The Ravens have finally arrived at the "meaty" part of their season and will be hosting the Cleveland Browns to start it off. There's 1 win and 2 losses separating the two teams, which Cleveland will get a chance to level out over the next three weeks since they play Baltimore, get a bye, and play Baltimore again while the Ravens get the Steelers in between the two games. Easily the most unbalanced divisional schedule, in terms of fairness, I've ever seen. That aside, it's two flawed teams facing each other. If the Ravens don't have QB Lamar Jackson for that game, it's hard to expect a win. Lamar missed the Bears game due to illness and it's unclear if he'll be good to go Sunday night. The Ravens being the only team in the division without a divisional win get three straight divisional games. Considering all AFC North teams have between 5 and 7 wins right now, the fight for the division crown begins this weekend. LET'S GO, RAVENS!!!
The Ravens are catching the Browns without Landry or OBJ (released) but they got Chubb back and their TE's will be a problem for the non-tackling D to handle. The good thing is Baker is playing injured which is hampering his accuracy and his throwing velocity. If the Browns were to bring in Case Keenum and let Baker rest for a few weeks, they would be better off in my opinion. As it stands, with Lamar back in the lineup, the offense should score enough to overcome the Browns this Sunday and i do expect Baker to turn the ball over some with his mistakes. This stretch with the Browns, Steelers, Browns again, then the Packers coming to the Bank will be the determining factor in whether this team goes to the playoffs or not. They really need to beat the Browns both times, try to get both Steeler wins and I can't see this team currently beating the Bengals as they have the strongest offense in the division in my opinion. If they can pull off a 4-2 divisional record, they should get in the post-season. 3-3 will put them in a fight for the last spot imo, and 2-4 puts them out. A critical stretch for sure and we will see how this team fares, but the defense simply HAS TO TACKLE BETTER PERIOD and the OL has to BLOCK and not be a TURNSTILE or they can watch this season slide into oblivion.
All 4 of the afc north teams have tough remaining schedules. Ravens: Browns, Steelers, Browns, Packers, Bengals, Rams, Steelers Browns: Ravens, Bye, Ravens, Raiders, Packers, Steelers, Bengals Bengals: Steelers, Chargers, 49ers, Broncos, Ravens, Chiefs, Browns Steelers: Bengals, Ravens, Vikings, Titans, Chiefs, Browns, Ravens The Browns might have a slight edge because of their bye but their remaining opponets have a .631 winning percentage (which is the hardest remianing schedule in the nfl in terms of strength of schedule). Steelers have the 2nd hardest(.630), Ravens the 3rd (.603) and Bengals the 4th (.576). FYI current afc #1 seed titans have the 2nd easist and the nfc leading cardinals have the 6th easiest.
So with the Titans loss, the Ravens are back in the #1 spot in the AFC. A loss tonight drops the from the 1 seed to the 5 or 6 seed, in terms of playoff seeding. They'll be tied for 3rd in AFC, record wise, in a loss
The Patriots are in high gear and the Bengals completely destroyed the Steelers today, add that with KC waking up and rising, this Conference is wide open with several teams more than capable of going all the way this year.
If the Chiefs D continues to trend the direction its going and the offense gets fully on track they will be tough. Anyone who was thinking the Pats were done after last season (and even the start of this one) is an idiot. They once again have one of those scary good defenses and a QB who isnt likely to make mistakes. Scary thing for the rest of the league he seems to be getting better each week.
This has been a terrible offensive showing for Lamar. Bad for Cleveland also but terrible for Lamar. Might be his 2nd worst career game so far and we're only at the half
With 4 Lamar Jackson INTs and the refs giving Cleveland a TD on a pass that bounced off the turf, the Ravens manage another ugly ass win. Baltimore now the #1 seed in the AFC, for at least a week
Just read that since 2015, NFL QBs were 0-52 in games they threw 4 INTs, including playoffs. Even in bad performances, Lamar putting his name on records and streaks . I hope Wink doesn't go into the next game with the exact same play calling, but the strategy was sound and what many have already known. The key to beating the Browns is to take away the run game and make Baker beat you with his arm, which he's proven he can't do. Chubb and Hunt had 15 carries for 36 yards. 10 total points off 4 INTs with 7 coming from a questionable TD ruling that took the officials a minute to signal live on the field. Hopefully Cleveland doesn't use these two weeks wisely and switch to Keenum
Yeah, this game set the sport back a few years. Will take a few showers to rid the stench of this outing.
That officiating crew had a really bad night. Roughing the passer penalties were highly questionable, that sequence in the first half when Cleveland ended up getting 12 men on the field after 5 attempts to get the play off was painful to watch. And don't get me started on the ball hitting the turf, how does that not get reversed?
The same way that they allowed the ravens to run the play clock for 3 seconds after it hit 0 and not call delay of game setting up the greatest kicker in NFL history to make a 66 yard FG that should have been tried from 72 yards with the penalty. I’m not knocking the Ravens, they don’t call the penalties. Every game I have watched this season that was a close game has had bad calls by the refs that 80% of the time have had a effect on the outcome of the game. It’s like the league wants close games and parity so bad that they will have the officials make sure it happens.
You've brought this up on every three different team's board. Has there veen a video showing the game clock and tv clock were perfectly in sync? I'm under the understanding that they usually aren't. Add in not a single Lions player, staff member, or the audience in Detroit made an uproar about it at all during the game. Just a question asked to the coach afterwards
My point is the refs are fucking up this season with game changing calls that really effect the outcome of games. There was an uproar about that time clock, every talking head went off about it that whole week. The bogus personal foul calls when Jackson was hit X2 lead to points for the Ravens last night. The refs are getting way out of hand protecting Lamar. The hit they called hit out of bounds was BS and the roughing the passer penalty too. The Browns TD wasn't a catch either, I don't know how anyone could watch that replay and call it anything other than incomplete. Probably a makeup call for the bogus personal fouls called against Cleveland.
That's my point. Analyst watching on tv. No Detroit fans, players, or staff even reacted during the game. Why is that? Game clock and tv clock aren't always synced. The out of bounds call was correct. The roughing the passer call was bad. That said, it was literally Jackson's 2nd roughing call of the last 3 years, so I'm not sure how you think they are trying to protect him. The TD, and 1 of the INTs, were bogus along with the roughing the passer call
