Left Out. REARVIEW MIRROR – AFC CHAMPIONSHIP NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 23, BALTIMORE RAVENS 20 January 22, 2012 And then it was over, just like that.  The Baltimore Ravens battled the New England Patriots back and forth for sixty minutes of football, but came away losers, 23-20, after botching two chances to win or put the game into overtime in the waning moments.  The CBS broadcast crew pointed their cameras to the losing sidelines, slowly panning the faces of disbelieving Ravens players, blinking skyward, stunned, trying to grasp reality. They had allowed a chance to go to the Super Bowl slip away when Billy Cundiff’s 32-yard field goal hooked grotesquely left, wide of the uprights. It was hard to fathom. After all, the Ravens defense had successfully boxed-in the Patriots’ passing game and had made quarterback Tom Brady look fairly average all evening long.  Meanwhile, the Ravens own, often-maligned quarterback Joe Flacco outplayed the vaunted Br...

REARVIEW MIRROR  -- AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS BALTIMORE RAVENS 20, HOUSTON TEXANS 13 JANUARY 15, 2012 Ravens head coach John Harbaugh patrolled the locker room afterwards, soaking in his team’s 20-13 home playoff win against the Houston Texans.   WBAL-radio color analyst Stan White stopped him to ask if he was concerned his team didn’t match the Texans’ performance on the stat sheet.  In response, Harbaugh quoted the immortal words of former Eagles coach Herm Edwards.  “You play to win the game.” Indeed. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win, one that propelled the Ravens into the AFC Championship next week against the New England Patriots—a Tom Brady-led team that was noticeably prettier in dismantling the Denver Broncos on Saturday. Ravens fans may want to tune out the national media rhetoric this week, leading up to the Championship showdown.  Brady’s record-breaking performance from Saturday will surely b...

REARVIEW MIRROR BALTIMORE RAVENS VS CINCINNATI BENGALS January 1, 2012 The Baltimore Ravens’ 24-16 margin of victory at the Cincinnati Bengals was not a comfortable win.  After jumping on the Bengals 17-3 at the half, the Ravens’ lead in the game, and their grasp on first place in the AFC North standings, was hanging by a thread.  The Bengals’ Mike Nugent had just punched a 46-yard field goal through a fierce wind at the start of the fourth quarter to pull within 17-13.  After the Ravens’ offense stalled at their own end on the ensuing series, the Bengals had the ball back, and were driving, pushing the ball back into Ravens territory. The Cincinnati faithful, sensing a win and a playoff berth, were whipped into a frenzy. That’s when the Ravens’ MVPs took over.  First on defense.  The Bengals’ Jermaine Gresham--who had already chewed through the Ravens defense for an earlier 31-yard gain--snared a second-and eight...

BALTIMORE RAVENS 20, CLEVELAND BROWNS 14    DECEMBER 24, 2011  There is one undeniable fact about the Ravens’ Christmas Eve home win against the Cleveland Browns. The 20-14 victory gave Baltimore a 5-0 record atop the division, and protected their stake to a number-two seed and an opening-round bye in the playoffs.  Beyond these facts, there is plenty of room to debate what this team really is.  Until next week’s New Year’s Day season finale in Cincinnati, the optimists will sit at one end of the bar, and the pessimists at the other, with a lot of debate back and forth about how strong or weak their Ravens team really is. Optimist:  “They are 8-0 at home and swept the rival Steelers. They win the important games.” Pessimist:  “Yeah, but they have a losing record on the road, including stinkers to some bad football teams. Do you really trust Joe Flacco to go to Cincinnati next week and get a must-win?...

REARVIEW MIRROR SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 34, BALTIMORE RAVENS 14 December 18, 2011 When the mighty fall, they fall hard.  Earlier in the day the Baltimore Ravens learned they were guaranteed a trip to the playoffs, thanks to a loss by the New York Jets. But rather than being buoyed by the news, the Ravens seemed to be sunk by it, losing to the San Diego Chargers 34-14.  The same Oakland loss that pushed Baltimore into the playoffs had also given the surging Chargers – one-time losers of six straight – something to play for: the AFC West title.  With that incentive the Chargers, notoriously strong finishers under Norv Turner and Philip Rivers, pounded the Ravens in the second half to coast to an easy win. Not only was it an embarrassing loss for the Ravens on national TV, but it also may have sunk Baltimore’s chance to finally host playoff games in January.  They now must await the result of the 49ers and Steelers contest Monday night to see if thei...

REARVIEW MIRROR BALTIMORE RAVENS 24, INDIANPOLIS 10 DECEMBER 11, 2011 Any Baltimore football fan over the age of 45 once rooted hard for the horseshoe.  That was, until they felt the unthinkable sting of seeing their beloved Colts bolt to Indianapolis.  And then they endured the indignity of their adopted team, the Baltimore Ravens, losing the last eight contests to those Colts, including a gut wrenching 15-9 playoff loss in 2006. So for the Ravens to finally beat the Colts Sunday, 24-10, it had to be an enthralling moment for Ravens fans, right?  Strangely, no. Perhaps it was the lack of passion in Baltimore in the week leading up to this game.  The Colts’ 0-12 record coming into Baltimore certainly could have had a lot to do with the ho-hum feeling after just another win for the 10-3 Ravens.  And with the two franchise faces--Peyton Manning and Ray Lewis--wearing street clothes and standing stoically on the sidelines, it was difficult to make...

REARVIEW MIRROR BALTIMORE RAVENS 24, CLEVELAND BROWNS 10 December 4, 2011 Admit it, you were nervous.  Your Ravens were on the road, facing a Browns opponent they were supposed to beat. It was coming on the heels of a ten-day layover, after an emotional, national TV, Thanksgiving Day win in the Harbaugh Bowl.   And their leader, Ray Lewis was again waving a towel and stalking the sidelines. This had been the perfect formula for previous disappointment, with all three Baltimore losses this season coming on the road, to inferior opponents following emotional wins. The bad letdown omens didn’t stop there.  The Ravens were playing in front of a half-filled Cleveland stadium, in the pouring rain.  You could measure the emotion in Cleveland Stadium with a teaspoon. And then, after the Ravens had kicked off to the Browns to start the game, Cleveland’s Madden cover boy, Peyton Hillis, immediately began to gash the Ravens front seven on run after run, ...

BALTIMORE RAVENS 16, SAN FRANCISCO 6 November 24, 2011 Two very good defenses met on Thanksgiving night in Baltimore, in front of an emotionally charged home crowd and a well-fed national television audience.  You could have predicted the low-scoring, close result and maybe even the 16-6 win for Baltimore over the visiting 49ers.   After all, the Ravens had lost just once at home in the last 16 games. And the 9-1 Niners were crossing three time zones on a short week’s rest. But in an era of high-flying offensive football, it would have been hard to predict such dramatic and electrifying game, from start to finish. San Francisco’s defense was as good as advertised.  Baltimore’s defense was phenomenal.  For a city that has been privileged to witness dominate defensive football for over a decade, on this night Ravens fans saw their defense, without immortal linebacker Ray Lewis, dismantle a highly competent San Francisco offense like few ...

REARVIEW MIRROR BALTIMORE RAVENS 31 CINCINNATI BENGALS 24 NOVEMBER 20, 2011 When two of the league’s top-five defenses clash, you don’t expect an offensive shootout, even when the Ravens entered this game without their defensive leader, Ray Lewis, sidelined with turf toe. But offense is what we got in a 31-24 Ravens victory over the Cincinnati Bengals that featured 867 total yards from scrimmage and 36 first downs between the two teams. Despite this production, neither defense played particularly poorly. The Bengals’ rookie quarterback Andy Dalton was fearless standing in the pocket barely eluding hits and making throws just past the outstretched hands of Ravens’ defenders.   However, this same bravado in the face of tight coverage also led to three picks by the Ravens to set up their own offense with counter-punching scores.   Dalton looked better than his 60 QB rating suggests, and the Ravens defense looked better than the nearly 50...

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 22, BALTIMORE RAVENS 17 NOVEMBER 13, 2011 What in the world do you make of the Baltimore Ravens?  In a virtual replay of a week-seven  loss to the lousy Jacksonville Jaguars the Ravens did it again. Once again they let down their guard after an emotional win to drop a game to another lousy team – the Seattle Seahawks, 22-17. Same problems, same ugly result.  They got beat by a bad offensive team because they started slowly on offense themselves, coughed up turnovers, three of them, surrendered field position, and then allowed long field goals—five of them by a field goal kicker the Ravens once kicked to the curb, Steven Hauschka. If you had to script how to lose a game to a Seahawk club that had come into the contest with just two wins, this was it.  Fall behind early, 10-0 in the first quarter, and allow the notoriously loud Seahawk fans disrupt your offensive flow.   They dug a hole so deep that not even the 13 Seahawk ...