The 4-3 Baltimore Ravens must remain in must-win mode today against the Cincinnati Bengals. With a win today, and next-week vs. Cleveland, Baltimore will be right back in the playoff hunt. With a loss today, or next Sunday; the chance at playing in the post-season will become remote.
Here are some things that I will be looking for:
1) Rice, McGahee, and McClain combined 17 carries in the home-loss to Cincinnati. I believe that number has to be nearly doubled for the Ravens to beat the Bengals today.
2) I am going to sound like a broken-record until things change, but I do not understand the minimal use of several players on this roster. McGahee has 22 rushing attempts in the past 5 weeks. How is that possible?
LJ Smith, Demetrius Williams, and Le’Ron McClain are weapons that need to be utilized. Not just utilized more, but utilized at all. At least McClain touched the ball a bit last-week, I hope that continues on short-yardage at a minimum. If the Ravens put on film two TE sets with Heap, and Smith – that will give opposing defenses something else to think about. Flacco loves to show off his arm and throw deep. Why not get Williams on the field for a couple of deep patterns a game?
2a) One of my biggest surprises for this year, has been the total lack of use of Troy Smith. I believed the signing of Beck, would have the Ravens using Smith more often (2 series a game) in the Wildcat/Suggs package. Similar to what I said above with the other players, I think it would be good to put this on film, and make opposing teams have something else to prepare for.
3) As I mentioned yesterday, two reasons I expect different results vs. the first game against Cincinnati are Jared Gaither, and Antwan Odom. Gaither at LT, with Oher allowed to shift back to RT just makes a profound difference for this offensive-line. Odom came into the game at Baltimore with 8 sacks for the year. While he did not register a sack that day, I would imagine the Ravens adjusted their schemes to account for him. With Odom now done for the year, the Ravens do not have to worry about that. It will be interesting to see if the Bengals physically gifted rookie DE Michael Johnson can cause any pass-rush of his own.
4) Todd Heap had 7 catches today in the previous game against the Bengals. Was that the Flacco looking for a quick outlet, or did the Bengals have no answer to match-up against him in pass defense?
5) After putting a TD on the board last week, the Bengals will be keying on Lardarius Webb this week. If Webb could put the Ravens in superior field-position this week, that will say a lot about his ability to be a weapon the remainder of this year.
6) The Ravens defense played with a lot of pride last-week against Denver, and got back to basics with making tackles. They were also facing a QB in Kyle Orton, that I am sure they were daring to beat them. It is a bit different facing Carson Palmer. Palmer is one of the most talented players in the game, and is also very familiar with Baltimore. If you do not get pressure on Palmer, he has enough weapons with Johnson, Henry, Coles, Caldwell, that he will hurt you. If I am the Ravens, my first-key today is making sure that Cedric Benson is stopped on 1st, and 2nd down. Get the Bengals into 3rd and long, and bring the house at Palmer.
7) I would like to see better, and more consistent kick-offs from Hauschka this week.
8) If Ravens long-snapper Matt Katula is not able to play today, are the Ravens hurt by the replacement?
9) Tavares Gooden had several big-plays in the previous game against the Bengals. Maybe the familiarity leads to a real breakout game today.
10) Only the Ravens know how injured Haloti Ngata really is, but I have mixed feelings on him playing today. I am not downplaying the importance of today, after all I have been saying for weeks this is a must-win game. I also saw what Cedric Benson did to the Ravens during the last-game, and know that stopping that power-running would be that much more difficult without Ngata. That said, if his ankle is really bothering him, I am not sure that him playing today makes a lot of sense. If you want to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, you are going to need Ngata at full-strength and dominating the middle come playoff time. As important as today is, it is still just Week 9. If he becomes further injured today, and is just a member of the walking wounded each week; that would be crippling.
When you have Defensive-line backups with the skills, and capability of Bannan, Edwards, McKinney, and Talavou; there is no reason for the Ravens to risk further injury to one of their most important overall players.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.