Saturday, November 21, 2009

Ravens Report-Week 11 2009

Last week, the Ravens beat the Browns on Monday Night Football, 16-0. On the opening kickoff, Ravens S Haruki Nakamura broke his ankle. Later in the week, he was placed on Injured Reserve, ending his season. Also in the game, Ravens LB Terrell Suggs was hurt on a low block by Browns QB Brady Quinn. Quinn was later fined for the play. In the first quarter, the Ravens put together a solid drive, and it lead to a 36-yard field goal from K Steve Hauschka. But Hauschka missed, his fourth miss of the year. After a scoreless first half, the Ravens finally got on the board, when RB Ray Rice found the end zone for a 13-yard run. On the Browns next drive, Brady Quinn was intercepted by Dawan Landry, and Landry took it 48 yards to the end zone. But, Hauschka's extra point was blocked, to make it 13-0. The final points of the game were on a 44-yard Hauschka field goal.
Player of the Game: Ravens RB Ray Rice-89 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown

Next Sunday, the Ravens will host the 9-0 Indianapolis Colts. This game is the long-awaited return of Former Ravens K Matt Stover. Stover signed with the Colts after their K Adam Vinatieri, went down with an injury. These two teams met last year in Indy, and the Colts trampled the Ravens, 31-3. The Colts are one of two undefeated teams in the NFL, along with the Saints. Their offense, lead by QB Peyton Manning, is considered one of the best ever. Manning is great at using all of his receivers, expect him to do that a lot against the struggling Ravens secondary. If the Colts can take advantage of the Ravens secondary, they could have an easy win. This will be an extremely tough game for the Ravens, and they will need to be on their game if they want to win. Ravens Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron will have to pull some tricks out of the book to confuse the Colts defense. In a tough game for the Ravens, I have the Colts winning 34-21.
Suggestion: The Ravens cannot fool around at all on Sunday. They will need to play as hard as possible to win this game. The Colts are a very tough team on all fours, and the Ravens need to find a way to stop them.

Key Matchups for Ravens vs. Colts
Ravens RT Michael Oher vs. Colts DE Dwight Freeney Edge: Freeney
Ravens RB Ray Rice vs. Colts LB Gary Brackett Edge: Rice
Ravens CB Dominique Foxworth vs. Colts WR Reggie Wayne Edge: Wayne
Ravens LB Ray Lewis vs. Colts RB Joseph Addai Edge: Lewis

Injury Report
Ravens
Player-Injury-Status
RB Matt Lawrence-Knee-OUT
LB Terrell Suggs-Knee-OUT
TE Todd Heap-Chest-QST
DT Haloti Ngata-Ankle-QST
C Matt Birk-Neck-PRB
QB Joe Flacco-Knee-PRB
LB Tavares Gooden-Head-PRB
LB Jarret Johnson-Shoulder-PRB

Colts
Player-Injury-Status
OT Dan Fedrkeil-Concussion-OUT
DB Aaron Francisco-Ankle-OUT
WR Anthony Gonzalez-Knee-OUT
DB Kelvin Hayden-Knee-OUT
K Adam Vinatieri-Knee-OUT
DB Antoine Bethea-Foot-QST
DT Eric Foster-Back-QST
DE Dwight Freeney-Hip-QST
WR Pierre Garcon-Ankle-QST
TE Gijon Robinson-Concussion-QST
QB Jim Sorgi-Shoulder-QST
WR Hank Baskett-Illness-PRB
LS Justin Snow-Elbow-PRB

AFC North Standings

Team W L
Bengals 7 2
Steelers 6 3
Ravens 5 4
Browns 1 8

AFC North Outlook: The Steelers face the Chiefs in Kansas City, and the Bengals play the Raiders in Oakland. The Ravens could fall to three games back if they lose and the Bengals and Steelers win.

Ravens Notes: Last Tuesday, the Ravens released K Steven Hauschka, after missing four field goals. Then, on Wednesday, they signed veteran K Billy Cundiff, who will kick Sunday against the Colts. Cundiff has played for the Cowboys, Packers, Browns, Lions, and many more teams.

That's it for this week's version of my Ravens Report, see ya next week!

1 comment:

steev said...

Interesting that the Ravens two weakest areas are special teams and the secondary (well, three if we talk about penalties, but lord knows I don't want to talk about penalties), and yet we cut Matt Stover and Chris McAlister who are then picked up by the two remaining undefeated teams. Geez, you think the Colts and the Saints see something Newsome and Harbaugh missed? My prediction, of course, is Colts win by, yes, you know it, four fieldgoals.