Why we are going to beat the Ravens/ Keys to Victory

[Mike Bass]

I'm going to change it up a bit this week and give my opinion on why I think that we are going to beat the Ravens ....I am pretty confident and here's why....

I told a few members before the Pittsburgh game that we did not match up well with them but on the other hand and although the Ravens are playng very well, I think that this is a very good match up for our team and we may come out looking better than we have in weeks. The Ravens have the #3 ranked rushing offense in the NFL but they have no balance on offense and the only reason for their high rank is that they run the ball a lot (Their YPC avererage of 3.8 actually ranks 26th).

LaRon McClain is made perfect for our team to stop so I think that we will see a lot of 2nd and longs forcing their rookie QB to try to beat our veteran defense. Flacco has been playing alright but I don't think that his passing game can beat our defense. He has a 82.3 (decent) passer rating and 12 TD's but he also has 9 interceptions and I think that we are going to add to the interception total Sunday night and maybe take one to the house. I really think that we are going to also have good field position throughout the game.

We are going to face another great D and although we have not fared  well against great defenses, I think that we are going to be alright against the Ravens because their offense will keep their defense on the field a lot and I do not care how good  a unit is, anyone can get tired. The second half shoud be ours handedly and we should win by at least 10.

That being said, here are my keys...

1. Keep Campbell upright!!!...I think that Campbell will make enough plays when giving the opportunity for us to stay ahead of Baltimore especially if he's given a short field like I think that he will given.

2. Stop the run on first down...They are going to try to run to set up their rook so I think we need to keep their RB's contained especially on 1st down forcing them to use a weak pass offense.

3.Balanced attack....We are once again facing a team with both a strong rush D and a strong pass D, so we are going to have to mix it up, hopefully with a Cool and Sellers to start because we are going to have to keep their LB's honest or they are going to be all over Portis, Betts on runs and maybe even Campbell on blitzes.

4.Pressure Flacco....Get on the rookie and make him make mistakes!!...we know that we are facing a greeat D so we need to get our offense any advantage that we can get them.


5.Play Calling...Zorn is going to have to find a way to put up points. What we are doing is not working so he admittedly has to mix it up

[LuvDaSkins]

Good keys...Thanks for posting...I agree that the Skins will stop the Ravens running game...My top keys are...

1. Confuse Flacco(give him alot of different looks on D)

2. Get Cooley involved on offense(i think he will have a big game)

3. Protect JC(gotta pick up the ravens pass rush)

Also the run yards may be hard to come by but the Skins should stick to it.

[HOGWILD21]

We will beat the Ravens because we are the better team in my opinion.If you look at their schedule they have beaten the beatable teams and have actually lost to winning teams except the Dolphins and Eagles but those 2 teams aren't really that good.Flacco is overrated because he really does not do to good against good defenses.I agree with LDS in confusing him with different looks.
  I say lets use Betts more because we know what kind of runner he is.He finds a good hole and he gets a good 7 yards.I say don't overwork CP because we will need him down the stretch.Nobody has really been able to pass against the Ravens.Zorn really needs to throw in a couple of trick plays.Open up the playbook more than he ever has.

 If they do these we will win 6-3.Oh yea,MAKE FIELD GOALS!!!!

[Mike Bass]

I definitely agree with using Betts as Rob stated...he is a good runner, seems to be healthy and has to be well rested.

Rob is also right about no one being able to pass against the Ravens but they have faced QB's from Cincy (2x), Cleveland (2x), Tenn., Mia., Oak., Houston (with Sage ), and the Giants ( who has a pretty good QB but they ran B-more  to death)...none of the passers on these teams are tearing up the league.


 I really think that if we balance our attack that we can put up more than 6 points.

[Yellow31]

I'm thinking that Jason and the O line are just out of sync on passing downs.  Some of this, me thinks, is due to Zorn and Bugel not being in sync, there seems to a lack of communication between them. Get this fixed and we sail past the Crows and into the playoffs.

[Skins12th]

Cooley, Cooley, and MORE Cooley!!!

[Mike Bass]

1. Confuse Flacco(give him alot of different looks on D)

You said a mouthful here Bex...If we can get the rook flustered into mistakes, we could win this one with our D and that will definitely help us by not having to depend on our offense  out performing their defense.