGahee… it was a fine effort by Willis. But the standout was again Le’Ron McClain. The Browns, like the Bengals, simply did not know how to handle the big bowling ball of a mixed-back. My only wish is that we had seen more of Ray Rice. When he came in, especially with McClain in front, you could see the Browns hurting.
• Have to take a moment to think about Dawan Landry. So far all news has been good, but still a scary sight. His injury clearly shook this defense and inspired Ray Lewis… which deserves a bullet of his own.
• Ray was a MAD MAN in the 3rd quarter. Whatever happened in that lockerroom at halftime must have been special. The hit he put on Kellen Winslow set the tone for the second half… and you could see that Anderson, Winslow, and every other receiver on the Browns was worried about what Ray and that D would do.
• We might have an ‘aging secondary,’ but they showed their quick feet tonight. Reed and Rolle had nice little picks, not to mention McAlister’s. And the unit played well overall. No disrespect meant to the injured Landry, but this defense was something to see when Jim Leonhard got in the secondary…
• Leonhard also deserves some loving for his strong game as a returner. He was hurt by a few penalties on good returns, but he sure made believers out of a number of fans today with his returns. In the preseason he looked slow, especially compared to Yamon Figurs, but he seems to have figured something out since then.
• My only concern is Harbaugh’s use of Matt Stover. We simply can’t use him in the 45-50 range, unless absolutely necessary. This team has shown it’s ability to make some great 4th down conversions (a welcome surprise, really), but let’s not stretch Matt … as much as we love him.

Finally, we’ve got to take a minute and give some credit to this coaching staff again. Offensively, Cam Cameron had the Browns on their toes… even if it wasn’t always working. The unit is coming together. The running game is solid, the use of play-action is inspiring, and the misdirection is just plain pretty. Defensively, after a slow start Rex had these guys clicking on all cylinders again and executing a great game plan that neutralized a dangerous passing game. And overall, the team did what it will need to do each week… control the ball, control the clock, and give that defense the chance to make big plays.

Baltimore Ravens 28, Cleveland Browns 10.

Funny how an early bye week can throw everything off, right?

But fear not… it’s Friday, just about 48 hours until the Ravens kick-off again, and we get 15 straight weeks of football in Baltimore!

So without further ado, here are this week’s Predictions from your ExtremeRavens staff…

Week 3: Cleveland Browns @ Baltimore Ravens

Danielle: Ravens 20, Browns 10. Eerily similar to Week One’s victory over the Bengals, this game will be a little too close for comfort all the way through.

Andrew:  Ravens 24, Browns 13. Derek Anderson continues to struggle as the Ravens pass rush harrasses him all day. A strong ground attack softens coverage enought to allow Joe Flacco to make a couple of big plays with his arm.

Ken: Browns 21, Ravens 13. A relaxed Ravens team won’t be enough to hold off a visiting Cleveland squad that is stronger than it has shown so far.

Dan: Ravens 27, Browns 9. Joltin’ Joe breaks out and the Ravens’ D handles Derek Anderson. The Ravens offense controls the clock and puts the ball deep into Browns territory consistently.

Feel free to add your own predictions below!

In addition to our weekly Fantasy Reports, which can be read at www.extremeravens.com or via the message boards, OneWinningDrive is going to be giving a little fantasy breakdown for the Ravens’ game each week. Between predictions and fantasy analysis, it’s all good…

Read the rest of this entry »

A win on Sunday for the Ravens could put them in great shape very early in this young season. The team’s got the chance to start 2-0, but also 2-0 against division opponents.

And added bonus is a win puts the Browns at 0-3. The same Browns that, following last season’s stunning uprising, were almost universally picked to finish ahead of the Ravens this year in the standings. And for the Ravens, the biggest excitement going into the game has to be that the Browns offense, it’s only true strength, has looked worn down and desperate. In fact, I’m willing to bet that if the Ravens really handle Derek Anderson the way they should (also see: the way they didn’t last year), we might be the first to see Brady Quinn take over this year. So far, Anderson has just 280 passing yards in 2 games… in more than 50 passing attempts. Meanwhile, between a pair of interceptions and a pair of fumbles, the former Raven hasn’t exactly been great at controlling the football this year. Another loss, and another poor performance by Anderson, and this Browns team could self-destruct before the season’s even reved up for the rest of the league.

The second bonus for the Ravens this week is that the Bengals are headed into the Meadowlands to face the Giants. That would be another 0-2 AFC North team going on the road, against a good pass defense, with a struggling Pro-Bowl quarterback. In other words, another team ready to fold early and give the Ravens two division opponents at 0-3. While you won’t hear any talk about benching Carson Palmer (except maybe from Mr. Ocho Cinco himself), it’s pretty fair to say that if the Bengals wind up 0-3, the prospects for their season diminsh rather quickly.

Let’s really boil it down: no team to start 0-3 has made the playoffs since 1998 (Buffalo). It’s not a frequent occurence. But the AFC isnot a weak conference; even if it’s been underperforming so far. Between the Jags, Colts and Titans in the South, the Pats and Jets in the East, and the Chargers and Broncos in the West, there’s going to be plenty of scratching for playoff spots already. And even an 0-3 team were to the make the postseason this year… my bet would be on the Chargers or Jags (assuming they lose this week), well before the Browns or Bengals.

… I’m just saying.