Baltimore Sports and Life

Baltimore Sports and Life has MOVED!!!

2010-11-19T11:17:00.000-05:00

Baltimore Sports and Life has moved.... please find us at our new site linked below:

http://www.baltimoresportsandlife.com/

Terps lose to #4 Pitt; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-11-18T22:18:00.000-05:00

Maryland's Head Coach Gary Williams has often said he believes teams can learn more from winning, than from a loss. While I believe Williams is correct, I think there was plenty learned about the Terrapins in their 79-70 loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers tonight.

We will address the foul-shooting and the missed opportunity below, but the most important takeaway is that this Maryland team showed an ability to play right with a very experienced and quality team on a neutral-court.

The Good:

1) Pittsburgh ended the first-half on a 5-0 run, and with 17:33 left in the 2nd-half Coach Williams was already using his 2nd timeout. Down 42-29 at that point, I'm sure many Maryland fans expected Pittsburgh to run away and hide. The fact that the Terps were able to get back into the game bodes very well for the rest of the year.

2) The turnovers for Maryland have decreased in every-game. The Terps were playing a strong defensive team tonight at Madison Square Garden on National TV, and had just 10 turnovers according to Yahoo.

3) Cliff Tucker had an excellent game tonight, finishing with 17 points, 5 assists, and 3 boards. He made several quality passes that caught the attention of ESPN Commentator Bobby Knight. At times he looked like the most athletic player on the floor.

4) Stoglin had a couple of questionable decisions/shot-attempts, but tonight was a good indication that nothing is going to phase him. He clearly was not intimidated by the surroundings, and that is impressive. His 9 points off the bench was needed.

5) Bowie had 4 turnovers, but there were things to like as well. He played solid defense on the Pitt guards. He pulled the ball out several-times, and tried to run the offense. He got to the rim enough to help. 9 points, 4 assists, 3 boards, 2 steals is good production for Bowie.

6) His shot was not falling, but Mosley was far more aggressive tonight than he had been in the previous two games. 7 points is not enough from him, but he was looking for his shot more. Knight pointed out Mosley's hustle, cutting, and decision to pass after a missed shot.

7) Pittsburgh has veterans everywhere, and is typically very sure with the ball. Due to tempo, Maryland helped force 15 turnovers from the Panthers.

8) Jordan Williams was dealing with his own foul-trouble and multiple defensive looks from Pitt. He still finished with 14 points (6 for 9 shooting) and 9 boards.

9) Gregory had a couple of nice jumpers, a huge slam, and 4 blocks.

The Bad:

1) Maryland was dominated on the boards, losing 43-23. You can partially attribute that to the time Williams spent on the bench, but the bigger issue was the 2 boards from Gregory in 35 minutes. Weijs had a nice dunk, and it was good to see him get a few minutes. However, he was easily out muscled and let-up several easy baskets. We understand Weijs does not have a lot of strength, but he needs to get his hands-up and being the shot-blocking presence he is capable of. Padgett was moving well, but he was again not working the boards and that has to be his roll with this team.

1a) Pankey missed his Senior season of HS, and is likely just as raw offensively as Padgett. He is strong and athletic though and I would like to see him get a chance to help Maryland defensively when they face physically bigger teams.

1b) Palsson looks capable of helping the MD rotation, but I did not like him as an undersized 4 against that front-line of Pitt. I would just assume push Mosley up to the 4, and bring Parker's athleticism off the bench when you want to go small.

The Ugly:

1) There is no getting around the foul-shooting tonight. For the 2nd time in 4 games it was horrible, and tonight it cost MD the game. The Terps were 14 for 30 from the line, with Padgett 0 for 5, and Williams 2 for 7. Williams is going to continue to go to the line, and simply has to improve.

Up-Next:

Maryland will face the loser of the Texas vs. Illinois game tomorrow night. Both teams are talented, and getting a victory would be an achievement for the Terps. I think Maryland is going to win enough games within ACC play that they are not sweating things out on Selection Sunday. Adding a neutral-court victory over either a Big 12 or Big 10 team would help.

If the Terps lose tomorrow, they will have 3 significant Out-of-Conference games remaining. At Penn State (Big 10), vs. Temple (A-10) at the Verizon Center, and against Villanova (Big East) in Philadelphia. A victory for Maryland tomorrow would take some pressure off of their shoulders before those other O.O.C games.

NFL Picks Week 11

2010-11-18T17:13:00.002-05:00

As always, the picks are head-to-head and not against the spread.

Record last-week: 6-8
Season record: 87-55
Record last-year: 169-79

Chicago @ Miami: Chicago
Oakland @ Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh
Cleveland @ Jacksonville: Jacksonville
Washington @ Tennessee: Tennessee
Houston @ New York Jets: New York Jets
Baltimore @ Carolina: Baltimore
Green Bay @ Minnesota: Green Bay
Arizona @ Kansas City: Kansas City
Detroit @ Dallas: Dallas
Buffalo @ Cincinnati: Buffalo
Seattle @ New Orleans: New Orleans
Tampa Bay @ San Francisco: San Francisco
Atlanta @ St. Louis: Atlanta
Indianapolis @ New England: New England
New York Giants @ Philadelphia: Philadelphia
Denver @ San Diego: San Diego

Florida State Q&A w/ Corey Clark

2010-11-16T16:17:00.041-05:00

Corey Clark covers Florida State for the Tallahassee Democrat.

You can find his work at:http://www.tallahassee.com/section/FSU/

Clark can also be found on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/#%21/Corey_Clark

Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Clark for answering a few questions about the Seminoles, prior to the Maryland vs. Florida State game Saturday night.

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Starting QB Christian Ponder missed the Clemson game Saturday due the ruptured bursa sac in his right-elbow. Is he expected to play against Maryland, or will the Seminoles again be starting EJ Manuel? (Terp fans saw Manuel beat MD last-year in Tallahassee) Was there a difference in how FSU ran their offense against Clemson with Manuel under Center?"

Corey Clark: "Ponder will be starting. He was actually cleared to play by the team doctor before the Clemson game, but Jimbo Fisher wanted to go with Manuel since he had gotten all the reps in practice. I do think there was a difference in the gameplan. Much more option. Especially in the second half. With Ponder,the offense is a lot more pass-happy. Ponder is a talented runner and scrambles for two or three first downs every game, but he isn't nearly as adept running the option as Manuel is. But Ponder is a better pocket passer. At least right now in their careers."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Florida State is averaging 400 yards of offense a game, including 186 on the ground. I know that LG Rodney Hudson, and LT Andrew Datko are highly regarded. What else can you tell me about the blockers up-front for the Seminoles?"

Corey Clark: "The center, Ryan McMahon, is a four-year starter like Hudson. And the right tackle, Zebrie Sanders, is a three-year starter like Datko. So there is a lot of experience there, but due to a rash of injuries at the position, the Seminoles are currently on their fourth-string right guard.That's a bit of a problem, obviously. And while this O-line has plenty of experience, it's not a dominating O-line by any means. Good defensive lines have given them plenty of trouble the last couple of years."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "There are 3 running-backs on FSU with at-least 62 carries, and 444 yards rushing.Tell me about Chris Thompson, Jermaine Thomas, and Ty Jones and what each brings to the table."

Corey Clark: "Ty Jones is probably the best all-around back on the team, but he's been in and out of Fisher's doghouse at times this season. He didn't play at all against UNC despite being healthy. Thompson is the home-run guy - he already has two of the six longest TD runs in FSU history this season (83 yarder vs. BYU and a 90-yarder against Miami). Thomas won't play on Saturday because he sprained his knee in the second half of the Clemson game."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Whomever starts at QB for Florida State, apparently has a wealth of weapons to throw to. Four receivers for FSU with at-least 21receptions, and 300 yards receiving. Of that group of four Wideouts, the lowest totals belong to the 6'6, 220 lb Rodney Smith who exploded on Clemson. What doyou think about this group as a whole?"

Corey Clark: "Decent. Not great. Willie Haulstead is the most physically gifted and he had a huge game against UNC two weeks ago (10 catches for 154 yards), but he suffered a concussion against Clemson. He is expected back. Smith has struggled at times this year, but did make some big-time catches on Saturday night.Reed and Easterling are the two veterans.They're dependable enough, but neither are really game breakers."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Seminoles were rocked in September when they visited Oklahoma. No shame in losing to the Sooners,but the 47-17 score surprised me. Did Florida State lack the athletes necessary to match-up, or was FSU just not ready to go into Norman in Week 2 of the season and compete?"

Corey Clark: "Definitely answer No. 2. They just weren't ready. If they played out there in Week 10 instead of Week 2 it would have been much more competitive. Honestly, I think FSU was over-confident (if you can believe that) heading out to Norman. They had no idea what they were in for and the Sooners' hurry-up offense completely obliterated them in the first half. Plus, the young WRs (Haulstead and Smith) just weren't ready for that stage. FSU has the requisite athletes to compete with the elite programs - just not the experience."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Florida State responded impressively to that beating, coming back to win 5 consecutive wins including a 45-17 demolishing of the Hurricanes at Miami. During that stretch of play, FSU held BYU, Wake Forest, UVA, Miami, and Boston College to an average of 12 points a game. I note that the Seminoles are limiting opposing offenses to 111 yards rushing per game. Tell me about the Front 7 Defensively for FSU. Is the D-line getting a lot of pressure? Are the LB's too quick laterally to run against?"

Corey Clark: "Florida State leads the nation in sacks with 39, so that helps in the rushing defensive statistics obviously. The defensive ends have played much better this season than last. The tackles are bigger and moretalented - but still not a whole lot of depth up front. Against both UNC and Clemson, the Seminoles struggled to get any kind of push in the second half as the D-line seemed to wear down as the game went on. The linebackers are good, not great. Nigel Bradham and Kendall Smith are both playing better than they ever have,but they still aren't making any game-changing types of plays. The most talented linebacker on the team is likely Christian Jones, but he's a true freshman that doesn't get a ton of snaps."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Two weeks ago, North Carolina's TJ Yates threw for 439 yards against FSU. Are the Seminoles vulnerable in the secondary? Does FSU play a lot of man-to-man defense, or do they utilize zone schemes?"

Corey Clark: "It's a combination. Against Yates, it looked like they didn't do either, honestly. He had WRs running wide open all over the field. It's much more of a zone concept than it has been in recent years - former defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews was strictly a man-to-man guy. And the cornerbacks are actually quite good -especially redshirt freshman Xavier Rhodes, who might be the best corner they've had in a decade. Supremely talented kid. But the safeties don't make a lot of plays in the passing game and when the defensive front doesn't get pressure, it's bad news for the FSU defense."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Dustin Hopkins showed his leg strength with his 55 yard FG against Clemson.Florida State is typically strong in all-facets of Special Teams. Has that been true this year? Any issues with Punt or Kickoff coverage?"

Corey Clark: "The coverage has been fine. And Hopkins might have the strongest leg I've ever seen -including Janikowski. He is second in the nation in touchbacks and his 55-yarder against Clemson would have been good from 65. Truly. The surprising problem for FSU has been in the return game. Even with an electric return man like Greg Reid, the Seminoles have been ranked last in the nation for a majority of the year in kickoff returns. Still, the sophomore is capable of busting a big one at any time."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "What are the biggest differences you see with Coach Jimbo Fisher now running the program?"

Corey Clark: "Not as many dadgummits. That's No.1. Also, he is much more hands-on in every aspect of the program, to what they eat, when they sleep, who talks to the media (assistants are all off limits) and on and on and on. It's his ship. He's the captain. And he wants to be the lone voice for the program."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Maryland needs to win out over FSU, and NCST to win the Atlantic Coast Conference's Atlantic Division. For FSU to win the division, they have to beat Maryland and need NCST to lose to either North Carolina or NCST. Keeping the focus on the Maryland vs. FSU game, what are your predictions?"

Corey Clark: "I wish I knew. This Florida State team hasn't really played a good game since Miami. It's been a month since the Seminoles were impressive on both sides of the ball. So I really don't know what to think here. If FSU plays well, it should win by a couple of scores. If it doesn't, it will likely lose. Great analysis, right? I do think Ponder will play well - and the offense will move the ball. But the defense has been mediocre to very bad each of the last three games and has had trouble getting off the field. Even though the Maryland QB has had a fine year for a newcomer, this FSU defense has faced four other freshman QBs this season and has tortured all of them. Which is why I would give a slight edge to FSU. We'll go with FSU 27 Maryland 19."

Illinois Fighting Illini Q&A w/ Chris Hine‏

2010-11-16T08:02:00.004-05:00

Chris Hine covers the Illinois Fighting Illini for the Chicago Tribune. You can find his work at:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/

Hine can also be found on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/ChristopherHine

Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Hine for answering a few questions about the Fighting Illini. Depending on the results of Maryland's game vs. Pittsburgh, and the Illinois vs. Texas match-up, the Terps could face Bruce Weber'steam Friday.

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Last year Illinois ended their season in the National Invitation Tournament after finishing21-15 overall, and 10-8 in the Big 10. Expectations for this year are obviously on the rise, as the team is currentlyranked 13th Nationally. What have you liked so far in Illinois' 3-0 start? (Blowouts over UC-Irvine, Toledo, and SouthernIllinois)."

Chris Hine: "They've had a strong commitment to defense, something which was sorely lacking last year.Bruce Weber made his preseason practices all about defense, so much so that he ran very little offense. And it'sshowed in their three early wins, they're a much-improved defensive team. Offensively, they still need to cometogether, but the defense is better."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "If Maryland winds-up facing Illinois, I will look forward to seeing Terps Center Jordan Williams go against Illinois' 7'1 Senior Center Mike Tisdale. I know Tisdale is known as a good shooting Center,but people have previously questioned his aggressiveness inside. Is that improved?"

Chris Hine: "Tisdale added a lot of muscle in the offseason. He still isn't the most aggressive player on the court, buthe's not as easy to push around this year. The coaches would still like him to rebound a little more to take pressureoff Mike Davis, but the offseason commitment he made to adding muscle shows. And like you said, he's a greatshooter for someone who's 7-1. Don't be surprised to see him pull the trigger on a couple threes -- and hit them."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "If the Terps have to face Illinois, they will be facing the Senior Demetri McCamey whoflirted with the NBA last-Spring, and was 1st-Team All Big-10. McCamey is currently leading Illinois in scoring, and isaveraging 8 assists to 2 turnovers. He is shooting 42% from 3 (compared to 34.1% last-year). What is the strength of McCamey's game?"

Chris Hine: "His court vision and his passing. All you have to do is watch the tape of the Southern Illinois games.He found guys I didn't think were open and threaded the needle with no-look passes. He ran their fast break withoutmaking any mistakes. That's his meal ticket to the NBA after this season. If he plays well, Illinois is a tough team tobeat."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Freshman Forward Jereme Richmond was a McDonald's All-American, and isaveraging over 20 minutes of playing-time so far. Tell us about what you have seen in Richmond, andthe rest of the Freshman class." (Illinois' recruiting class was ranked 7th Nationally)

Chris Hine: "Richmond is so versatile. He'll take you off the dribble, he'll post you up and fade away, and he'llprobably trash talk you while he's doing it too. He'll play a few different positions. He could play point, on a wing, oreven the 4. He also is a great student of the game. Understands its nuances well and talks intelligently about it offthe court. As for Meyers Leonard, he can run, he's got a developing post game and could be a really great playerwhen he develops.Right now, he's a little raw and loves setting illegal screens and committing offensive fouls, but a lotof recruiting analysts were high on Leonard and it's easy to see why. He can also shoot a little bit. Crandall Head isalso a work in progress. Needs to develop his shot a little bit and is coming off an ACL tear from last year which kepthim off the court all season. But he can take it to the hoop and can show off some freakish athleticism at times.Give him sometime to develop too."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "All 5 Fighting Illini starters are back from last-year, and beyond Tisdale, and McCamey that also includes Senior PF Mike Davis who lead the Big 10 in rebounding last-year. 6'9, 220 pounds, is he thebest Illinois post-defender? Offensively does he play with his back to the basket?"

Chris Hine: "He gets most of his points from offensive putbacks or jumpers. He is a good shooter. One of the areashe's had to work on his this offseason is his ability to take guys off the dribble.He tried it the other night and I believegot fouled. That's something you wouldn't have seen him done last year. He doesn't play with his back to thebasket as much as Tisdale does. You can hear Weber often yell "Get it to Tisdale" when he's inside the post.Rarely is it "Get it to Davis."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Maryland has two Freshman guards who figure to receive a lot of playing-time. Illinoiswent through that last-year with the Guards DJ Richardson, and Brandon Paul. Where has their games matured asSophomores?"

Chris Hine: "Brandon Paul seems to have taken a step in his sophomore year. I say that with a bit of hesitancy rightnow because he started hot last year and fell off as the season wore on. But he's more consistent, is better when hetakes the ball to the basket, which was a real problem last year, and he thinks twice before firing up 3-pointers whenthe better option would be to work for another shot. He's also improved as a ball-handler to the point where he's thebackup to McCamey, which was a question mark before the season. But he's a natural wing and a length, athleticone at that. As for Richardson, last year he was Illinois' go-to defender. He was constantly put on the other team'sbest player. He wouldn't shut them down, but he's only going to get better in the area. Offensively he hasn't had as good a start as Weber wanted, but he's still a decent shooter and a threat to knock down the 3."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Do you expect Coach Weber's team to compete with Michigan State for theBig 10 Title?"

Chris Hine: "I do. The Big Ten is going to be competitive. And MSU is going to be right there at the top,so is Ohio State, but if Illinois can keep playing good defense, they'll be right there."

Texas Longhorns Q&A w/ Mark Rosner

2010-11-16T07:36:00.008-05:00

Mark Rosner covers the Texas Longhorns for the Austin American-Statesman.
You can find his work at:
http://www.statesman.com/sports/longhorns/

Rosner can also be found on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/#!/Roshoops

Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Rosner for answering a few questions about the Longhorns.Depending on the results of Maryland's game vs.Pittsburgh, and the Illinois vs. Texas match-up, the Terps could face Texas Friday.

Baltimore Sports and Life: "In January last-season the Longhorns were ranked #1 Nationally. When the seasonended, Texas had lost 10 of their last 17 games including the first-round of the NCAA Tournament. If that Texas teamwas overrated, do you think this current version has been underrated in the Big 12 and Nationally?"

Mark Rosner: "The Big 12 coaches picked Texas third, ahead of Baylor and Missouri, so they definitely did notunder rate them. Both those teams are ahead of Texas in the polls. I heard Texas played very well against Gonzaga in one of those closed scrimmages they are not supposed to talk about (NCAA rule). That led me to believe that maybe Texas is a little under rated with its No. 27 spot in the AP preseason poll. Texas has three potentialfirst rounders -- Thompson, Hamilton and Joseph -- if you read the draft sites. But there is not a lot of size or depth."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Texas lost 3 players to NBA Draft, but as you alluded there is plenty of talent still onthe roster. Sophomore SF Jordan Hamilton was a Top 10 National recruit, and is the leading returning scorer. In thefirst two games this year against Navy and Louisiana Tech he has averaged 22.5 points, and 7 boards a game.Tell us about Hamilton's game."

Mark Rosner: "Last season he shot without conscience and didn't play enough defense. This season he appears tobe trying harder on defense, and while he still takes a lot of shots, Hamilton is more judicious in his selection."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Jai Lucas is the son of John Lucas, one of the all-time greats at Maryland. Jai was heavily recruited by Maryland before signing with the University of Florida. During Lucas' Freshman seasonat Florida, he was named to the All-SEC Freshman team as he averaged 8.5 ppg, 43.5% from 3, and played30 minutes a game. He transferred to Texas which made him ineligible for 2008-09 season. Last year Lucas did not play his first-game with the Longhorns until mid-December, and averaged only 10 minutes per game for the year.What was he not doing last-year to earn more playing-time, and what is expected him of this now?"

Mark Rosner: "Jai is very smart, but he is about 5-9 and not exceptionally quick or strong. He can, and has, hit anopen shot. Texas has only four guards this season, and Jai has to contribute. So far he is averaging 19 minutes and7 points in two games. This week will be a test against bigger, more talented, more physical teams."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Coach Rick Barnes grabbed two heralded Canadian youths in PG Cory Joseph, andPF/C Tristan Thompson. Both players spent time Nevada's Findlay Prep, and were consensus Top 10 National recruits. Joseph won the 3 point contest at the McDonald's All-American Game, and has started both of the first twogames averaging 31 minutes per. Thompson came off the bench both games, but is averaging 14.5 points,7 boards,2 steals, and 1.5 blocks. What have you seen so far out of them?"

Mark Rosner: "Thompson has shown the ability to defend, rebound, score inside and hit a jump shot from maybe12 feet. Joseph has been playing a lot on the wing, and he has not heated up yet from the perimeter. He hit 47 percent of his threes last season. He does have 7 assists and 11 rebounds. He plays hard on defense, but we have not seen him that much as a playmaker yet."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Senior Forward Gary Johnson came into this season having played in 88 career games (17 starts) and has twice been named as an All Big-12 Conference reserve. So far this year the 6'6 235pound Johnson is averaging 16 ppg, and 8 boards. Is he essentially a SF being asked to play-up at the 4?"

Mark Rosner: "Gary is an undersized power forward, at least in terms of height. You can't just dump the ball intohim and expect him to score. He has improved his mid-range shot over time, and with Texas using more screens and movement this season, he should have opportunities for those shots."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Sophomore Guard J'Covan Brown averaged 9.6 ppg as a Freshman, including scoring efforts of 20 against Wake Forest, 21 against North Carolina, and 28 against Kansas. Is Brown ready to emerge asa consistent scorer?"

Mark Rosner: "I don't know if he is accurate enough from outside, or athletic enough around the basket, to attain real consistency. But he can be streaky-good. Texas does not have much depth this season, so he should have theopportunity to heat up in games."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "If you were Coaching against Rick Barnes and this Texas team, how would you attack them. What would you be attempting to guard against?"

Mark Rosner: "I almost never coach, although Barnes might sometimes disagree."

Thank-you from Baltimore Sports and Life!

2010-11-15T14:12:00.001-05:00

Baltimore Sports and Life would like to thank those who voted for us in The Baltimore Sun's Mobbies' contest.

BSL finished 3rd among Oriole blogs (Camden Chat, and Orioles Hangout / Tony's Take were the top 2 in this category, and the top 2 blogs overall).

BSL won both the Ravens, and Terps categories.

All results can be found here:
http://data.baltimoresun.com/mobbies/2010/voting/

I previously made known my take on the Mobbies, which you can read here:
http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-take-on-mobbies.html

Based on our showing, I feel better stating the following. The idea of the contest is great, but I hope some changes are made next year. I think some element of voting should remain, but I would like to see a component of judging be added. I guess that can be discussed another day.

As I said in my previous take on the Mobbies, the contest was somewhat trivial, but I am competitive and did want to win. Winning feels good, because I know there are a lot of quality sites in each of the Oriole, Ravens, and Terps categories.

Congrats to all of the other sites that were nominated, and to the other blogs which won. My sincere appreciation once more to those that voted for BSL.

For those finding the blog for the first-time, check us out on Facebook and Twitter at:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52519216267
http://twitter.com/Bmoresportslife

Cheers,
Chris

PS: BSL will be announcing a significant change to the site later this week.

Pitt Panthers Q&A w/ Ray Fittipaldo

2010-11-15T07:39:00.006-05:00

Ray Fittipaldo covers the Panthers for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. You can find his work at:
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pitt/
http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/sports-town/pitt

Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Fittipaldo for answering a few questions about the Panthers prior to Maryland's match-up with Pittsburgh at the Semi-Final of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament this Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Panthers are ranked 4th Nationally, and were picked as the Pre-Season favorite to win the Big East. Pretty easy to see why, with 4 returning starters, and 7 ofthe top 8 scorers back from a team that was 25-9 overall,and 13-5 in conference play last-year.Where if anywhere, do you believe the Panthers are vulnerable?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "Pitt's two best players -Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker- are guards. If an opponent can take one or both of them out of a game the Panthers will struggle to score.Jamie Dixon has a solid front line with Gary McGhee and Talib Zanna, but neither are natural postscorers and do most of their damage through offensive rebounding. So I would say if an opponent can keep the Panthers off the boards and force a bad shooting performances from their guards they'll have a good chance to win."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "In the past 5 years, the Panthers have won at-least 25 games each year. So obviously this is a program used to winning. Has there been an opposing style ofplay that has traditionally given the Panthers trouble during Coach Jamie Dixon's 7 previous yearsat Pitt?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "Guard-oriented teams usually give Jamie Dixon's teams the most problems.Marquette had a lot of success against Pitt when Tom Crean was there and he hadDominic James, Jerel McNeal and Co. Georgetown gave them some problems last season with Chris Wright and Austin Freeman. Generally, teams that can break down the defense off the dribble and penetrate tothe hoop create problems for Dixon's defense."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Maryland and Pitt programs share a few connections. Juan Dixon's brother Jermaine played a lot of minutes for the Panthers the last two seasons. Ashton Gibbs littlebrother Sterling will join Maryland next-season. How aggressive was Pittsburgh in the recruitmentof Sterling? Any comments from Ashton about how good he believes his brother can be?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "I know Pitt was on Sterling a little bit early in the recruiting process, but Pitt recruited another guardby the name of John Johnson, who signed a letter of intent this week...I haven't asked Ashton about Sterling choosing Maryland yet."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Before Gibbs, the Panthers had beat out Maryland for several recruits in recent years including Sophomore Forward Dante Taylor, and Freshman Guard Isiah Epps.Taylor appeared to have struggled a bit adjusting to the College game, but there have been lots ofreports of his growth as player over the Summer. What maturation have you seen out of him? Anyearly thoughts on Epps?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "It appears Epps will redshirt. He had some problems qualifying and was not able to enroll until August. He missed three important months during the summer. Pitt went on aforeign tour to Ireland and got to practice 10 times as a team before that trip, so he missed a lot ofvaluable learning opportunities.Taylor finally seems to be getting it. The light seems to be going on for him. He was weak and out of shape when he reported last summer and never really made a big impact. He got in the weight room and appears to be making some strides. He'll play backup center to Gary McGhee this season with the hope that he develops enough that he'llbe someone they can build around next season. He is still a very raw offensive player.He has a hard time finishing around the basket for some reason."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Senior Guard Brad Wanamaker is off to a strong start, averaging19.3 ppg, 6.3 assists, 5 boards, and shooting 82% from the foul-line.What can you tell usabout him?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "He's a guy who has improved a ton since his freshman year. He used to be a turnover machine.Now he is cool, calm and collected. He can get to the hoop and he can shootfrom 3-point range. He is a tough match-up for opposing teams."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Going back to Gibbs, he was named the Big East's Most Improved Player last-year.So far this year, he is also averaging 19.3ppg, and shooting 46% from 3.Clearly he is a capable shooter. Is he able to put it on the floor? Is he a good defender?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "Gibbs worked hard over the summer to become a better athlete. Dixon wanted him to become a better defender and a better penetrator. He is not someone who isgoing to make a living going to the hoop, but at least has that as a threat now. I wouldcategorize him as a solid defender."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Freshman Forward J.J. Moore did not play against Rhode Island,but scored 9 against Illinois-Chicago, and dropped 19 on North Florida. Is Nasir Robinson in danger of losing minutes to the Freshman, when he returns from his knee injury?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "Nasir Robinson started all 34 games last season at power forward, so it is likelythat Robinson and Talib Zanna will split time when Robinson returns from his knee injury.Moore plays small forward, which is the deepest position on the team. Gilbert Brown is the starter there and Lamar Patterson is his backup. Brown can play shooting guard and Patterson can play power forward, so if Moore shows he can be a capable defender I think therewill be minutes for him. But he's a freshman and freshmen sometimes have a hard time earning minutes under Dixon. But I would say from the looks of it that Dixon might be forced to use Moore even if he is still lagging behind defensively because he has the potential to besuch a dynamic scorer."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Maryland's best player is Center Jordan Williams. What can you tell usabout Pitt's Senior Center Gary McGhee?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "Dixon keeps touting McGhee as a Big East Defensive Player of the Year candidate.He is 6-10, 260 and as strong as an ox. He doesn't block a lot of shots, but he eats up a lotof space and makes opposing centers earn their points. He is not much of an offensive player."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Sporting News picked SF Gilbert Brown as the most athletic player in the Big East. How is the transition from 6 man to starter going for the Senior?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "He has struggled some in the early going. He injured a hamstring and missed two weeks of practice during the preseason. He was a very up and down playerlast season, scoring 20 points one game and two the next. He would follow up a bad gamewith a great game. There wasn't much in between last season. He worked hard over theoff-season to be more consistent. He is a good outside shooter and can get to the hoop."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "I see that Baltimore's Aron Nwonkwo (City College) has walked-on to Pitt. For Dixon to accept him as a walk-on, he must like the practice contributions he is receiving from Nwonkwo. Nwonkow is already on a full Academic scholarship, so he does not need an athletic scholarship. Any chance his playing-time increases during his career with the Panthers?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "I don't think so. Pitt is so deep, I don't see how a walk-on will earn any minutes on this team unless there are several injuries."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "To beat Pittsburgh on a neutral-court, what will Maryland have to do? Predictions on the game?"

Ray Fittipaldo: "Rhode Island did a good job of defending the 3-point line against Pitt,forcing a 3-for-16 performance from behind the arc. If Maryland can do the same I think the Terps will have a chance to win. If they let Gibbs and Wanamaker shoot open shots it will be a long night."

Terps rout Maine; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-11-14T16:27:00.003-05:00

Several days after being pushed to the limit against the College of Charleston, the University of Maryland was in-complete control against the University of Maine.

Picked by The Sporting News, as the preseason favorite of the American East conference - Maine was out of the game early against Maryland. Life for the Terps will become more difficult next week against Pittsburgh, and either Illinois or Texas; but the 89-59 win today was the latest example of why this Maryland team is capable of again exceeding external expectations for the program.

The Good:

1) Cliff Tucker was everywhere in the first-half, scoring all of his 16 points before the break. He finished the game 4 for 6 from 3, and also had 4 boards, 2 assists, and 4 steals. Several times in Tucker's first-three seasons as a Terp, I have been irritated that Tucker would try and try a finger-roll on a fast-break. Today he emphatically slammed it home, showing all the athleticism he has always had. He has scored 16, 15, and 16 in the first three games. It will be very interesting to see what he does next-week.

2) It is going to get boring talking about Jordan Williams. Every-game he brings effort. Every-game he is stronger than his opponent. He had a rough first-half today, but continued to run the court, and go after missed shots. Another 20 points, and 11 boards today. After missing his first 2 FT's, he came back to hit his last 8. Through the 3 games he is averaging 21 points, and 13.7 boards. The nation does not yet understand how good Williams is.

3) After the poor opening game against Seattle, Adrian Bowie has put together back-to-back solid outings against Charletson, and Maine today. 9 points, 8 boards, 5 assists, and 0 turnovers today for the Senior.

4) The FT shooting against Charleston was embarrassing, and could have cost MD the game. It was not outstanding today, but the 25 of 33 (75.8%) was still good to see.

5) The play of Stoglin, and Howard so far has been extremely impressive. They are both mature beyond their years, and just exude confidence. Good things happen when they are on the floor, and they are not just looking to defer to their more experienced teammates. They are making plays. Stoglin had 14 points today, shooting 5 of 7 from the floor. In each of the three games, Stoglin has had at-least 2 steals. Howard was a little off today, but he walked into the game and immediately hit a 3. He later made a drive, got contact, and had the strength to hit a runner. It reminded me a lot of the guy that previously wore his number.

6) Hawk Palsson hit all 6 of his foul shots, and also added a short jumper. He also added 4 boards, an assist, a steal, and a block. I'm extremely pleased that Palsson is already showing the capability of being part of the regular rotation in the beginning of his career. It is also interesting seeing how MD looks, when he plays as an undersized 4.

7) Before the game you would have expected MD to dominate the boards, and they did just that winning 46 to 27 on the glass.

8) Maryland only had 14 turnovers today, so again there was improvement in that regard.

9) Due to the rout, Coach Williams was able to get some extended minutes to Parker (11), and to Weijs (10). One of the strengths of this Maryland team is the depth. I hope even as the competition improves, that the Terps continue to have an extended rotation.

10) 5 points, 3 boards (2 offensive) for Padgett today off the bench. Would have liked a couple of blocks, but at-least he was active.

The Bad:

1) Not a lot of bad to choose from when you win by 30 points. I have already commented that I liked that Coach Williams found some minutes for his bench, but hypocritically I will mention that I wish Tucker could have had some additional touches in the 2nd-half. Clearly I am nit-picking here.

2) Dino Gregory played 17 minutes today, and fouled out. 6 points, 3 boards, and a block. I'm going to continue to harp on it, Maryland needs Gregory to clean-up on the glass, and provide strong defense. It appears to me that he has been a little passive in the first 3 games, and looking to contribute through his offense. That is not how Gregory is going to help this team.

The Ugly:

1) There is a lot to like about what we have seen from Maryland during the first 3 games, but the play of Mosley against Charleston and Maine has been disturbing. The Jr. from Baltimore fouled out today in 16 minutes of play, and did not score a point. He has been a player capable of filling-up the stat sheet, but today also had 0 assists, 0 steals, and 0 blocks. This came off the heels of a 3 point outing against Charleston.

Somehow, in his last 45 minutes of play Mosley has had only 9 FG attempts. Maryland needs Mosley to provide consistent scoring, so him back-to-back games with essentially nothing raises alarm. You would have thought that Mosley (and his teammates) would have consciously been looking to get him some shots today.

Up-Next:

Maryland plays Pittsburgh this coming Thursday at Madison Square Garden in the Semi-Final of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament. The Panthers are currently ranked 4th Nationally, so this will provide a good early measuring stick for Maryland.

Pittsburgh is also 3-0, having won a close game against Rhode Island (A-10 Conference), and beat-up on Illinois-Chicago, and North Florida.

Pittsburgh:
http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/notebooksummershootaround100825/big-east
"Jamie Dixon has a great program. Not good, but great. Every time you think the Panthers will take a step back, they find a way to win and wow you with high-level consistency and fight. With a young and inexperienced team last year, Pitt seemed to will itself to 25 wins and the best scoring defense in the league. This season, Ashton Gibbs returns with the confidence of a star; Gilbert Brown should have his best year, and was very good on a tour of Ireland; Brad Wannamaker brings toughness and leadership; Gary McGhee brings strength and finishing ability; and Dante Taylor will be far better and more productive. Pitt should have the best team in the Big East when it is all said and done."

On Friday, the Terps will face either Illinois or Texas in the Consolation or Championship Game of the CVC Tournament.

Maryland over Cavs, move to 7-3 overall

2010-11-13T18:31:00.004-05:00

The Maryland Terrapins were in Charlottesville for their border-war game against the University of Virginia. Virginia's biggest Atlantic Coast Conference rival will always be Virginia Tech. Despite that, and even considering that Maryland is in the Atlantic Division, while the Cavs are in the Coastal Division; this game is the closest the Terps get to a true rivalry game in ACC Football play.

The Terps entered the game today, with an opportunity to control their own fate. Win on the road against UVA, while winning the remaining home game against Florida State and North Carolina State - and Maryland will end the regular season as the winner of the Atlantic Division.

When you play your rival, with everything to gain, there are no moral victories. All that matters is finding a way to leave the field with the win. In the end, everything beyond wins and losses are superfluous. Give the Terps credit for doing what was necessary to head back to College Park with a 42-23 victory. With the win Maryland is 7-3 overall, and 4-2 in the ACC. If they win their next two games, they will head to Charlotte for the ACC Championship Game.

Some brief takeaways:

1) Going on the road, and not coughing the ball up once shows a level of maturity for the Terps.

2) Maryland was 6 for 14 on 3rd down, which is not overly impressive, but O'Brien sustained a number of drives with quality throws on 3rd and long. The second Terps drive of the game featured a beautiful strike to Smith in 1x1 coverage against the blitz. The 62 yard gain to Smith also game on 3rd and 4.

3) The ESPN commentators correctly pointed out just how accurate O'Brien is with his deep throws. Pin-point placement on the ball directly over the shoulders of his receivers.

4) Several times in the game Maryland lost momentum, by allowing the Cavs to make plays on Special Teams. A large reverse on a kickoff, a fake on a FG attempt, a significant punt return. That has to be looked at.

5) When you think of the Maryland QB with legs, you think of Robinson. With that in-mind, it was interesting seeing O'Brien with the QB keeper for TD from 12 yards out.

6) Early in the game, the receivers McCree and Williams dropped a couple of passes. Both would make-up for it later. McCree caught a 55 yard pass in the 2nd Quarter, which would set-up the Terps 3rd TD. Facing another 3rd and long (14 yards to go) Williams made an outstanding catch off of a tipped pass, with under a minute to go in the 3rd Quarter. This would set-up the first of the three Terps TD's in the 4th.

7) The final numbers for DJ Adams were not overly impressive (13 carries, 34 yards, 2.6 yards per carry), but his downhill running made a difference at the goal-line as he scored 3 times. With 6 minutes left in the 1st-half, Maryland had a 4th and 1 on the VA 12 yard-line. Loved seeing the Power I formation with Adams pushing through. He consistently falls forward.

7a) Adams scored on a 4th and 1 in the 2nd Quarter after great blocks by OT RJ Dill, and FB Taylor Watson. Later DT Zack Kerr would join the offense and provide a solid block or two. The Adams score on 4th and 1, came after Franklin called a roll-out for O'Brien on 3rd and Goal. Maryland put the ball in the end-zone eventually, but they made things more difficult than needed.

7b) Not a bad day for Scott, 11 carries for 55 yards, but it could have been better. Missed a chance at a TD run when he was tackled by the ground.

8) Twice the Terps tried end-arounds in the first-half that gained nothing. The offense gets a little too cute at times when I do not think they have to. They have the skill position talent necessary to line-up and beat people. Trickery is not needed.

9) Dorsey has been coming on a receiver (no action today though) but another heralded WR Kerry Boykins stepped-up with a grab today.

10) The Terps run defense improved in the 2nd half. Vellano became more active, and Gloster's week-to-week improvement is evident.

11) Several nice-plays from Hartsfield. Obviously none bigger than the sack he had on a 3rd and 8, that pushed UVA to their 5. Maryland would take over on the UVA 42 yard line after the punt with 12:30 left in the 4th. Maryland scores their second TD of the Quarter with 8 minutes left and the game was effectively over.

12) The final margin could have been even higher had Super Safety Kenny Tate not missed an easy pick 6 in the 4th.

13) Franklin and Moten with picks to close out the game.

Up-Next:

Byrd Stadium will be rocking next Saturday night (8pm start) when the Seminoles come to town. Florida State hosts the Clemson Tigers tonight. Assuming FSU beats the Tigers as expected tonight, FSU will come to College Park with a 7-3, 5-2 record.

Will Baltimore capitalize on MLS Draft?

2010-11-13T08:48:00.005-05:00

Major League Soccer (MLS) will hold their annual amateur draft in Baltimore on January 13th at the Convention Center. The MLS Draft will be held in-conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. (13th through the 16th)

Will the City of Baltimore take advantage of this opportunity, and meet with the leadership of the MLS?

You will recall that in Fall 2009, former Mayor Shelia Dixon asked the Maryland Stadium Authority to consider building a Soccer Specific Stadium (S.S.S.) in Baltimore to lure the DC United.

http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2009/10/dc-united-to-baltimore.html

In April of 2010, the Commissioner of MLS Don Garber, publicly swiped at the District of Columbia for failing to bring plans for a S.S.S. to fruition.

The City of Baltimore should meet with MLS leadership for the following reasons:

1) Meeting with MLS would crystallize exactly what would be needed from a facility stand-point to ever house a MLS team. I believe MLS would state Baltimore would need a S.S.S. capable of 17 to 20k seats, and the requisite number of corporate boxes.

2) The DC United has been one of MLS' premier franchises. It would be in the best interest of the league for that franchise to continue. If getting an existing team to move to Baltimore was not a legitimate option, will expansion to Baltimore ever be considered by the league?

2a) It has been stated that MLS would like to expand South, and West and is concerned of saturation of teams in the East. I would argue that expansion to Baltimore makes sense. There would be an opportunity for natural rivals in Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and New England. At a minimum, away game travel costs for those organizations would be lowered with a team here.

2b) Many European Soccer leagues operate a system of promotion and regulation. From an American baseball point-of-view, the equivalent would be the AAA Norfolk Tides winning the International League and being promoted to Major League Baseball, with the Pittsburgh Pirates heading back to AAA.

In the hierarchy of American Professional Soccer, MLS is considered Division 1.
Baltimore currently has a 'AAA' soccer team in Crystal Palace Baltimore of the North American Soccer League (NASL).

http://palacebaltimore.com
http://www.nasl.com/

The NASL spent this past season in the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) Division 2 Professional League (comprised of 12 teams between the NASL and United Soccer League 1 (USL).

The NASL lost their 2010 bid to the USSF to be certified as a Division 2 league. They have reapplied and will likely be certified as such for 2011.

The 2011 NASL will be comprised of:

AC St.Louis
Atlanta Silverbacks
Carolina Railhawks FC
Crystal Palace Baltimore
FC Edmonton
Miami FC
Montreal Impact
NSC Minnesota Stars
Puerto Rico Islanders
FC Tampa Bay

There are those that say NASL promotion to the MLS might one day be possible. I believe MLS would state that promotion from the NASL would never be possible without proper facilities in-place. However, there is a much larger difference between AAA Baseball and Major League Baseball, than there is between AAA Soccer and MLS. Additionally, as evidenced by Portland, and Vancouver joining MLS (from the NASL) in 2011, the opportunity is there for promotion / expansion.

3) Also last-fall, it was announced by Crystal Palace Baltimore, that they were close to finalizing a deal to build a 7,000 seat stadium by 2012 in the Carroll Camden Industrial Area near M&T Bank Stadium.

If CPB moves forward with building that stadium, the cost associated with the venture is estimated at $25M. When it was created, I believe MLS would state it is an attractive stadium that would never be suitable for the highest level of US Professional Soccer. I think the City of Baltimore should confirm that with MLS.

With that confirmation, I believe the City of Baltimore would agree that it would be a mistake to spend the money building a stadium that will never be good enough.

3a) This is an opportunity for Baltimore to state their case to MLS of what makes us attractive as a City. I'm sure MLS is aware, but remind their leadership of the tickets sold these previous two years for the European soccer exhibitions. Remind them of the 7,500 people that regularly attend the indoor soccer games for the Blast.

The City of Baltimore should work for that meeting, and make sure that everyone local that should be at that meeting is in attendance. That includes the Crystal Palace ownership, Ed Hale, and the Maryland Stadium Authority at a minimum. It would be beneficial if it also included Under Armour / Kevin Plank, Steve Bisciotti, and Peter Angelos.

4) What you would be looking forward from a meeting with MLS, is a path forward for Baltimore.

I have no illusion about Baltimore building a $200M Soccer Specific Stadium similar to what was recently built for the New York Red Bulls:
http://www.redbullarena.us/

Most-likely, even something closer to the $120M SSS opened this year for the Philadelphia Union is very unlikely in the near-term:
http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/content/about-stadium

What absolutely should be discussed is finding the middle ground between the Stadium CPB would like to build, and what would be needed to house a team in MLS. To me, the logical compromise would be a Stadium that would be built with the corporate boxes necessary to eventually house the MLS, with a seating bowl capable of being expanded to the required 17 to 20k seats.

Only by meeting with the MLS, will Baltimore be able to determine how logical that path is.

Ravens fall in Atlanta; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-11-11T22:00:00.007-05:00

The Baltimore Ravens entered their game tonight at 6-2 overall, the leader of the AFC North Division, with an idea of who they are as a football team. After 60 minutes of action against the Atlanta Falcons, I think Dennis Green would say, "The Ravens are who we thought they were."

The Ravens are an organization that expects to win whenever they take the field. They believe they are capable of going anywhere and performing. They have a roster of talent that plays with pride. They also have some fairly self-evident flaws that could potentially eliminate their ability to reach their ultimate goals.

The Good:

1) Ray Rice ran hard and effectively, aided by strong run blocking from the offensive line. He made a number of important plays in the 4th Quarter based solely on second effort.

2) I liked seeing Boldin gather the offense and challenge them to perform after Flacco's interception early in the 2nd-half. It was fitting that on the next offensive series that Boldin was the player that got the Ravens on the board.

3) Stallworth was able to contribute to the offense with a couple of run reverses. Obviously he has better pure speed than any of the other receivers.

4) I'm happy that playing time for Cody has increased these last two games.

5) Overall the pass-rush was still very limited, but on his own Suggs changed the game in the 2nd-half. The 2 sacks and pressure from him was great to see.

6) The Ravens took over on offense with 11:34 left in the game, down 20 to 7. With 5:42 on the clock the Baltimore offense punched in their drive to close the gap. They maintained their 3 timeouts and the 2 minute warning. They limited the Falcons to 1 first down and got the ball back with 3 minutes left. The Ravens quickly marched the field, and grabbed the lead. Down 13 points on the road to a quality team, Baltimore made the plays necessary to be in position to win.

6a) Flacco did not have the ability to step-up in the pocket like Ryan did tonight, and had a pretty miserable first 3 Quarters of this game. He forced throws, again had trouble over the middle, and missed wildly several times. You have to like that Flacco overcame his poor start, to make plays when it counted.

7) Ryan is talking in the post-game about how he believes the Ravens made good adjustments to the Falcons no-huddle offense at half-time.

8) The rush-defense was good, limiting Turner to 39 yards on 17 carries.

The Bad:

1) The 3rd down defense for the Ravens was abysmal and it starts with the lack of pass-rush. (Falcons 12 of 20 on 3rd) While Suggs picked-up his play in the 2nd-half, Ryan was able to step-up in the pocket way too often. When the Ravens blitzed, it got picked-up. When they dropped back into coverage, they got picked apart. The initial Atlanta scoring drive (14 plays for 91 yards and a TD) was excruciating to watch because the Ravens were unable to get the Falcons off the field.

2) I did not like hearing that Atlanta entered tonight with a game-plan they thought would tire out the Front 7 of the Ravens defense. I think the Ravens are going to have reevaluate whom is on their weekly inactive list, and make it more of a priority to rotate bodies on the defensive line.

3) Even before Webb fumbled, I did not like seeing him setting-up for the punt return. He is the Raven's best cover corner and I do not like increasing his risk for injury. Do the Ravens need to be reminded of the leg-injury Webb suffered just last year?

3a) If I disliked seeing Webb back to return a punts, I absolutely despised seeing Reed do the same.

4) The Ravens were facing a team tonight with a pass-rush as feeble as their own. So, it was pretty disappointing that Flacco regularly had the Falcons D-line in his face. Oher was beaten too often.

5) I was not expecting the Ravens to score with 20 seconds left, but David Reed's decision to come out of the endzone was poor.

6) These two teams entered the game both in the Top 5 league wide in time of possession. Atlanta dominated the ball, holding possession for over 35 minutes.

The Ugly:

1) It would have been somewhat livable if the Falcons had kicked a FG to win this game. Allowing Atlanta to march 80 yards in 45 seconds was hard to watch.

1a) Single coverage on White with the game on the line?

Up-Next:

The now 6-3 Baltimore Ravens are off until Sunday the 21st when they head to Carolina to face the Panthers.
With 10 days to prepare, you would expect a win over an over-matched Panthers team. Nothing will mean more than getting the W, but it will be important to see what adjustments the Coaching staff makes for the stretch-run.

NFL Picks Week 10

2010-11-11T18:15:00.002-05:00

As always, the picks are head-to-head and not against the spread.

Record last-week: 9-4
Season record: 81-47
Record last-year: 169-79

Baltimore @ Atlanta: Baltimore
Cincinnati @ Indianapolis: Indianapolis
New York Jets @ Cleveland: New York Jets
Minnesota @ Chicago: Minnesota
Tennessee @ Miami: Tennessee
Houston @ Jacksonville: Jacksonville
Detroit @ Buffalo: Buffalo
Carolina @ Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay
Kansas City @ Denver: Kansas City
St. Louis @ San Francisco: St. Louis
Dallas @ New York Giants: New York Giants
Seattle @ Arizona: Arizona
New England @ Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh
Philadelphia @ Washington: Philadelphia

Terps move to 2-0; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-11-10T22:12:00.004-05:00

Terps Freshman Pe'Shon Howard hit a shot with seconds left to prevent Maryland from being upset by the Charleston Cougars.

Charleston is Coached by former ACC Coach Bobby Cremins who is a personal friend of Coach Gary Williams. Cremins believes he has 9 players capable of starting for him, and many members of the media have picked his squad as a possible Southern Conference Champion.

The reality is you can know that, and also know that Charleston beat North Carolina last year; and still know that if Howard does not hit the game winner that the feeling from tonight is much different. Teams grow from their experiences (both good and bad) and this was certainly a game the Terrapins can learn from.

The Good:

1) Howard hitting that last-second shot will rightfully get lots of attention. What will get less attention is that Howard was willing to take (and able to create) that less second shot. Two nights after delivering 8 assists in his college debut, Howard provided 14 big points.

2) Jordan Williams scored a career high (26) and added 15 boards. The guy is an absolute monster.

3) 18 turnovers is still too many overall, but it was a considerable improvement over Monday.

4) It was a better game for Bowie. He finished with 9 points , 3 boards, 3 assists, and 1 steal. This is the effort Maryland will need from him regularly.

5) Tucker finished with 15 points, and I really liked seeing him willing to take 15 shots.

6) Stoglin did not get the playing time he got Monday, nor provide that scoring. What he did do was contribute 3 steals in just 8 minutes of action.

7) Palsson took just 1 shot during his 10 minutes, but brought some intensity to the court.

8) Maryland held Charleston without a FG over the last 8+ minutes of the game.

The Bad:

1) Maryland was out-rebounded by Charleston 35-31. With the size, and athletic advantages of the Terps that was unacceptable.

2) The Terps had 8 shots blocked by the Cougars.

3) Charleston's Andrew Goudelock was the Southern Conference Pre-Season Player of the Year. He is known for his shooting beind the arc. Mosley and others played a lot of help defense, leaving Goudelock open for too many shots.

4) Seven combined minutes for Padgett, and Weijs and just 1 rebound. I was hoping Maryland would have had better success exploiting their size advantage off the bench.

5) Gregory got 26 minutes tonight, and did not score. You can live with him being held scoreless, but 4 boards, 1 steal, and 1 block is not enough production for that level of playing time.

The Ugly:

1) Maryland wins this game comfortably if they do not shoot an abysmal 5 of 18 from the foul-line. You have to work hard to shoot that bad. The main culprits? Williams was just 2 for 8 from the charity-stripe, and Howard was 1 for 5.

2) During Mosley's first two seasons as a Terrapin, there were times he could disappear as a scoring option. This was somewhat understandable as he was not the first or second or maybe even the third option on those teams. On this team, Mosley clearly has to be option 1A behind Williams. It is simply unacceptable for Mosley to be on the court for 29 minutes, and hoist-up just 5 FG attempts. He has to be selfish every-game about getting his attempts. If he is not hitting his jumper, or getting to the rim; he needs to force his way to the line. He has to score for this team.

Up-Next:

The Terps will face the Black Bears of Maine on Sunday afternoon. Maine is the projected Conference Champion of the America East (same conference as UMBC). This will be the last game for Maryland prior to heading to Madison Square Garden and facing Pittsburgh, and either Illinois or Texas.

Atlanta Falcons Q&A w/ D. Orlando Ledbetter

2010-11-10T16:10:00.001-05:00

On a short-week the 6-2 AFC North leading Baltimore Ravens are heading south to meet the 6-2 NFC South leading Falcons in Atlanta.

D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. is the beat-writer for the Falcons for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

You can find his work at:
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-falcons-blog/feed/

and on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/ajcfalcons

Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Ledbetter for answering a few questions on the Falcons.

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Michael Turner is having another good season, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. I note that he only has 9 receptions while his back-up Jason Snelling has 22. Based on that, I would expect that Snelling is on most 3rd downs? Is one back better than the other at blitz pick-up?"

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "Turner has never been noted for his pass catching ability. Both are very good at picking up the blitz. Actually, the nine catches for Turner project out to 18, which would be a career-high for Turner."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Leading the way for Turner, is former Ravens FB Ovie Mughelli. Not a lot of glory for pure-blocking FB's, but kind of a difference-maker in his own right?"

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "Ovie is hoping that his lead blocking gets notices and he makes it to the Pro Bowl. He is doing a very good job of lead blocking this season and spring Turner to the second level."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "After leaving the game due to injury Sunday, WR Roddy White was able to return. White has played in every game of his 6-year career, so I would expect to see him back on the field Thursday night. Coming into this season White had 3 consecutive seasons with at-least 83 catches, and 1,150+ yards. This year, his yards per game are up significantly. (99.5 yards per game vs. an average of 77.86 the past 3 seasons). Is he being used slightly different in the offense? How do you rate him among the elite wideouts in the game?"

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "He is running all of the routes and came move around from flanker to split end to slot receiver. This allows him to stretch the field vertically and horizonally on crossing routes."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Opposite of White is the 6'4, 217 lb former 1st round pick Michael Jenkins. Jenkins has had some solid years (3 consecutive seasons of 50 to 53 catches) but has never quite met his earlier expectations. What has held him back from fully emerging?"

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "He is productive and does what they ask him to do. He's doing a better job of fighting for yards after the catch."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "If White is option 1 in the passing-game, than I am guessing TE Tony Gonzalez remains option 1a. The future Hall of Famer has averaged 11.7 yards per reception for his career, but is down to 9.8 this year with the Falcons. Does Gonzalez remain capable of stretching the field?"

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "They have not asked him to stretch the field, but have gone to him underneath and in the redzone. He did get open deep for a 22 yard gain against the Bengals."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The strength of the Atlanta offensive-line appears to be on the left side with LT Sam Baker, and LG Justin Blalock. Is that correct? What can you tell me about the other starters?"

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "Todd McClure is the anchor at center. Havey Dahl is the right guard and Tyson Clabo is the right tackle. They are tenacious run blockers. The unit has been together for three years and has been quite effective."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Like Ravens QB Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan is in his 3rd year in the league. Ryan came into the league with a reputation as being very polished. What progression have you seen from him? What does Ryan still need to improve?"

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "Ryan is very determined and calculating. He's doing what the coaches are asking him to do, which be a little bit more than a manager of the game. He has to improve on his deep throws."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Falcons run a 4-3 defense that is pretty solid against the run, but has struggled against the pass. Are the struggles with the pass defense primarily a result of the lack of pressure from the Atlanta front-7? Who is helping DE John Abraham (16.5 sacks in 2008, 6 in 2010) with the pass-rush?"

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "The issues with the pass defense revolve around the Falcons tendency to blitz in passing situation. They are going to win some and lose some. They have given up touchdown passes of 83, 64 and 58 yards in each of the last three games. Two of those plays came against blitzes."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Atlanta is 4-0 at the Georgia Dome, and appear to be built for the turf. As mentioned above, the Falcons appear pretty solid against the run - tell me about the LB's. ROLB Mike Peterson always had a lot of tackles during his time with the Colts, and Jaguars. I see the MLB Curtis Lofton had over 100 solo tackles last year."

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "In addition to the two linebackers you mention, third-year man Stephen Nicholas is starting at the strongside linebacker position. He's replacing rookie Sean Weatherspoon (knee injury) who opened the season as the starter. They are an attacking group that has great speed and striking ability."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Obviously neither the Falcons nor the Ravens are going to have a lot of time to prepare for this game. One thing that jumps out to me immediately is that both teams are in the Top 5 overall in the NFL in Time of Possession. In a short-week, I expect both teams to spend less time worrying about the opposition, and more time focusing on what they do best. What does Atlanta look like, when performing optimally?"

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "They will rely on their run. The coaching staff had the bye week, which preceded the Tampa Bay game, to get ready for the Ravens."

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Predictions on the game, and what you believe the 6-2 NFC South leading Falcons are capable of the remainder of this season?”

D. Orlando Ledbetter: "Falcons 24, Ravens 10. The Falcons will have to hold off the Saints for the NFC South title."

MD vs. Charleston 5 things to watch tonight

2010-11-10T10:12:00.001-05:00

As Maryland prepares for their second game of the 2010-11 season tonight against Charleston, here are 5 things I will be looking for:

1) I want to see Bowie play his game and not attempt to be something he is not. He is going to get about 20 minutes a night, and he has to be productive during that playing time. He is not going to be productive trying to be a true distributing PG. He has to attack the rim in transition and look for his. If he does that regularly, defenses will collapse and he will be able to dish to open shooters. Bowie hit 11 of his last 15 three-point attempts to end last-year. Supposedly he was showing an improved stroke this Summer. I'd like to see him knock down a couple of shots tonight.

2) Consistency from Tucker. I have little doubt that Tucker will average between 10-12 points per game at a minimum this season. If he can consistently be closer to 15 a game, this is will be a very dangerous MD team. Williams and Mosley are going to get their points. A 3rd option that the Terps can rely on to score has to emerge, and Tucker represents the best option.

3) I expect Padgett will again be the first big off the bench tonight. It is important to see better defensive energy and rebounding from him.

4) In their first games as collegians, Stoglin had 13 points and Howard had 8 assists. What do they do for an encore? I plan on paying more attention to their defensive efforts.

5) The Terps are playing a team who have a Head Coach (Bobby Cremins) that is extremely familiar with Gary Williams and the ACC. Cremins team is expected to contend for an NCAA Tournament birth, and the Cougars coach believes he has 9 players capable of starting. This is the type of team that has been capable of sneaking up on the Terps in recent seasons. Part of the reason Maryland lost games to American, Morgan State, and William & Mary was that the athletic difference between those teams, and the Terps was fairly limited. Each of those teams would go on to post-season play and had solid guard play.

This Maryland team loses the savvy, and experience of Vasquez and Hayes - but is much stronger athletically in the back-court. Even if Maryland struggles in the 1/2 court, and with limiting turnovers; they should be able to create offense from defense and win handily tonight (12 to 15 point margin).

What I will really be looking for is the type of mindset the Terps come out with tonight. The Comcast Center figures to again be half-full, and provide a limited atmosphere. You want to see Maryland focused on taking control of the game early, and not allowing the Cougars to believe they can pull the upset. Maryland's turnovers are going to continue to be an issue for awhile, you just want to see some improvement from Monday.

Terps open season with win; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-11-08T21:14:00.012-05:00

The University of Maryland Terrapins took the floor tonight against Seattle University in the first game of their 2010-11 season, winning 105-76.

This opening round game of the 2010 Coaches vs. Cancer 2k Sports Classic, was a reminder that plenty has changed since the March 21st loss to Michigan State in the 2nd-round of the NCAA Tournament. The Seattle Redhawks were out manned physically, but their willingness to go up and down the court with the Terps helped create some ugly moments particularly in the first 15 minutes of play.

I did not see a lot of surprises tonight. Everything you saw for good, and for bad was basically anticipated. There are plenty of things the Terps will need to improve, but overall I saw a lot of things to be optimistic about.

The Good:

1) The Terps are deep and athletic. Maryland gets up and down the court with ease, and has the personnel required to match-up with numerous teams.

2) The athleticism of this squad will allow them to create offense from their defense. There will be plenty of times this Maryland team struggles to run the flex-offense. They will be bailed out by their defense and ability to quickly score in transition.

3) Coach Williams got all 6 of his new faces on the court tonight, and they provided immediate dividends.

3a) Stoglin was the first non-starter into the game. He quickly changed the tempo of the Terps with some aggressive play. I liked his quickness, and his willingness to look for his own shot even when attempting to get others involved. He hit his foul-shots in the scrimmage, and hit all 9 of his foul shots tonight. That by itself could earn him minutes on the floor during close games. His quick hands helped him get 2 steals.

3b) Howard started his collegiate career with an emphatic dunk, but more importantly ran the offense better than both Bowie, or Stoglin. He is not super athletic, but I thought showed better quickness than had been advertised. Very chiseled for a Freshman, and looked very comfortable on the court. That is somewhat understandable considered he started the past 3 seasons for Oak Hill. I've read numerous write-ups about his flare for the game, and his passing ability. That description proved apt as he provided several quality passes, including a no-look early on. 8 assists for Howard, vs. just 3 turnovers. Also added 3 steals, and 3 boards.

3c) When Palsson signed, the belief of many was that he was destined to be a glorified practice player for most of his career. I think the scrimmage, exhibition, and this first game tonight has shown those projections were off. Coach Williams obviously likes Palsson's hustle, strength, and shooting ability. Coach Williams is always going to find minutes for a player with those attributes. He will get even more if he shows he can play defense.

3d) It might take a little longer, but ultimately the star of this class will be the highest rated recruit - Mychal Parker. I liked that Williams found minutes for Parker on the court. In just a couple minutes of play, Parker's athleticism was readily apparent. Towards the end of the game, Parker was called for a goal-tend where he got up close to the top of the backboard. That dunk he had with under 1:30 left was ridiculous explosion.

3e) I really liked what we saw from Weijs tonight. He runs very well for a big, and showed outstanding coordination. Sometimes you see bigs who just look awkward. That is not the case for Weijs. Even if he does not put on any more weight during the season, he is going to be a defensive presence with his shot-blocking. Weijs finished with 3 blocks, and 2 dunks.

3f) Pankey played the least out of all the newcomers, just getting a couple of minutes at the end of the game. The one thing that jumps out at you, is that he looks like he spent plenty of time in the weight-room.

4) Cliff Tucker finished with 16 points, which was good to see. What I liked best about his play tonight was that he was looking to push the ball and run every-time he could.

5) 17 points, and 15 boards for Jordan Williams tonight. We knew he had lost some weight, an it showed. Maryland is going to run, run, and run and having a big with his physicality, and hands is just ideal. He also hit 5 of his 6 foul-shots.

6) Sean Mosley was excellent offensively tonight. 7 of 9 from the floor, and 8 of 10 from the line. He often gets tagged with 'old man skills,' but a better description is strong fundamentals.

7) Dino Gregory was active as usual for him. He can really help the Terps if he can continue to knock down a few short jumpers a game like he did tonight. Beyond his 8 points, he contributed with 6 boards, 4 blocks, and 2 steals.

8) Maryland was 33 of 41 (80%) from the line, and made 56% of their shots from the floor. Their FG % was up because they were running and getting to the rim.

9) We will discuss what poorly for Bowie below, but he salvaged something from the night by hitting his 5 foul-shots, and playing under better control in the 2nd-half.

10) The Terps did not force up 3 point shots, taking just 8 attempts.

11) Maryland handled the boards, had 9 blocks, and 23 assists.

The Bad:

1) Bowie finished the night with 7 turnovers in 12 minutes of play. He was in foul-trouble just a couple of minutes into the game. Everyone understands that he is not a true PG, and that the Freshman are going to play plenty. I expect Bowie to play about 20 minutes a game. When he plays, he has to do what he does best - attack the rim, and look to score. That is not a PG, but that is what Bowie can bring to this team. If he gets to the rim and pushes the ball in transition, he will have an opportunity to dish to open shooters.

There has been plenty of talk about the opportunity available to the 3 Terrapin Seniors. I think they will all be served by being the best players they are, vs. trying to be the players others think they need to be.

2) 29 turnovers looks horrible in a box-score, but I am not sure how much can be gleaned from tonight. Seattle was willing to run, and that can force sloppy play. What you want to see is how Maryland handles the ball, and the offensive sets they run when they play a team that slows the tempo down.

2a) That said, the Terps made things more difficult than they needed to be at times. Too many plays they were looking for the highlight. You can expect that to improve.

3) James Padgett was the first big of the bench, and played 11 minutes tonight. On athleticism alone, he should have been a presence on the boards. 1 rebound in 11 minutes is not enough from him.

The Ugly:

1) None. Maryland was playing their first game of the year and won by 29 points. The Terps got significant contributions from 5 of their first 6 new players, and their leaders (Williams, and Mosley) stepped-up with strong games.

If the Terps play this game in mid-December, there would would plenty of negatives to talk about. For the first-time out the positives are the takeaway.

Up-Next:

Maryland will be in action again Wednesday vs. the Charleston Cougars. Former Georgia Tech Head Coach Bobby Cremins is very familiar with Coach Williams and the Terps.

Charleston is expected to compete for the Southern Conference South Division title, and be a team capable of advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars are led by Guard Andrew Goudelock who averaged over 19 points per game last year. Cremins has been quoted as stating this is the deepest team he has had during his tenure with Charleston, with up to 9 players capable of starting.

You want to see some improvement in this second game, and against Maine on Sunday before the Terps head to New York to face Pittsburgh on the 18th.

Ravens beat Miami; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-11-07T17:41:00.004-05:00

Returning from their bye, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Miami Dolphins 26-10 at M&T Bank Stadium.

With the victory, the Ravens moved to 6-2 overall, and 4-0 in the friendly confines of home. The Dolphins might not agree with the premise of Baltimore being friendly, as they entered this game 4-0 on the road.

Further improvement is going to be necessary for this team to get where they ultimately want to go, but if are complaining about a lopsided win over a decent team; than life is pretty good.

The Good:

1) Despite his bobble, seeing David Reed back to return the opening kickoff was the first thing I was excited to see.

1a) With Stallworth returning to action today, the chances of D. Reed impacting the receiving game are even further decreased. Due to that, Reed getting an extended opportunity in the return game is the best use of the roster.

2) Have to give some credit to Miami for their shoddy tackling, but the opening Touchdown to McGahee was fun to watch. He made some people miss, and provided the immediate reminder that he needs to be part of this offense.

3) The Ravens had 402 yards of total offense, and dominated the time of possession holding the ball for over 38 minutes.

4) McGahee's TD was set-up with by a 23 yard strike from Flacco to Houshmandzadeh. It

5) Nice pick and return from Webb. He might not be all the way back from his leg injury, but he is close. It is my belief (and the friends I was with today) that Webb's future will include multiple Pro Bowl appearances.

6) Suggs delivered a good sack on 3rd and 8 for Miami. The Dolphins knew the pass-rush was coming, but still could not block Suggs. I thought Suggs was particularly active today, and had one his better games of the year. This has to become a common occurrence down the stretch.

7) Obviously Flacco and Rice were in-sync today with their screens. Rice was gobbling up yards after the catch, and Flacco was doing a good job of allowing the plays to develop before getting the ball to Rice. Rice finished the day with 29 touches for 180 yards. Flacco was 20 for 27 and completed passes to 6 different receivers.

8) After Miami ran the ball down the Ravens throat on their opening drive, Baltimore's defense responded. The Dolphins did average 4.3 yards a carry, but they were held to just 73 yards rushing (most of which came early).

9) 2 Games played for Ed Reed and he has 3 picks. How many Ravens fans let out a collective sigh of relief when he did not lateral the ball on his interception return?

10) Cundiff had another strong game with his kickoffs.

11) Josh Wilson ended the game with a pick, that prevented the Dolphins from putting up further yardage or garbage time points.

The Bad:

1) The Ravens offense handed the Ravens defense a 7 point lead right-away, and the defense immediately was put on their heels by the Dolphins. There was no trickery here, no Wildcat offense. This was straight ahead, hat-on-hat rushing straight up the middle. Either credit the Ravens coaches for making adjustments, or credit the Dolphins coaches for giving up on their rushing offense too early - either way that opening Dolphins drive was not want you were looking to see coming off of the bye.

2) To start the 2nd Quarter, the Ravens offense faced 3rd and 1 at the Dolphins 7 yard line. I liked the call to get McClain the carry. I disliked the play that was called. The Ravens like to give the ball to McClain with inside hand-offs. He is a better runner in single-back, I formation runs where he gets a head of steam.

2a) I wish the Ravens would return to using their Jumbo package more often, with the additional tackle. Run the ball down the throat of the opposition, and take away their will.

3) Minutes after his interception, Webb was back returning a punt. Does our best starting CB really need to return punts, coming off of an ACL injury?

4) The Ravens gave up 4 sacks today. Not all of that is on the pass-blocking, as I thought Flacco held the ball a bit long a few times. Still, the Ravens (and Peter King's pick for All-Pro at RT Marshall Yanda) did have trouble with the speed of Cameron Wake off the edge.

5) Another game where Housmandzadeh got involved with the offense early, and went missing the rest of the day.

The Ugly:

1) After Webb's interception, the Ravens started on the Dolphins 4 yard-line. Flacco was sacked twice in that series, and the Ravens also had a 5 yard penalty. The Ravens than proceeded to blow their opportunity at a FG when Koch dropped the snap. This was a series of ugly play-calling and poor execution.

Up-Next:

The Ravens return to action quickly, facing the 6-2 Falcons in Atlanta this Thursday. The NFC South leading Falcons beat Tampa 27-21 today. With the win, Atlanta moved to 4-0 at the Georgia Dome.

Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez, and Michael Jenkins is plenty of offensive fire power to deal with. Preparing for them will be even more difficult due to the short-week.

Opportunity lost, but 3 chances remain

2010-11-07T09:24:00.002-05:00

Under the blue Miami skies yesterday, the Maryland Terrapins were on the verge of securing their 7th victory of the season. Unfortunately the Terps were not able to close out the Hurricanes, and returned to College Park at 6-3, 3-2 overall.

If there was an immediate consolation for Maryland, it is that their Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division foes Florida State, and North Carolina State also lost. Of course those losses from the Seminoles, and Wolfpack only further illustrate the reality that an opportunity was lost.

It was an interesting game yesterday. The Terps had been very strong against the run against ACC competition coming into this game, but were gouged for 125 yards from Miami's backup RB Lamar Miller.

Miami believes in their athletes, and they run a defensive scheme that incorporates straight man-to-man coverage. It appeared that QB Danny O'Brien and the Maryland offense took awhile to get comfortable with this. O'Brien gets rid of the ball so quickly, that he is very hard to defend with zone defenses. Against a man-to-man defense, your athletes have to beat their athletes. That meant longer drops for O'Brien, more time pass-blocking for his line, and O'Brien's widereceivers had to make plays on the outside. The offensive player that stepped-up for the Terps was WR Kevin Dorsey. (3 catches, 63 yards, 1 TD). Dorsey was a prized 4star recruit, and it is good to see him emerging.

The Maryland defense let-up 500 yards of offense to the Hurricanes, but it was not all bad. (At-least until the last series) Maryland was basically running a bend but do not break defense. I think when the Terps review the film, they will be happy with how they ran to the ball collectively but upset with their tackling. The lack of tackling allowed the Hurricanes to repeatedly pile-up additional yards, and keep drives going. Despite the yards allowed, the Terps were in position to win because some of their defensive playmakers had stepped-up. Alex Wujciak is known for his tackling, but his 2 picks (including the return for TD) were huge. Text-book examples of an experienced Senior knowing where to be and reading the eyes of the inexperienced Freshman. David Mackall had 2 sacks, and Isiah Ross also contributed with 1.

My biggest issues of the game were:

1) The 28 pass attempts for O'Brien vs. the 20 combined carries of Meggett, Scott, and Watson. Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald had just told us the other day that if he was game-planning against the Hurricanes, he would run directly at their defense. Included in Meggett's 70 yards was a 37 yard scamper. Watson had 2 carries, 1 was for 15 yards. DJ Adams is Maryland's best downhill runner and had zero carries. I would have liked to have seen Franklin used a Jumbo package and attack Miami that way.

2) In the 2nd Quarter, Maryland had 1st and Goal on the Miami 2 yard-line. O'Brien missed a pass to the right, when H. Brown slipped on 1st down. On 2nd down Robinson came in at QB, and dropped the snap for an 8 yard loss. O'Brien was incomplete on 3rd down. The Terps had to settle for 3, in a series where they absolutely needed to come away with 6.

3) Maryland had dodged a bullet in the 4th Quarter when the Hurricanes were called for a phantom face-mask which eliminated their sack, and fumble return for a TD. The Terps used that penalty to go down and kick a FG to move ahead 20-18 with just over 9 minutes left.

The Terps defense then stands-up and forces Miami to punt with 5:30 on the clock. Maryland takes over on offense (with the Hurricanes having 0 timeouts) needing a couple of first-downs. Now, the Maryland offense gets conservative and hands the ball to Meggett for 3 consecutive carries. The first two rushes were the correct calls. The decision to run on 3rd and 6 yards to go is what I question. Yes, by doing so the Terps did run another minute off of the clock - but it was extremely unlikely Maryland was going to pick-up the first-down. If you do not pick up the 1st, that means you are going to punt back to the Hurricanes (only needing a FG to win) in their home-stadium with over 3 minutes left in the game.

That extra minute of clock time you ran, meant less than running a play that had a better chance to result in a 1st down.

4) The Hurricanes get the ball back for their last drive and wind-up facing 3rd and 11 on the MD 49 yard-line with 53 seconds left. I am not sure if there was a spy on the Miami QB or not, but I do know it was embarrassing to allow him to run for a 16 yard gain. That never should have happened. Maryland still reeling from that play, allows a 35 yard TD throw on the next play. That is as bad as it gets.

Up-Next:

ACC Atlantic Standings (and remaining schedules for leaders):

Florida State: 6-3 overall, 4-2 ACC (Clemson, @UMD, Florida)
NCST: 6-3, 3-2 (Wake, @UNC, @UMD)
MD: 6-3, 3-2 (@UVA, FSU, NCST)

For Maryland to have a chance to win the ACC Atlantic Division, they are going to have to win at Virginia. The Cavaliers lost a shoot-out at Duke yesterday.

Go beat the Cavs, and give yourself an opportunity to make those last two home games very interesting.

NFL Picks Week 9

2010-11-07T09:02:00.002-05:00

As always the picks are head to head, and not against the spread.

Record last-week: 10-3
Season record: 72-43
Record last-year: 169-79

San Diego @ Houston: San Diego
Arizona @ Minnesota: Minnesota
New Orleans @ Carolina: New Orleans
New England @ Cleveland: New England
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta: Atlanta
Chicago @ Buffalo (Toronto): Buffalo
Miami @ Baltimore: Baltimore
New York Jets @ Detroit: Detroit
New York Giants @ Seattle: New York Giants
Indianapolis @ Philadelphia: Indianapolis
Kansas City @ Oakland: Oakland
Dallas @ Green Bay: Green Bay
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati: Pittsburgh

My take on The Mobbies

2010-11-07T01:02:00.013-04:00

The Baltimore Sun is running a contest with the stated goal of honoring the best blogs in Maryland with their 'Mobbies' awards. After a nomination process, voting became open to the public this past Tuesday (the 2nd) concluding this coming Friday the 12th.

Each blog could be nominated in up to 3 individual categories, and is also eligible to be named as the best overall blog. Baltimore Sports and Life was nominated in the Orioles, Ravens, and Terps categories. Currently we are running 3rd among Oriole blogs, 2nd among Ravens blogs, and leading in the Terps categories.

Lets discuss each of the categories a bit, and the contest in-general.

The Mobbies Contest:
This contest exists because the Baltimore Sun recognizes there are a lot of independent sites that are attracting a regular audience. By having a contest where voting determines winners, and where voters are encouraged to register to The Sun's site; The Sun is bringing 000s of extra-hits per day to their own site, and gaining email accounts for them to potentially solicit later.I think everyone understands that. I certainly do not begrudge The Sun for it, it is sound business. The Sun is gaining additional hits, and in-return they are giving additional exposure to countless blogs such as mine.

Orioles Category:
As I mentioned, I am currently running 3rd in the O's category. I do not deserve to be ahead of Kubatko, and Melewski. Both do this full-time, and they provide excellent daily reporting and commentary. Based on everyone else, I feel good about what I produce. With only limited time to spend on the blog, I've interviewed Lee MacPhail IV, Joe Jordan, and Dave Stockstill (among others) during the past-year. The O's did provide access to me (and several other blogs) for 5 games each. Since I typically can not post during the day, I try and spend less time 'reporting' and more time analyzing and projecting.

The best actual Oriole blogging (of those eligible, Schmuck is not) is done by Kubatko, and Melewski. Camden Chat does the best job of finding all Oriole discussion and housing it in one place. Orioles Hangout is the center of the Oriole fan universe, and has the best overall discussions of the Orioles anywhere. Based on the discussion that goes on there, OH should win as the best Oriole site.* I have personally been a member of OH since 2001, and have referred countless other Oriole fans to the Hangout message boards.

*Orioles Hangout Publisher / Founder Tony Pente does have a blog within the site titled 'Tony's Take' that absolutely should be eligible in this contest. The site overall though is not a blog, and it does not belong. Pente penned the easily most-read Oriole article anywhere this Summer, which included a sit-down with Andy MacPhail. That by itself should gain Pente plenty of votes. If you compiled the postings Pente made on his message board, they would of course provide further merit. I don't think you can count Pente's message board posts though. If you were to do so, you would have to additionally count the contributions of everyone that posts on OH as a member. By my count, Pente has written a total of 14 entries in 2010 as part of his 'Tony's Take' blog. Those 14 entries should be what Pente is being judged on.

If OH wins, I'll be happy for the Hangout. It is run by good people, and as I said I've personally been coming there for years. If Camden Chat wins, I'll feel good for their Editor Stacey Long as well. I've had the chance to meet her a few times (MASN blogger nights, the FanFest Blogger Forum last year, and we have both appeared on some of the same radio shows). I like her personally, and think she provided good commentary this spring on her regular appearances on WNST this Spring. I disagree with Long's point of view that 'Tony's Take,' does not belong. By that logic, one could also object to Camden Chat being listed as a blog. Most of the commentary on Camden Chat appears as comments within the daily compilation of articles, or on their own message board. Camden Chat is another large community (part of the larger SB Nation of blogs) full of intelligent Oriole fans. As far as actual blogging, there is very little of that to be found.

Regarding the other blogs nominated, I am in very good company. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I regularly read the work of lots of others. I do this because I am an Oriole (and a Ravens, and a Terps) fan and I am always looking for additional perspectives. I think Daniel Moroz does great work with Camden Crazies. Matt Taylor is very solid with Roar from 34. Same for Eutaw Street Hooligans, The Loss Column, and Oriole Post. I am not as familiar with a couple of the others, but due to this contest I will read their work more often.

I hope if this contest occurs again next-year, that other worthy blogs such as Camden Depot, Charm City Sports Talk, Dempsey's Army, The Bad Oriole, and the Oriole Report get the nominations they deserve.

Ravens:
My thoughts are similar with the Ravens and Terps categories. I'm flattered to be in the running to win the categories, because I respect the 'competition.'

I've personally interviewed Tony Lombardi of Ravens 24x7, and Bruce Raffel of Baltimore Beatdown because I think both are very well informed and have good information to share. I'll be checking out the others more regularly, and also hope to see Dan Kolko / MASN, and John Eisenberg / CSN Baltimore get increasing recognition for their quality work. Like I said with the Orioles category, I like what I have produced in covering the Ravens. Beyond my 'Good, Bad, Ugly' review of each game, I have also provided numerous relevant interviews including the Ravens Vincent Newsome, Mike Wilkening of Pro Football Weekly, and the beat-writers of several Baltimore opponents.

Objectively, I do not think I should win the Ravens category based on what has been produced during the past-year. Lombardi and Raffel are putting out both quality, and quantity. If either of them win, their victory will be deserved.

Terps:
I'm currently leading the Terps section. I'm excited about my current lead, not just because I want to win; but because I appreciate the other blogs. Currently in 3rd place is Shell Games who won this contest last-year. I appeared with Shell Games' Scott Harris on Bruce Posner's Terp Talk (another eligible blog) on ESPN 1300 last-year. Harris is a really good guy, and I enjoy his writing style. Posner is obviously plugged into all things Terps related and I'll always be appreciative of the opportunity he provided to me. I interviewed Terrapin Station's Pete Volk prior to this Football season, and his commentary was apt.

I am a big fan of the work Ben Broman does with the Testudo Times, and have told him as much via email. He provides a lot of timely content. Like Camden Chat (and Baltimore Beatdown) Testudo Times is another SB Nation blog. Like Camden Chat, Testudo Times is the best Terrapin site at compiling all Terps information in one-site. Without a doubt, Testudo Times currently provides far greater content than I do covering Terps Football, and also Recruiting (Football and Basketball).

I do have to say that if Orioles Hangout can be nominated in the O's category, than InsideMDSports, Turtle Sports Report (Scout.com), and Terrapin Times.com (Rivals.com) should all probably be in this category. If any of those sites were in this category, they would win easily. I do not have any illusion that the couple of hours I spend a week blogging, compares to those sites which operate and produce work full-time.

Like the other-sections, there are a couple of blogs I was not familiar with, that I will be checking-out more regularly. I also feel good about what I put out with the Terps. My previews and reviews of the Terp Basketball games are as good as anyone. The interviews I provided with beat-writers of opposing teams were valuable. I'm also proud of the interviews I've had with Chris Knoche, Mike DeCourcy, Todd Helmick, and Phil Steele. Those experts have added great information to my site.

Bottom-line:
Here is the bottom-line from my perspective about The Mobbies. Overall this contest is somewhat trivial. (At-least as it is set-up currently) That said, I am competitive and I would like to win. I believe the quality of the work I do produce is strong. The better I do in this contest, the more likely it is that I get the opportunity to do this full-time. If I could spend more time blogging, I believe my content would only improve.

I have been pestering friends and family and supporters of the blog to vote daily, and I will not apologize for that. (Every single site mentioned above - aside from Kubatko and Melewski - that is a nominee in this contest, has also been soliciting votes. The joke is that many of us are members of each others Facebook Groups or Mailing lists and have received the solicitations of our competitors lol. ) This contest is an opportunity for me to increase the following of this blog and I'm going to take advantage of it.

We will see what happens with the voting, either way I will work to continue to improve both the content and the site.
I wish all of the blogs continued success and good-luck.

Miami Dolphins Q&A with Armando Salguero

2010-11-05T18:08:00.004-04:00

Armando Salguero covers the Miami Dolphins for the Miami Herald, and is also a presence on South Florida radio.

You can find his work at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/armando_salguero/
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/

His Twitter feed is:
www.twitter.com/armandosalguero

He hosts a Monday through Friday 6am to 10am radio-show on 640 WFTL, which can be found at: http://www.640wftl.com/

With Miami arriving in Baltimore this weekend, Mr. Salguero generously provided some information on the Dolphins.

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Dolphins enter the game this weekend with the 13th highest ranked offense in-terms of yards per game, but more importantly are just 23rd overall in points per game (19). What needs to improve for Miami to put more points on the board?"

Armando Salguero: "The Dolphins offense is 31st in the NFL in total touchdowns because it has yet to find the proper chemistry that good offense requires. On some plays quarterback Chad Henne fails to make the proper throw, or the timing is off, or perhaps the wide receiver will drop the pass, or the blocking breaks down. Sometimes the momentum of the offense is broken with inexplicable calls from coaches. Sometimes the opposition simply makes a good play.

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Miami appears strong at the Tackle positions with Jake Long, and Vernon Carey. What can you tell me about the interior starters?"

Armando Salguero: "The Dolphins have been searching for consistency from their interior offensive line for three years. They've signed high-priced free agents (Jake Grove and Justin Smiley) and it didn't work out. They've invested some draft picks (Shawne Murphy) and it didn't work out. They've had some injuries. The bottom line is the interior line is a constant source of concern for Miami that will be addressed once again this offseason because Richie Incognito will be a free agent and an upgrade will be sought at center."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "In his first year with Miami, Brandon Marshall is on pace for his 4th consecutive 100 reception season. Opposite of Marshall, the other starting receiver is 2009 4th rounder Brian Hartline. The Dolphins had a chance to grab Moss, were you surprised they passed?"

Armando Salguero: "The Dolphins did have an opportunity to add Moss and didn't post a waiver claim for him. They have refused to explain their reasoning. Davone Bess took over the starting job from Hartline in last week's game against Cincinnati."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Is the TE Anthony Fasano currently Henne's second-best option as a pass receiver? Is he perceived as a good blocking TE?"

Armando Salguero: "Anthony Fasano is not the second-best receiver option. Davone Bess is Miami's next best option after Brandon Marshall. Fasano is inconsistent as a pass-catcher. He is slightly better as a blocker."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Ronnie Brown enters the game this weekend with just 92 carries in 7 games. He has not had more than 19 carries in any game. I know he is coming off the foot-injury in 2009, but do the Dolphins need to find additional touches for Brown?"

Armando Salguero: "The Dolphins need to add additional touches for both Brown and Williams. The team is passing around 60 percent of the time and wants to strike more of a balance. The plan every week is to find that balance but so far, the running game has suffered from lack of production to the point that the Wildcat package -- Miami's downhill running set -- has been shelved in three of the past four games. Miami hopes to get more out of the running game and Ronnie Brown has to deliver more for that to happen. Some better blocking would help, too, by the way."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "As you mentioned, hand-in-hand with Brown is Ricky Williams. Williams is coming off of his own 1,000 yard rushing season (his first since the '03-'04 year). Has Williams appeared comfortable going back to sharing carries?"

Armando Salguero: "Ricky Williams has been more than willing to share carries with Brown. It isn't really his call anyway."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Henne has been picked off in 5 straight games, but overall seems to have taken a step forward in his 3rd-year in the league, and 2nd-year as a starter. I am surprised to see how many passing attempts he is getting a game (Averaging 39 attempts per game over the last 5 games) though. Are Dolphins fans pleased with his progress? Do you believe he is the long-term answer?"

Armando Salguero: "Chad Henne has the work ethic, the skills, and the desire to become a good NFL quarterback. Is he there yet? Not yet. He is still something of a game-manager and that's how the Dolphins often handle him. That, of course, goes out the window when they fall behind. It's impossible to say what Dolphins fans think of him because just as Henne is sometimes on and sometimes off, they are sometimes pleased and sometimes displeased with his play."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Miami runs a 3-4 defense, with former University of Maryland Terrapin Randy Starks at RDE. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the D-line?"

Armando Salguero: "Last season, Starks was the best player on Miami's defensive line. This season he was expected to be the starting nose tackle and that plan changed when starting right end Jared Odrick got injured in Game 1 versus Buffalo. After working at nose tackle the entire preseason, Starks was moved back to end and has been good, but not as good as he was last year. Miami's greatest defensive line strength has been its depth."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "I really like the Dolphins Linebackers. I know the Rookie Koa Misi is having an impact at the LOLB, and former CFL star (and Maryland native) Cameron Wake is having a similar impact on the right-side. Inside of course there is the mainstay Channing Crowder, and Free Agent addition Karlos Dansby who signed the large contract to join Miami. The Dolphins have played some other teams with good LB's (NYJ, Pitt), does Miami believe they have the best group of starting LB's in the league?"

Armando Salguero: "The Dolphins have a very good, very young linebacker corps. Everyone knows it. It is hard to argue and in the case of Wake and Misi, they both have their best games ahead of them because both are young and gaining experience."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "There are a couple of former 1st rounders (Vontae Davis, and Jason Allen) starting at CB for the Dolphins. Who typically lines-up against the best opposing receiver? Thoughts on the Secondary as a whole? Nolan Carroll is another former Terp on the Miami roster who was selected by Miami in the 5th round of the 2010 draft. Do the Dolphins like what they have seen out of him?"

Armando Salguero: "Vontae Davis is the pride of the Miami personnel department because he is everything they expected him to be and, in his second year, is showing signs of being an elite cornerback. Jason Allen has lost much of his playing time recently after starting earlier in the year. He has not surprisingly struggled in coverage, which was the story of his career prior to his brief moment of clarity earlier this season. Nolan Carroll has done most of his work on special teams and specifically as a kick return specialist. This was a good week for Carroll. His mother was elected Lieutenant governor of the state of Florida."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Dolphins are 4-3 entering this game, having won all four games on the road and losing all three games at home. Which Miami team are Ravens fans going to see this Sunday here in Baltimore? Predictions on the game?"

Armando Salguero: "As we established earlier, the Dolphins are often inconsistent to so predict what team will show up is begging to be wrong. This is certain: The Dolphins are physical, they typically play hard until the final play of the game, and their wish is to get the opponent in a game that is decided in the final minutes. They may not be the most talented team in the game, but believe they are the most mentally disciplined team every time they play. It sounds trite, but it works for them. Ask the more talented Green Bay Packers about that."

Miami Hurricanes Q&A w/ Manny Navarro

2010-11-04T17:12:00.002-04:00

Manny Navarro covers the Miami Hurricanes for the Miami Herald. You can find his work at:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/
& on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/Manny_navarro

Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Navarro for answering a few Hurricanes questions prior to the Miami vs. Maryland game this weekend.

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Expectations are always going to be high for the Miami Hurricanes, but they were raised for this 2010 season based on the Top 20 finish a year ago. The expectation was that the Hurricanes would take the next-step this year, and were considered legitimate favorites to win the Atlantic Coast Conference and a dark-horse contender Nationally. There is obviously no shame in losing at Ohio State, but I suspect fans of the Hurricanes are surprised by beating they took at home to Florida State (45-17), and losing to Virginia (even when you account for the injury sustained to QB Jacory Harris). Does Head Coach Randy Shannon survive if the 'Canes do not run the table against the Terps, @Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and South Florida?"

Manny Navarro: "UM President Donna Shalala has always backed Shannon because she believes he's a good leader and has done a good job not improving the work his players have done in the classroom, but also by avoiding the police blotter. The only way I see Shannon being fired is if this team completely tanks the rest of the season and fails to play in a bowl game. The pressure isn't from inside -- it is from the outside where Hurricanes fans are tired of losing and mediocrity."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Everyone saw the devastating hit Harris sustained last-week, and it appears he will not be available for Miami this weekend. Assuming Harris is not able to play, it looks like true Frosh Stephen Morris will get the call. After being down 24 points, Morris put 3 TD's on the board against Virginia in just over 5 minutes. What did you see from him? Does the offensive play calling change any with Morris behind Center?"

Manny Navarro: "Offensive coordinator Mark Whipple isn't one to change his game plan -- regardless of who is under center. I think we saw that Saturday when Morris went under center and threw three consecutive passes to start the second half. The good news for Miami is that Morris might be the better quarterback for Whipple's system. He was handpicked by Whipple out of high school last year and played his entire senior season in a Miami-type pro style offense. He's just very young. I think the Canes will try to run the ball more this week and take the pressure off Morris. But I don't think we will see any drastic changes in playcalling. Morris will be asked to throw deep."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Hurricanes always have plenty of speed on the roster, especially at WR. Leonard Hankerson has 9 TD's, and at 6'3 215 lbs will obviously be a large target for Morris. Who else should Terp fans be aware of at the WR or TE positions?"

Manny Navarro: "Travis Benjamin has done a nice job rebounding from a sluggish start over the past weeks. He caught a 24-yard TD pass against North Carolina and had 4 catches for 78 yards at Virginia including that 60-yard touchdown catch and run. I think outside of Hankerson, Benjamin is the only real threat in the passing game Maryland should worry about. LaRon Byrd has always been an 8-15 yard possession type receiver. He'll have has catches, but nothing that breaks the game open."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Senior Damien Berry has rushed for 690 yards on 18 carries a game. I know Graig Cooper is also highly thought of. What are your thoughts on the Miami rushing attack?"

Manny Navarro: "The Canes will be shorthanded this week without Berry. But his backups are very good. Redshirt freshman Lamar Miller is Miami's most explosive back. He hasn't had many touches this season. But given some more opportunities this week with Berry out, he could be a big key for UM against Maryland. Cooper has also played sparingly. But his role should increase this week along with sophomore Mike James, who is more like Berry in terms of their physical running styles."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Terps have had better success getting to the Quarterback in recent weeks, bringing pressure from a multitude of differing looks. Is Tackle Orlando Franklin (6'7, 318 lbs) the leader of the O-line? How are the 'Canes as a pass-blocking unit?"

Manny Navarro: "Franklin was supposed to be the anchor of this line, but he's had trouble jumping early and drawing false starts. The Hurricanes have been one of the most penalized team in the country this season, ranking 118th out of 120 FBS schools. Most of them having been holding (14) and false start penalties (21). I would expect for Maryland's pressure to create more of those mental mistakes, especially with a true freshman behind center. Miami's strength on the line, really, is its young. Freshmen Seantrel Henderson and Brandon Linder are two young promising players that have helped add depth to an inexperienced offensive line. UM has only surrendered 12 sacks thus far -- a large improvement over the 35 they allowed a year ago."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Conversely Maryland is still dealing with the loss of two starters on their offensive-line, while Miami's defense leads the Nation in Tackles for Loss, and is 6th in Sacks. What can you tell me about the Front 7 Defensively for the Hurricanes? How good is Allen Bailey on the line?"

Manny Navarro: "UM coach Randy Shannon said his line has sorely missed defensive tackle Josh Holmes, who has only played in one of UM's last four games. While the line has done a good job creating problems in the backfield as well as sacks, they've been gashed in the running game. UM ranks 71st in run defense. It almost seems like all or nothing. The leader of the line is Bailey, a player Mel Kiper considers the 11th best senior in the country regardless of position. Bailey leads UM with 5.5 sacks. But at times, he can disappear. Sophomore Olivier Vernon, who has four sacks, is the best pass rusher on the team in my opinion."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "With the help of that pass-rush, the Hurricanes lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in pass-defense, allowing just 152.5 yards per game. If you were game-planning against the Hurricanes, how would you attack Miami? Assuming you had the personnel sets to do either, would you run a power-set offense with extra-blockers, or would you attempt to spread Miami out with extra-receivers?"

Manny Navarro: "If I were game-planning against Miami, I would run right at them (what Ohio State, Florida State did) and beat them with quick slant passes and screen passes. The one thing this defense does at times is over pursue and get itself out of position to make plays. Cutbacks have created a lot of problems. Throwing deep isn't smart. The corners -- Ryan Hill and Brandon Harris -- are solid. They've been taught not to get beat deep. But underneath stuff? It can work."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Maryland has two major Special Teams weapons with Torrey Smith, and Tony Logan. Has Miami been effective on their Punt and Kickoff coverages?"

Manny Navarro: "Not exactly. The Hurricanes have given up a few long returns this season and kicker/punter Matt Bosher has had to make at least a handful of key stops to prevent touchdowns. Does Miami have players who can get downfield and make plays? Yes. But that doesn't mean they always do."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Predictions for this game?"> Manny Navarro: "The Hurricanes haven't had back-to-back losses since they lost three in a row to end the 2008 season. Even though Jacory Harris is out and leading rusher Damien Berry probably won't play, I think their backups might be upgrades and more than capable of making this team better. Maryland has played well this season. But who have the Terps really beaten that's impressed you? I see a close game. Miami will win 31-24."

Fact & Opinion 9 Orioles Off-season

2010-11-04T07:07:00.004-04:00

With the usual apologies to former Baltimore Sun Columnist (and current CSNBaltimore.com contributor) John Eisenberg, here is another submission of my version of 'Fact & Opinion.'

Fact: The San Diego Padres declined their 2011 option on Jon Garland, leading some to speculate he could be of interest to the Baltimore Orioles.

Opinion: The Orioles do not need to obtain him or any other veteran starter. (Cliff Lee will not be standing at a podium at the Warehouse this Winter, so we are talking about the class of starter whose best attribute is providing innings.) I like the idea of going into Spring Training with a staff that looks like Matusz, Guthrie, Arrieta, Bergesen, and Tillman. With Britton waiting in the wings in AAA, and other internal options like VandenHurk, Berken, and Hernandez if need be.

You want to guess how Garland would fair in the AL East? Pay less attention to his '10 numbers with San Diego in those huge National League West ballparks, and more attention to his '08 numbers with the Angels. You might as well just bring back Millwood, if Garland is an actual option.

Fact: Jason Berken has announced he is on pace to begin his throwing program in December, and he has received multiple recommendations that surgery is not required.

Opinion: This is the best news of the Winter so far for the Birds. Not because I believe Berken will directly match the production he showed in the 1st-half of last-year, but because a healthy Berken only adds to the depth being assembled in the O's bullpen.

Several times prior to the off-season, Andy MacPhail stated publicly that adding someone externally to the bullpen would be something that is considered.

Right now we are looking at bullpen that includes Gonzalez, Hernandez, Johnson, and Berken. That is four. If you resign Uehara, that is five. I would expect the O's to have one of VandenHurk or Simon in the pen, that is six. Patton or a FA lefty addition would be seven.

Fact: A number of Coaching staff moves have occurred. Pitching Coach Rick Kranitz moved to the Astros, and appears that he will be replaced by Mark Connor. The Crow will no longer be on the bench, and has been replaced by Jim Presley. Rick Adair has been named the bullpen coach. Wayne Kirby will be the coach at 1st, and in a bit of surprise Juan Samuel will likely be back at 3rd. If Don Wakamatsu does not get a Managerial gig of his own, he is the leading candidate to be Showalter's bench-coach.

Opinion: I really do not care about any of these moves beyond the idea that I am happy that Showalter is getting to formulate his coaching staff as he deems fit. There has been plenty of discussion about Crowley over the years, and my feelings have always been mixed. A lot of players directly stated they liked working with him, and that he improved their swing mechanics technically. The results though showed the Orioles were consistently mediocre at taking pitches, working counts, and getting on-base. I'm happy Crowley is staying in the organization, and also excited that a new voice will be heard in the O's dugout. I thought it was interesting that Matusz had spoke out publicly about his desire for Kranitz to return. Based on that alone, I would have been tempted to bring him back. All-in-all though, that would have been the easy decision. It is better that despite Matusz's proclamation, that Showalter surrounded himself with the coach he was more comfortable with.

I was surprised that Samuel was going to be named to the staff. After-all he was not part of the staff when Showalter took over. Still, Showalter did go out of his way to thank Samuel for his contributions before he (Showalter) was hired. Also, we all heard about the respect the team had for Samuel during his time as Manager.

Fact: Peter Gammons recently wrote that he believes the Detroit Tigers will be willing to give Victor Martinez a 4 year deal.

Opinion: I believe Martinez will be pursued by the O's, but would be surprised if the Orioles were willing to offer 4 years.

Fact: The Tigers declined their option on Jhonny Peralta, but Detroit still has interest in resigning the SS.

Opinion: Peralta is 28, and has been just a .700 OPS hitter over the previous two seasons (.748 for his career). He is also known as a mediocre SS (also nearly 300 career games at 3rd) that will make the routine play, that has limited range. I'll still take him over Izturis if Detroit does not get him resigned.That is not me not valuing defense, it just my belief that Izturis is not a Ozzie Smith or Belanger, and because of that you can justify bringing him back. He is the worst everyday offensive player in the Majors. Peralta has had 3 seasons of 20+ homers, and brings some upside.

Brief thoughts from Terps Exhibition Win

2010-11-02T08:34:00.004-04:00

The University of Maryland faced external opposition for the first time in this 2010-11 season last-night, as they beat Division 2 Florida Southern 106-58 in an exhibition.

There are only so many things you can take away from an exhibition rout against inferior competition. While fun to think about, the transitive relation argument of Florida Southern competing with Butler (70-50 loss Saturday night) has limited to no value in reality.

However, there are a couple of things to take note of.

Prior to the game, some of the things I was looking for were:

Question 1) PG play with Bowie, Howard, and Stoglin. How do they set-up the offense? How do they handle pressure?

Answer 1) Bowie got just over 20 minutes, which is about the playing time I am expecting to see from him this year. He finished with 15 points, 6 assists, 3 turnovers, and 5 steals. I expect Bowie to have trouble as a PG, if he is asked to work against zones and in 1/2 court-sets. If he gets the opportunity to play up and down games, and run; he is going to be productive.

Howard was the first-guard off the bench, and while he did not score - he did finish with 5 assists, vs. just 1 turnover. Stoglin built off his strong outing in the scrimmage, with 9 points (5 for 5 from the line), and 4 boards. In reverse of Howard, Stoglin had 5 turnovers vs. just 1 assist.

Coach Williams has 3 different options who are each going to provide some-level of production. That is the key point to take away here.

Question 2) The game does not figure to be close at the end, so asking who handles the ball down the stretch really will be hard to judge tomorrow. I will be interested to see who Coach Williams puts on the floor to start the 2nd-half. He has talked about using multiple lineups, so that bears watching.

Answer 2) I have not confirmed it, but it appears that Williams had his initial starting lineup of Bowie, Tucker, Mosley, Gregory, and Williams back on the floor to start the 2nd-half. I personally like this, and would like to see this continue. The question that will be answered over-time, is who is on the floor at the end of close games?

Question 3) We keep hearing about improved athleticism, and a team that will spend more time pressing (and using the press to run and jump-start the offense), does that show tomorrow?

Answer 3) Every report from last night talks about the athleticism that was on display from the Terrapins. The fact this is noticeable to everyone, including to the returning players is important. I understand that even a good Division 2 team (FSU returns 4 starters, was 25-5 last-year, 13-3 in their Sunshine State Conference, and a preseason #5 overall in D2) does not have the athleticism, size, or depth to compete with a Major-Conference Division 1 team. Still, Maryland going on a 45-7 run based on their ability to run and pressure the ball is a very good sign. When/if this team struggles in 1/2 court sets, or shooting against a zone-defense, they should have the ability to pressure the ball and manufacture their offense through their defense.

Question 4) I'm very interested to see the play at PF tomorrow with Gregory, Padgett and to a lesser extent Pankey. The way Gregory and Padgett are going to help the Terps this year, is on the glass and by blocking shots. With their height/size and athletic advantages over the Mocs, this match-up should be exploited tomorrow.

Answer 4) 9 points, 7 boards, 2 blocks for Gregory in 22 mts. If Gregory gives the Terps this on a regular-basis, MD will be a difficult game for anyone. Padgett was the first big off the bench, and had 5 points, 5 boards (4 offensive) in 13 minutes. It is a bit surprising to me that Padgett had zero blocks during his time on the floor. Pankey got 10 minutes of his own, and also had 5 pts, and 5 boards. It seems clear that Pankey is healthy enough, to give you roughly the same production that Padgett provided last-year. That is an improvement to the bench.

I believe the 14 minutes of action that Weijs got last-night came mostly at Center behind Williams, but I do not want to ignore his contribution. There are multiple positive reports to be found all over the web of how well he ran the floor. 5 boards, and 4 blocks is excellent production from him (as is the 14 minutes of play). For two seasons Maryland has received nothing from Goins. The addition of Weijs over Goins is another improvement to the bench.

Question 5) Jordan Williams and Sean Mosley stepped-up yesterday in the scrimmage and immediately reminded their fellow Terrapins that they will be the leaders of this team. You want to see that continue tomorrow, but we need to see a 3rd join them as an option you can regularly rely on. To me that player has to be Cliff Tucker. In the exhibition tomorrow, and in the 2K Sports Regional Round games vs. Seattle, College of Charleston, and Maine it is important that Tucker gets established as a scorer.

Answer 5) You got the games you expected from Williams and Mosley, and most importantly Tucker had an excellent outing. Tucker finished with 15 points, 10 assists, 0 turnovers, 4 steals, and a block. I fully expect Tucker will average 10-12 points per game. If he is closer to 13 to 15 ppg, that is a tremendous difference. The key for Tucker this season is going to be how consistent can he be? It is very important that the Terps get Tucker the ball during the upcoming 3 games to start the season.

Overall Notes:

When you win by 48 points, there are going to be plenty of positives. Maryland handled the boards like they should have (55-33), had 10 blocks, and 13 steals.

The production of Palsson so far has been the surprise to me. He produced in the scrimmage with four 3's, and he chipped in two more last night in the exhibition. 8 points, 5 boards from him is interesting. If he continues to hit shots from outside, he will find minutes on the floor when other teams go zone against the Terps.

The only real negative of the night is the poor free-throw shooting (18 for 30). As I mentioned, Stoglin though was 5 for 5. If that is indicative of things to come, he might find himself with the ball in his hands at the end of close games.

Vote 4 Baltimore Sports and Life! Baltimore Sun 2010 Mobbies

2010-11-01T22:23:00.003-04:00

Hello all,

The Baltimore Sun is honoring the best Maryland blogs through their Mobbies awards. Baltimore Sports and Life has been nominated in the best Oriole Blog, best Ravens blog, and best Terps blog categories.

Voting for the Mobbies starts tomorrow (Nov. 2nd) at 8am, and lasts through Nov. 12th at 5pm.
This link below to the nominations page, will change over to the voting page as of tomorrow:
http://data.baltimoresun.com/mobbies/2010/voting/

1) Any votes cast before 8 a.m. tomorrow will be thrown out.
2) To be eligible, a voter MUST be a registered user of baltimoresun.com. Or Facebook, Yahoo, Gmail, etc. etc.
3) You can VOTE for BSL once DAILY! Registered users get one vote per category per 24-hour period.

Thank-you for your help!

Cheers,
Chris

Terps Exhibition vs. Florida Southern Tomorrow

2010-10-31T09:35:00.003-04:00

After a public scrimmage yesterday, the University of Terrapins will play their lone exhibition against Division 2 power Florida Southern tomorrow night.

If you did not see it, here is a good recap of the scrimmage from the Terps official site:

http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/103010aaa.html

Florida Southern should provide some good practice for the Terps. The Mocs were 25-5 overall last season, and 13-3 in the Sunshine State Conference. They have been picked to finish 2nd in the SSC this year, as they return 4 starters.

Last night FSU played without their best returning scorer (Rion Rayfield, 15.3 ppg), and were competitive in a 90-70 exhibition loss to National Runner-up Butler. At half-time the Mocs were down just 7 points (52-45) before Butler went on a 19-4 run. For the game, Butler won on the boards 41-35, and forced 15 turnovers. It will be interesting to see how Maryland does in those categories.

If Rayfield is able to play, FSU will start a 3 guard lineup. The other two guards are the brothers Terry Jenkins (12.7 ppg), and Brandon Jenkins (12.2 ppg). The Florida Southern web-site touts Andre Hawkins (6'7, 225 lbs) as a defensive 'ace'. Not a ton of height for the Mocs, as Hawkins is one of three players that is 6'7, and they have one other player that is 6'8.

Clearly what matters tomorrow is not who Maryland faces, but how the Terps use the 40 minutes of playing-time to improve.

A couple of things I will be looking for:

1) PG play with Bowie, Howard, and Stoglin. How do they set-up the offense? How do they handle pressure?

2) The game does not figure to be close at the end, so asking who handles the ball down the stretch really will be hard to judge tomorrow. I will be interested to see who Coach Williams puts on the floor to start the 2nd-half. He has talked about using multiple lineups, so that bears watching.

3) We keep hearing about improved athleticism, and a team that will spend more time pressing (and using the press to run and jump-start the offense), does that show tomorrow?

4) I'm very interested to see the play at PF tomorrow with Gregory, Padgett and to a lesser extent Pankey. The way Gregory and Padgett are going to help the Terps this year, is on the glass and by blocking shots. With their height/size and athletic advantages over the Mocs, this match-up should be exploited tomorrow.

5) Jordan Williams and Sean Mosley stepped-up yesterday in the scrimmage and immediately reminded their fellow Terrapins that they will be the leaders of this team. You want to see that continue tomorrow, but we need to see a 3rd join them as an option you can regularly rely on. To me that player has to be Cliff Tucker. In the exhibition tomorrow, and in the 2K Sports Regional Round games vs. Seattle, College of Charleston, and Maine it is important that Tucker gets established as a scorer.

Terps dismantle Wake Forest; expectations raised?

2010-10-31T08:37:00.003-04:00

The University of Maryland dismantled Wake Forest 62-14 yesterday, and may have dramatically raised the expectations for the remainder of their season.

QB Danny O'Brien did not throw for a lot of yardage during his 3 Quarters of play, but he did toss for 4 more TD's, and did not turn the ball over. The telecasters yesterday were making the same point you hear over and over about O'Brien, that he spends countless time studying his craft and looking to improve. The young QB now has 13 TD's to just 3 picks for the year.

Maryland demolished the Demon Deacons across the board, and impressively received contributions from numerous members of their roster.

Some of the notable contributions included:

1) The running game had success, with Meggett, Scott, and Adams each having at-least 50 yards rushing.

2) O'Brien's 4 TD passes went to 4 different receivers. McCree had his first college TD, with a great diving catch in the end-zone. FB Haroon Brown also had his first TD, and Dorsey had two more catches.

3) Baltz again knocked-in two more FG attempts, and has done a very good job in replace of Nick Ferrara.

4) The pressure-defense and schemes of Don Brown are starting to influence games. 5 sacks yesterday, and plenty of confused looks from Wake Forest about exactly what defense they were looking at.

5) DT A.J. Francis was disrupting the line of scrimmage, and having his way with the interior Wake blockers.

6) Obviously have to point out LB Ryan Donohue, and S Kenny Tate for their interceptions which they took back to the house. Tate and Perez are causing a lot of havoc at Safety, with Brown moving them all over the field.

7) Wake's RB Josh Harris had rushed for over 240 yards against Virginia Tech, but was held to just 27 yards by MD. This was the 4th consecutive ACC game where the Terps held their opponent to under 100 yards rushing.

8) As the game was over by the time the 4th Quarter started, the Coaching staff made the correct decision to get the starters out of the game and get the reserves some-time. That actual game experience is huge for those back-ups. One player who made the most of that playing time was OG Pete White. White (a former 4star recruit) had a great pulling-block to spring D.J. Adams for a TD run.

When this season started, I picked Maryland to finish 7-5, 4-4 in the ACC, and 2-3 in the Atlantic Division. Last Sunday I stated that if the Terps beat Wake as expected, things would start to get intriguing. How MD won yesterday makes the next 4 games extremely interesting.

Up-Next:

The Terps are 6-2 overall, and 3-1 in the ACC. They will head to Miami to face the Hurricanes. Yesterday Miami lost at Virginia, and lost their starting QB Jacory Harris to a vicious hit early in the 1st-half.

Last-week I wrote that the road-map to 8-4 was beating Wake, splitting the road games at Miami and UVA, and splitting the home games vs. FSU, and NCST to end the year. I said you would have to expect a loss at Miami. After yesterday, I want to see the Terps get greedy. Maryland had known they have plenty of athletic talent, but they have not played with a tremendous amount of confidence. You have to have success on the field, and learn to believe you are capable. If the Terps were still doubting what they were capable of prior to yesterday, they are not doubting themselves any more.

After a 2 win season last-year, this would be a very good turn-around season if the Terps finish with 8 wins, and a bowl appearance. The goal now though has to winning the Atlantic Division, and getting to the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte.

ACC Atlantic Standings (and remaining schedules for leaders):

Florida State: 6-2 overall, 4-1 ACC (UNC, Clemson, @UMD, Florida)
NCST: 6-2, 3-1 (@Clemson, Wake, @UNC, @UMD)
MD: 6-2, 3-1 (@Miami, @UVA, FSU, NCST)
Clemson: 4-4, 2-3
Boston College: 3-5, 1-4
Wake Forest: 2-6, 1-4

NFL Picks Week 8

2010-10-31T08:19:00.002-04:00

As always picks are head-to-head and not against the spread.

Record last-week: 10-4
Season record: 62-40
Record last-year: 169-79

Buffalo @ Kansas City: Kansas City
Carolina @ St.Louis: St.Louis
Denver vs. San Francisco (London): San Francisco
Washington @ Detroit: Detroit
Green Bay @ New York Jets: New York Jets
Miami @ Cincinnati: Miami
Jacksonville @ Dallas: Dallas
Tennessee @ San Diego: San Diego
Tampa Bay @ Arizona: Tampa Bay
Minnesota @ New England: New England
Seattle @ Oakland: Oakland
Pittsburgh @ New Orleans: Pittsburgh
Houston @ Indianapolis: Indianapolis

Faust verbals to MD; Some Quick Thoughts

2010-10-28T19:19:00.006-04:00

The University of Maryland has received the verbal of 2011 SG Nick Faust. The local Baltimore (City College) product is ranked as a Top 25 recruit by all services.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/basketball/recruiting/player-Desmond-Hubert-87011

Assuming Faust follows through on his verbal, with his Letter of Intent next-month, we are looking at a 2010-11 roster as follows:

1) Howard, Gibbs
2) Faust, Stoglin
3) Mosley, Parker, Palsson
4) Padgett, Pankey
5) Williams, Weijs

Thoughts on Faust's verbal:

1) You have to love the immediate positive dividends received from hiring Assistant Coach Bino Ranson. Ranson was brought in to help with Baltimore recruiting, and he has helped secure the best recruit in the area, and one of the best in the Nation.

1a) While Ranson will receive deserved accolades for this addition, the entire staff deserves credit as well.

2) Maryland has all of the components necessary for legitimate National title runs during the '11-'12, and '12-'13 seasons. The Terps are absolutely loaded at the guard and wing positions. There are positive options at PF, and Center is obviously locked with Williams. Plus the Front-Court will gain further depth with another signing or two for this class.

3) The Terps have multiple positive options existing for Front-Court additions with Baru, Space, Lewis, and Hubert. Get any of the two of them and you have inked a very strong class.

Baru
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=4914407

Space
http://rivals.yahoo.com/texashoops/basketball/recruiting/player-Antwan-Space-99381

Lewis
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/recruiting/2010/06/st_frances_greg_lewis_holds_his_own_at_top_100_camp.html

Hubert
http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/basketball/recruiting/player-Desmond-Hubert-87011

4) I think the arrival of Faust only makes it more likely that Jordan Williams stays a Terp for the duration of his eligibility. Maybe the lure of NBA dollars will get him at some-point, but unless he is projected as a Lottery pick after his Sophomore or Junior seasons, I think he will return.

5) I listed Faust as the starter at the 2G above, but clearly that will not be a foregone conclusion. Stoglin could push him, or Parker and Mosley could share the 2 and 3 positions.

6) Maryland is going to be noticeably more athletic in 2010-11 vs. the previous couple of seasons. That is only to be increased when Faust arrives.

7) It is funny how things work out. If Terrence Ross had honored his verbal to Maryland last-year, the Terps would not have brought Howard on-board. As excellent as Ross figures to be, Howard appears to be a positive addition in his own right. Howard figures to get plenty of playing time this year at the PG position, which is something Ross was not going to help with. Ross's minutes would have primarily been at the 2G position, and if that had occurred; Faust may not have wanted to sign with Maryland.

Defensive Adjustments

2010-10-25T18:01:00.004-04:00

The Baltimore Ravens are 9th in the league in Total Defense, including 8th against the Pass even after yesterday.

Since the year prior to the Super Bowl, the Ravens have made their reputation as a defense by stopping the run. Currently the Ravens are 18th in the league in this category.
Baltimore is also tied for 18th in the league in sacks with 12 (San Diego leads with 25, Tampa has the least with 5).

What that illustrates is what we see with our own eyes. This is a good defense, that has some flaws.

We all understand that a new waive of external talent is not going to be walking through the doors. So the questions are, does there need to be a philosophy adjustment at the Castle? Should the existing personnel be used differently?

Coach Harbaugh is fond of saying the Ravens will adjust their personnel accordingly week to week to give them the best opportunity to win that particular match-up. An example of that would be the Ravens using a 4-3 scheme at-times yesterday, even though their typical base defense is a 3-4.

Right now the base defense looks like:

Option 1)
Base 3-4 now
Redding, Gregg, Ngata
Johnson, Lewis, Ellerbe, Suggs
Washington, Reed, Landry, Webb

If the Ravens are going to stick with the 3-4, I would like to see the following adjustments to their 'starting/base' personnel:

Option 2)
Base 3-4 what I would like to see
Cody, Ngata, Suggs
Johnson, Lewis, Ellerbe, McClain
Wilson, Reed, Landry, Webb

or

Option 3)
Cody, Ngata, Kruger
Johnson, Lewis, Ellerbe, Suggs
Wilson, Reed, Landry, Webb

Ultimately though what I would like to see is the Ravens going back to primarily utilizing a 4-3 defense.

What I envision would look like:

Option 4)
4-3 base
Kruger, Cody, Ngata, Suggs (Redding, Gregg, McKinney, Jones)
Johnson, Lewis, Ellerbe (Kruger, McClain, Gooden)
Wilson, Reed, Landry, Webb (Washington, Carr)

or

Option 5)
Redding, Cody, Ngata, Kruger (Gregg, McKinney, Jones)
Johnson, Lewis, Suggs (McClain, Gooden)
Wilson, Reed, Landry, Webb (Washington, Carr)

In either the 3-4, or the 4-3 it should be pretty clear of what I would like to see. Basically I want the following:

1) Cody inserted as a starter getting the majority of the defensive snaps, with Gregg giving you 20 or so plays a game as a reserve.
2) Suggs and Kruger together on the outside, simply being asked to attack the QB.
3) Wilson inserted as a starting CB opposite of Webb.

There is plenty of talent here on the defensive side of the ball. I think by tinkering with their lineups and using more of their players the production can improve.

Ravens beat Buffalo in OT; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-10-24T18:50:00.005-04:00

After beating Buffalo 37-34 in Overtime at M&T Bank Stadium, the Baltimore Ravens will head to their bye with a 5-2 record.

There is plenty else to talk about, but that is the most-important take away from today. This is the National Football League, and a win is always something to be enjoyed. That is still true even when things do not go according to plan.

The Good:

1) The Ravens celebration of the 10th anniversary of their Super Bowl championship was first-class. The organization should be commended for this. Seeing the players return to Baltimore and allowing everyone (fans and plays alike) to reminisce to that season was fun. Seeing Ray run out of the tunnel meeting up with his former teammates, and hearing the ovation Brigance received at half-time were the highlights for me.

2) As we said above, a win is a win. There is plenty we will critique about today, but the Ravens ended today with the win. When they were down 24-10, they could have folded. When the Bills forced OT, the Ravens could have folded. Give credit to the Ravens for finding a way to win when they obviously did not play their best.

3) There were negative aspects of Flacco's game we will discuss below, but overall it was another home-game with good results for the 3rd year QB. Anyone overly critical about Flacco today (after he passed for 250 yards, 3 TD's, and zero picks) is missing all the positives that he brings to the table.

4) Ed Reed returned and provided 2 picks. The interceptions did not surprise me, but I was surprised by him being able to play as many snaps as he did.

5) One week after getting zero carries, McGahee had 11 carries for 64 yards (5.8 yards per carry) and a TD.

6) I did not expect Kruger to play this week, so I was pleased to see him on the field. The Ravens pass-rush was again not existent, but Kruger was helping some by the end of the game.

7) Josh Wilson fumbled a Kickoff Return, which lead to a Buffalo TD. Many players have the tendency to mentally shrink-away after something like that, but Wilson came back and recovered CJ Spiller's kickoff fumble, and also made a couple of plays in pass-defense late in the game. This was a good example of staying focused after adversity.

8) Heap not only took the field this week, he made plays catching 2 TD's.

9) I called out Kelly Gregg the other day stating he had yet to make a play this season. I thought Gregg was active today, and made several positive plays against the run.

10) The fumble that Ray Lewis forced was fairly remarkable. Bills fans are probably wondering where the whistle was, but give Lewis credit for making yet another play.

The Bad:

1) Ryan Fitzpatrick has been playing well since replacing Trent Edwards as the Buffalo starter. The Bills established their run offense early, and then opened-up the offense with numerous 4 and 5 WR sets. Fitzpatrick got rid of the ball quickly, and made plays. I have no problem with tipping the cap to him, and giving him some credit. While giving Fitzpatrick and the Bills credit, it was embarrassing that group of offensive players carved-up the Ravens for 506 yards.

1a) Buffalo dominated the time of possession 38:36 minutes to 25:30 minutes. The main reason for this is that the Bills were 11 for 17 on 3rd down. The Ravens are having trouble getting teams off of the field because they are not able to bring pressure.

1b) The Ravens held the Bills to 3.8 yards a carry, but Buffalo was successful enough running the ball that it helped open up their passing game.

2) One of the reasons the 2000 Defense was so exceptional was that they were a great fundamental tackling team. They did not miss tackles in the open-field. The Ravens of 2010 are better than most, but have to improve their tackling to become truly elite.

3) With the Ravens unable to get any pass-rush (against a pretty limited Buffalo offensive-line), Fitzpatrick was able to attack the Baltimore Secondary. Tomorrow Fabian Washington will be public enemy number 1 on the Baltimore sports talk air-waives. Some of that will be deserved, as Washington had a very rough day in coverage and was constantly beat by Lee Evans, and Steve Johnson. When people criticize Washington, I hope there is at-least some acknowledgment of how hard it is to be a DB when the opposing QB is allowed to step-up in the pocket repeatedly.

3a) Washington overall is a decent Corner, with good speed and solid cover skills. He does not help much against the run, and there will be some days like today when he can be exposed. There is no reason to get overly worked-up about him.

4) Like I said above, overall it was another good home game for Flacco. There were again instances of him missing (not even looking at) open receivers, and seemingly being uncomfortable at attacking the middle of the field. In the 2nd Quarter, Flacco was sacked on 3rd and 8 for a 18 yard-loss. Cundiff converted the FG, but Flacco not throwing the ball away could have cost the Ravens points.

5) If you look back in the archives, I was not overly enthusiastic when Houshmandzadeh was signed. Six games into his tenure as a Raven, I now feel compelled to argue on his behalf. It seemed like every-time he was on the field today, he was used as a decoy during a Ray Rice run. The man had 92 catches with the Bengals in 2008, and 79 with Seattle last year. He has 9 receptions in 7 games with Baltimore. The Ravens did not bring him to the organization to be a decoy, they need to figure out how to get him the ball during the bye.

6) Ray Rice has had one 100 yard rushing game this season, and is having similar issues as a receiver out of the backfield. Every-team that faces Baltimore commits to stopping him first. If teams are overly concerned with stopping Rice, it seems like it would open up other opportunities for the receivers.

7) With the Ravens up 10 points in the 4th Quarter, Baltimore obtained a Buffalo fumble and started their possession at the Bills 9 yard-line. The mishandle by Flacco and McGahee cost the Ravens points, and allowed the Bills to again gain some momentum.

The Ugly:

1) Earlier this week I wrote a blog asking why Ray Lewis was playing today. I stated that if Lewis (and other vets like Heap, Gregg, Mason, Birk) needed to be on the field today to beat Buffalo, than the Ravens were not a legit contender.

I am stubborn (and some might correctly say dumb) enough to believe I may have been partly correct. If those players were all needed to beat the Bills, you can rightfully question how much of a contender this Ravens team is.

I think overall though, the results today showed my premise was flawed. As much rest as possible for the veterans on this team is important. It is not as important as making sure you beat teams you are supposed to beat. Even bad NFL teams are still professionals. Today's game (and the Cleveland at New Orleans game) were good reminders of 'On Any Given Sunday.'

2) Giving up 10 point leads in the 4th Quarter on back to back weeks was hard to watch.

Up-Next:

The Ravens will be off next week, as their bye comes at a good time. There is enough talent on this Baltimore roster for the Ravens to achieve their ultimate goals. Right now though you have to say this is a very capable team, not exactly an elite team. How the Ravens use their bye to improve will be important.

2000 Ravens vs. 2010 Ravens Pt. 3

2010-10-24T08:49:00.002-04:00

We finish up our 3 part comparison of the 2000 Ravens vs. the Ravens of today by taking a look at the Coaching staffs and declaring which team we think is better overall.

Links to the previous two posts can be found here:

http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/10/2000-ravens-vs-2010-ravens-pt-2.html
http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/10/2000-ravens-vs-2010-ravens-pt-1.html

2000 Coaches:
Head Coach: Brian Billick
DC: Marvin Lewis
OC/ QB Coach: Matt Cavanaugh
Assist HC/ DB Coach: Steve Shafer
Def Assist Coach: Mike Smith
Defensive Line Coach: Rex Ryan
LB Coach: Jack Del Rio
Secondary Coach: Donnie Henderson
ST Assistant: Bennie Thompson
TE Coach: Wade Harman
WR Coach: Milt Jackson
RB Coach: Matt Simon
OL Coach: Jim Colletto
ST Coach: Russ Parnell

2010 Coaches:
Head Coach: John Harbaugh
DC: Greg Mattison
OC: Cam Cameron
Asst. HC / Special Teams Coordinator: Jerry Rosburg
Def. Asst / Secondary: Roy Anderson
DL Coach: Clarence Brooks
TE Coach: Wade Harman
WR Coach: Jim Hostler
RB Coach: Wilbert Montgomery
OL Coach: John Matsko
QB Coach: Jim Zorn
Sr. Offensive Asst: Al Saunders

I am not qualified to give any real break-down of the assistant position coaches. Any analysis from me on that topic would be a pure guesstimate. What I do note is that Marvin Lewis, Rex Ryan, Jack Del Rio, and Mike Smith would all become Head Coaches in the NFL. Donnie Henderson became a Defensive Coordinator. Even when accounting for the experience of Cameron, Zorn, and Saunders I think that gives the 2000 staff a pretty strong edge.

I think even Mattison's family would acknowledge that Lewis gets the edge at Defensive Coordinator.

Plenty of people are down on Cameron (myself, I think his offensive can be a bit 'cute'), but I do think he is superior to Cavanaugh. One thing I'll credit Cavanaugh for though is that his teams always had a good rushing offense.

To even call this even, you would have to give Harbaugh a considerable edge over Billick. I am not sure how one could make that claim. Billick was 80-64 in the regular-season, 5-3 in the post-season. Harbaugh inherited a team that was injury-riddled and underachieved the year prior. To his credit he took them to the AFC Championship game the following year. He runs a disciplined Training Camp, and the Ravens have typically played disciplined during his tenure. 3 Playoff victories (all on the road) in two-seasons is obviously the definition of successful. Harbaugh is currently 24-14 in the regular-season, and 3-2 in the post-season.

To compare Billick and Harbaugh equally, you have to see Harbaugh handle further adversity. Billick's best coaching job was two years after the Super Bowl victory, when he took a gutted roster and made that team competitive. Harbaugh has the attention of his locker-room now, but his message is still relatively new. How does it play in Year 5, Year 6? Even despite the success of the team these past two-years, you hear plenty of rumbles of unhappy players. It will be interesting to see what happens if/when Harbaugh has a team that does not meet expectations.

I personally would lean towards Billick being better, but I understand those that feel that way about Harbaugh. They both have their strengths. What you can not say is that either one is vastly superior to the other. If you can not say that Harbaugh wins in a landslide, the 2000 staff has to get the win here.

EDGE: 2000

In conclusion we ranked the units as following:

QB: 2010
RB: 2000
FB: 2010
WR: 2010
TE: Even
OL: 2010
DL: 2000
LB: 2000
Secondary: 2010
ST: 2000
Coaches: 2000

Breaking it down that is 5 wins for each side with a tie. Pretty much as even as you can get. I think you can make a reasonable case for either side, but I lean towards the 2000 roster. The 2010 team would have zero chance of running against the 2000 team. That is not disrespecting Rice, it is just an opinion born from watching what that Ravens team did to opposing RB's. (Check out the AFC Central RB's from that year, plenty of talent).

Knowing that, Cameron would utilize his 3 WR sets, and go after the 2000 Ravens through the air. Boldin and McAlister would be a battle. Mason and Housmandzadeh would have success against Starks, and Bailey/Poindexter/Trapp. More passing from the 2010 Ravens, would mean more pass-blocking, and I think the current line would have trouble dealing with McCrary and Boulware.

If Peyton Hillis can run up the middle on this Ravens team, they would likely have trouble stopping Jamal Lewis in Lewis' rookie year. It would not be enough for Ngata to beat the 2000 Ravens interior starters, he would need to dominate that match-up. It is fair to ask where the 2000 Ravens would go, if Sharpe was taken away as a weapon.

You are probably looking at a close game well into the 4th Quarter. Those type of games often come down to Special Teams. Again, with Lewis and Stover the 2000 team gets the edge.

I'm partial to the 2000 roster, but the 2010 team has all the talent necessary to write their own chapter of history. Perhaps 10 years from now, we will be comparing the 2010 Super Bowl Ravens to an up-start 2020 Ravens team?

Maryland wins at Boston College, moves to 5-2

2010-10-24T07:38:00.003-04:00

The University of Maryland won an important game yesterday at Boston College, moving to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. (Tied for 2nd in the ACC Atlantic)

The 24-21 victory was a pretty important event for the Terps. Not only did they claim their first road victory since at Clemson in 2008, they won a game they were not expected to win. By doing so they are set-up pretty well for the rest of the year.

The remaining 5 games for the Terps are:

10/30: vs. Wake Forest
11/6: @ Miami
11/13: @ Virginia
11/20: Florida State
11/27: NCST

Wake has been struggling, but had a bye this week, so they will be healthy and prepared.
If the Terps beat the Demon Deacons like they should, things get somewhat intriguing.

You beat Wake, you are suddenly 6-2, 3-1 in the ACC. You would expect Maryland to lose at Miami, and against the Seminoles. With the game against FSU at-home, who knows though? UVA always plays the Terps tough, and winning that game on the road will not be easy for MD. Still the Cavs best game all-season is their close loss to Southern Cal. That is certainly a game the Terps should probably win.

On a neutral-field NCST would probably be favored against the Terps, but at Byrd this will basically be a pick'em type of game.

So the road map is there. Beat Wake, split with Miami and UVA, and split with FSU and NCST. That would have Maryland finishing 8-4 overall, and 5-3 in the ACC. They would probably be good enough to finish 3rd in the ACC Atlantic Division. After a 2 win season in 2009, that would be a pretty nice turnaround. You add a bowl win to that season, and you have had a successful year.

These last two-weeks for Maryland at Clemson and at Boston College have been interesting to watch. The box-score says the Terps lost by 24 vs. the Tigers, but if you watched that game Maryland certainly had their opportunities. The end-result was disappointing considering the Terps out-gained Clemson by 140 yards. O'Brien impressively threw for over 300 yards in Death Valley, but was picked off 3 times. MD was never able to get their running game going, but for the first time in 2010 established their TE's as Furstenburgh, and Yeatman both had good games. Defensively USC transfer Antwine Perez was making his presence felt. The Terps were done-in by their a combination of their turnovers, their penalties (10 for 93 yards), Clemson kickoff and interception returns for TD's, and just a complete inability to stop the Tigers' DE Da'Quan Bowers.

Coming off that loss, the Terps could have easily seen their season go downhill with a loss at Boston College yesterday. BC has been struggling, but at-home and given their recent history against Maryland - had to be considered the favorite (Vegas had the Eagles as a 4.5 point favorite).

Terps DT AJ Francis stated this week this game was a must-win. I respected and agreed with his opinion, but if MD had lost yesterday, the rest of the season would have become increasingly difficult after having made such a public proclamation. Winning yesterday became a harder proposition during the week, when starting Offensive Tackle Pete DeSouza broke his legs driving his motor scooter. For the Terps to respond to those challenges, was good to see. You certainly have to be impressed with O'Brien's outing yesterday. 39 pass-attempts, with zero picks is a big deal. The Terps would need every one of his 3 TD's.

I believe in the skills of both Da'Rel Scott, and Davin Meggett and understand they are being limited by their offensive line, and defenses that are keying on the Maryland run game. While I understand their challenges, the production simply has to improve. A combined 24 carries for 58 yards is not acceptable. Franklin needs to either spread the field and make opposing defenses pay for stacking the box, or he needs to alter his offense to incorporate a jumbo package to help get the running game going.

The passing-attack had a good day as 6 different receivers caught at-least 2 passes from O'Brien. I really liked seeing Boykins and Dorsey get involved with the offense. One disappointment was that the TE's did not catch a pass this week. For the second-straight week Perez had a big game at Safety, this week coming up with 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery.

NFL Picks Week 7

2010-10-24T06:53:00.002-04:00

As always, picks are head-to-head and not against the spread.

Record last week: 10-4
Season record: 52-36
Record last year: 169-79

Cincinnati @ Atlanta: Atlanta
Washington @ Chicago: Washington
St.Louis @ Tampa: St. Louis
San Francisco @ Carolina: San Francisco
Buffalo @ Baltimore: Baltimore
Philadelphia @ Tennessee: Tennessee
Jacksonville @ Kansas City: Kansas City
Pittsburgh @ Miami: Pittsburgh
Cleveland @ New Orleans: New Orleans
Arizona @ Seattle: Seattle
New England @ San Diego: San Diego
Oakland @ Denver: Oakland
Minnesota @ Green Bay: Green Bay
New York @ Dallas: New York

Why is Ray Lewis playing this weekend?

2010-10-21T09:51:00.001-04:00

If you need Ray Lewis on the field Sunday to be able to beat the Buffalo Bills at home, you are not a legitimate contender.

What is the upside in him playing? The upside in him not playing is that in-conjunction with the bye, the 15 year veteran could be as rested as possible for the stretch run.

The above argument for resting Lewis applies to other veterans as well.

After getting crushed by Brandon Meriweather last Sunday, Todd Heap has been dealing with pain this week. Why not give him that extra-week of rest and allow Dickson and Pitta to receive some additional playing time?

The next-time Kelly Gregg makes a play, it will be his first of the season. The Ravens spent a 2nd round pick on Terrence Cody. The Ravens should want to see what Cody can do anyway, but they should be excited by the opportunity to give Gregg some additional rest.

Derrick Mason will be 37 years-old in January. You do not need him to win this weekend. Take a seat, rest-up and we will see you against Miami. This would also allow the Ravens to find a few additional balls for Houshmandzadeh before the bye, which would probably help him mentally.

How about an extra-week off for Matt Birk? You could slide Chester over to Center, and get Cousins some time at Guard.

Someone somewhere is reading this and believes I am crazy. What I believe is that by the Ravens own admission the only way this season can end positively is by winning it all. If the Ravens are going to advance to Dallas, and win their 2nd Lombardi Trophy the above veterans will each be needed to contribute. A little additional rest now might allow them to contribute more later. At a minimum, it will help have those backups better prepared to help if called upon later this season.

2000 Ravens vs. 2010 Ravens Pt. 2

2010-10-20T20:20:00.005-04:00

We continue our comparison of the 2000 Ravens vs. the Ravens of today, by taking a looking at the Defenses and Special Teams.

The initial post which compared the respective offenses can be found here:
http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/10/2000-ravens-vs-2010-ravens-pt-1.html

2000 Defensive Line: Burnett, Adams, Siragusa, McCrary (Webster, Washington, Dalton)
2010 Defensive Line: Redding, Gregg, Ngata (McKinney, Cody, Kruger, Jones, Divens)

It does have to be noted that the 2000 defense was using a 4-3 scheme, while in 2010 the Ravens use a 3-4 base so a head-to-head comparison does have some limitations. Still, I'm taking Burnett over Redding at LE. Gregg has been a shell of the player he was since he returned from his micro-fracture surgery, while Sam Adams would be selected to the Pro Bowl 3 times after the 2000 season.

Ngata is the best lineman overall here, and is obviously better than Siragusa. I loved what McCrary brought to the Ravens. A Pro Bowler in the '98, and '99 seasons he had that constant motor, and helped define that defense as much as anyone outside of Ray. His pass-rush off the edge was huge for that team, and is something the 2010 Ravens lack.

I think Cody will be better player than any reserve on the 2000 team, but Webster, and Dalton had solid careers while Cody has yet to make a play in the league.

EDGE: 2000

2000 LB's: Boulware, Lewis, Sharper (A. Thomas, C.Brown, Brigance, Jackson)
2010 LB's: Johnson, Lewis, Ellerbe, Suggs (Gooden, McClain, Phillips)

As we discussed with the D-line, you do have to consider that the 2000 team was using a 4-3 base, while the 2010 team uses the 3-4. Any discussion / comparison of these Line-backing units starts with Lewis. While Lewis remains feared and among the best LB's in the game today, Lewis was unquestionably the best LB in the game in 2000. You simply have to take the Lewis of 2000 over the Lewis of 2010.

Boulware and Suggs is an interesting match-up. Boulware was 25 years-old in 2000, and had already been to two Pro Bowls. (He would go to two more). He has 7 sacks during that Super Bowl season, and was a year away from the best year of his career (15 sacks). Suggs has just recently turned 28 and has been to three Pro Bowls of his own. In 126 career games Boulware had 70 sacks, and 1 pick. In 115 career games, Suggs has had 61.5 sacks, with 5 picks. I am a little partial to Boulware, but this is basically even.

Sharper was a very solid player, who was always overlooked playing with Lewis and Boulware. During 2003-04 with the Texans, Sharper led the league in tackles. Similar to Sharper, Johnson is often underrated today. I lean towards Sharper, as he had 4 full seasons in the league after 2000, and I do not believe Johnson has that amount of time left.

So with the starters, I think the 2000 Ravens are ahead. Where the 2010 Ravens pick-up some ground is with the backups. Thomas had a great NFL career, but his rookie season was spent mostly on the bench. Also, for most of his first two seasons he was on the D-line. Brigance was a strong Special Teams player, but never got the chance to play much LB at the NFL level. Ellerbe, Gooden, and McClain are each young with their careers still ahead of them. When you look at a team like Buffalo, it is easy to believe they could each be starting somewhere.

Even though I think the 2010 backups are better, I can not give 2010 the overall edge. The 2000 starters ran sideline to sideline, and totally eliminated any semblance of a running game from the opposition. The 2010 LB's are one of the best units in the game today. The 2000 LB's are one of the best groups in the game ever.

EDGE: 2000

2000 Secondary: Starks, McAlister, Herring, Woodson (Trapp, Bailey, Mitchell, Harris, Poindexter)
2010 Secondary: Washington, Webb, Landry, Reed (Zbikowski, Carr, Nakamura, Wilson, Williams, Landry)

Starks and Washington are somewhat similar. 1st round talents with games built on speed, solid cover-skills, and limited help in run-defense. Starks seemed to make more 'big' plays. I think Webb has Pro Bowl caliber skills, but he will never have McAlister's size. McAlister was a three-time Pro Bowl selection, that was one of the best CB's of the decade.

Bailey had a nice career, but 2001 would be his last year. I like Carr, Wilson, and Williams better than the 2000 reserve corners. Landry and Herring is fairly equal.

Woodson vs. Reed is another interesting match-up. Both are among the top 100 NFL players of all-time. Both changed a lot of games with their ball-hawking skills, hitting, and ability to return the ball. Woodson's career was winding down by the time of the 2000 season, but he would go to two more Pro Bowls in '01, and '02. I think Reed still has more left in his tank. While he has not played yet this year, I think the extra 6 weeks of rest/rehab is going to allow him to finish strong this year. I want to call this in favor of Reed, but due to his injury and Woodson's leadership I will call it even.

The 2000 starting CB's are better, while the 2010 reserve CB's are deeper. The starting Safeties are also pretty even, while again the 2010 reserve Safeties are better.

As an entire group, I give a slight edge to 2010.

EDGE: 2010

2000 Special Teams: Richardson, Stover, Jermaine Lewis
2010 Special Teams: Koch, Cundiff, Parmele

Koch is really good at angling his punts, and Cundiff is doing a commendable job on his kickoffs. Stover is one of the most accurate kickers ever, and everyone would feel more comfortable with him kicking a meaningful kick over Cundiff. Parmele is not costing the Ravens field-position, but Lewis was a game-changer that made the Pro Bowl twice as a returner. Overall this is another rout in-favor of 2000.

EDGE: 2000

Part 3 will compare the Coaching staffs and discuss which team we think is better overall.

Bills Q&A with Bob DiCesare

2010-10-20T13:14:00.003-04:00

Bob DiCesare covers the Buffalo Bills for the Buffalo News.

You can find his work at:
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/

Baltimore Sports and Life appreciates Mr. DiCesare for answering a few Bills questions in preparation for this Sunday's Ravens/Bills game.

Baltimore Sports and Life: "At half-time of the Maryland/Clemson game this past weekend, Clemson University honored the Bills rookie RB C.J. Spiller by retiring his number. Spiller honored the university by donated $100,000 to the University. Certainly was a class-act. Spiller comes into this game with just 19 carries (though 13 receptions). I imagine after the bye, and with the trade of Lynch it will be priority for Buffalo to get him the ball the remainder of this season?"

Bob DiCesare: "Three was a crowd and Lynch had worn out his welcome here with his off-field antics. Certainly his departure creates a need for more carries from Spiller and Fred Jackson. I would imagine we'll see a 70-30 split favoring Jackson at this stage. He's the most underrated player on a team full of overrated players."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Lee Evans has seen his yards per reception drop from 16.1 in 2008-09, to just 12.1 this year. Is he still capable of stretching the field with better QB play?"

Bob DiCesare: "Absolutely. Evans has been a victim of circumstance, and it's sad. If he had been drafted by Indy he'd be a household name. He's paid well, but the absence of a QB (and offensive line) to maximize his talents has to be frustrating."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "I see that the 2009 1st round (Eric Wood) and 2nd round picks (Adam Levitre) are starting at RG and LG respectively. What can you tell me about these two?"

Bob DiCesare: "They provide a solid foundation for the future. I like Wood in particular. Now if they could just latch on to a couple of tackles."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Ryan Fitzpatrick has played pretty well (7 TD's vs. 2 picks) since replacing Trent Edwards as Quarterback. Do you expect the Bills to target a QB with their 1st round 2011 selection, or is an Offensive Tackle an even more pressing priority?"

Bob DiCesare: "Alas, the franchise has to go the QB route. Fitz isn't the answer long term. They need to find a QB who is, although their dismal draft history doesn't bode well. That said, they need a tackle just as badly."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Baltimore fans are familiar with starting DE Dwan Edwards. Not much of pass-rusher, but was solid against the run last year. The Bills added some youth to the line in the 2010 draft with 2nd round pick Torrell Troup, and 3rd rounder Alex Carrington. Are Troup, and Carrington pushing the starters Stroud and Williams?"

Bob DiCesare: "No."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Baltimore (Ellicott City) native Aaron Maybin is in his 2nd-year in the league, after being selected with the 11th overall pick in 2009. The OLB/DE has yet to record his first NFL sack. Why is he struggling to see the field? If he is failing to grasp pass-defense, why not just send him after the QB?"

Bob DiCesare: "He's undersized and the quickness that seemed so alluring at Penn State hasn't translated to the NFL. It was yet another example of the Bills drafting a specialty-type player when they need every-down players."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "MLB Paul Posluszy recorded 110 tackles in both 2008, and 2009 and leads the Bills in tackles here in 2010. What are his strengths and weaknesses?"

Bob DiCesare: "Great motor. Loves the game. Pretty good instincts. But he's not quick and is average at best in coverage. A solid piece to the puzzle but not the kind of LB you build a defense around."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "I note that CB Leodis McKelvin sits behind Terrence McGee, and Drayton Florence on the depth-chart. Are McGee and Florence really better cover corners?

Bob DiCesare: "McGee, without question. Florence has benefited from McKelvin's youth and inexperience which equals inconsistency."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "The Safety combination of Whitner and Byrd seems promising, and obviously would be better with an improved pass-rush. Do you like what you see out of that duo?"

Bob DiCesare: "Byrd obviously had a great rookie season but it struck my as quite a bit of serendipity -- just being in the right place at the right time. Whitner is functional, nothing more or less. He hasn't been the kind of safety who influences a game. His first-round draft sttatus indicates the Bills expected more."

Baltimore Sports and Life: "Prior to Chan Gailey being hired by the Bills, we had heard in Baltimore that former Ravens Head Coach Brian Billick might receive an interview. Was that legitimate? Was he ever considered as an option for Buffalo?"

Bob DiCesare: "Cowher wanted no part of the job. Ditto Shanahan. And the Bills were willing to put some hefty money on the table for either. What does that tell us? It's just not a very desireable job with Ralph Wilson at 91 and the organization suffering from undefined leadership. I don't see where Billick would have wanted any part of it. Any coach with high credentials would be better off waiting for a more stable situation."

2000 Ravens vs. 2010 Ravens Pt. 1

2010-10-20T07:14:00.007-04:00

10 years ago, the Baltimore Ravens won the Lombardi Trophy behind one of the best defensive units of all-time. The Ravens of today have been built with the sole goal of obtaining the organizations second World Championship.

In mid-October there is no way of definitively knowing if the 2010 Ravens will win that second title. With that in-mind, I understand a comparison of the teams is premature. Still a comparison of the talent is interesting.

My opinion is the 2000 Ravens have been sold-short a bit over the years. When you hear National talking-heads discussing that team, you are left with the feeling they think that team was a fluke. That point of view comes across solely because of the lack of respect for Dilfer, and because the offense went through that remarkable 5 game streak of zero touchdowns. That team had 4 Hall-of-Fame caliber players (Lewis, Ogden, Sharpe, and Woodson), a superb running-tandem of Jamal Lewis and Holmes, excellent Special Teams with Jermaine Lewis and Stover and of course that oppressive defense.It seems to be forgotten that they won their last 7 regular-season games, followed by the 3 playoff wins, and the Super Bowl victory. NFL teams do not win 11 consecutive games by luck.

2000 QB's: Dilfer, Banks, Redman

2010 QB's: Flacco, Bulger

I was there in Week 2 of the 2000 season when Tony Banks threw for 5 TD's as the Ravens beat Jacksonville. It is forgotten now, but at that point of time the Jaguars were the Ravens biggest rival. Winning that game gave the team a tremendous shot of confidence, and I've always remembered that Banks did have a big-time arm. I had spent the previous year living in Tampa, and was plenty familiar with Trent Dilfer when Baltimore signed him prior to the season. When the Ravens signed him, my immediate thought was that the team thought they had a real chance for post-season success; and that the veteran would have a chance to replace Banks sometime during that season. Everyone remembers that Dilfer was asked to 'manage the game' in a Ravens uniform, but this was a guy that was drafted 6th overall with Tampa, and had been to a Pro Bowl after the '97 season. It is not like this guy had no business being in an NFL uniform.

That said, I can not imagine there is anyone anywhere that believes Dilfer or Banks are superior to Flacco. When the Ravens obtained Bulger this Summer, I thought back to Dilfer. Not because I anticipated Bulger ever replacing Flacco; but because it seemed to be history repeating a bit. An accomplished veteran QB being added to the roster of a team the Ravens Front-office believes can contend for a title.

EDGE: 2010

2000 RB's: Jamal Lewis, Holmes

2010 RB's: Rice, McGahee, Parmele

Ray Rice is coming off of a 2,000 all-purpose yard season, and his first Pro Bowl. McGahee was a Pro Bowler in 2007.

In 2000 Lewis was in his rookie season, becoming the starter in Week 4. Rice really is one of the better backs in the game today, but Lewis in his prime just beat-up the opposition. He delivered the blows as the offensive player, and the defense simply lacked the will to tackle him late in games. His mixture of power and speed was electric. Also, in his rookie season Lewis also had 27 catches for 296 yards. Obviously most of Holmes' career success would come later in Kansas City, but he had already rushed for over 1,000 yards in a Ravens uniform and had a 200 yard day. In 2000, Holmes had 588 yards on the ground, and another 221 as a receiver.

In the following 3 years (2001-2003) Holmes would be an All-Pro each season, and be named the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year in 2002. Even if you call Rice and Lewis a wash, I do not see McGahee going anywhere and having the production in the 2011-13 seasons that Holmes did for KC a decade earlier.

EDGE: 2000

2000 FB's: Ayanbadejo, Gash
2010 FB's: McClain

Ayanbadejo was a decent receiving FB, and Gash was a 2x Pro Bowler ('98, and '99) that was a great lead-blocker. This is close, but I give the edge to McClain. The mental error from Sunday has many people down on McClain, but he has also been a Pro Bowler these last two seasons. He is a decent blocker, and a better receiver than you would think. He is a punishing runner when he gets the ball.

EDGE: 2010

2000 WR's: Ismail, Stokley, Johnson, Je. Lewis, Taylor
2010 WR's: Boldin, Mason, Houshmandzadeh, Stallworth, Reed

2010 Obviously wins this category. There have never been 3 receivers on a NFL roster that have more career catches than Boldin, Mason, and Housmandzadeh.

I would only make the point that the 2000 group might be better than you remember. Ismail had 5,000+ receiving yards for his career. Stokley has 4,400 receiving yards, and has caught 40+ balls four times. We will get to Jermaine Lewis again when we discuss Special Teams, but as a receiver he twice had over 40 receptions, and averaged 14.9 yards a reception for his career, with over 2,000 plus receiving yards.

Taylor is seen as a bust because he did not live up to the hype of going 10th overall, but he also had 4,000+ receiving yards for his career including 5 seasons with at-least 39 receptions.

The 2010 group is better than that 2000 group in every possible measure, but the 2000 receivers had better careers than typically portrayed.

EDGE: 2010

2000 TE's: Sharpe, Coates
2010: TE's: Heap, Dickson, Pitta

This is an interesting match-up. In the 2000 season, Sharpe was the Ravens best receiving option. He would finish with 67 receptions for 810 yards and 5 TD's. He followed that up with 3 more seasons with over 60 grabs to end his career. He was an 8x Pro Bowl Player that retired with the most receiving yards ever by a TE. I think he will eventually be named to the Hall of Fame. He certainly helped give the 2000 Ravens a swagger and identity.

Coates was playing his last year in the NFL during that 2000 season, after being a Pro Bowler 5x in the '90s. He was really only asked to block during his season with the Ravens, finishing with just 9 receptions.

If you read this blog, you know I am a big fan of Heap. I acknowledge that Sharpe's numbers are slightly better, but I do believe if Heap had been in that 2000 offense he would match Sharpe's production. (Also, if Heap had spent the prime of his career receiving passes from Elway the total Pro Bowls for each player would be closer.) For what Sharpe meant to that 2000 locker-room, I tend to lean towards the 2000 team. However, as Dickson and Pitta have their entire careers ahead of them and Coates was completely done by the end of that year I call this even.

EDGE: Even

2000 Offensive Line: Ogden, Mulitalo, Mitchell, Flynn, Swayne (Folau, Vickers)
2010 Offensive Line: Oher, Grubbs, Birk, Chester, Yanda (Cousins, Moll)

If Gaither was healthy and playing, I think the 2010 line would be the obvious pick. Since it is looking more likely that he will be placed on Injured Reserve, this deserves a closer look.

Ogden is obviously the best player on either line, and he was in the prime of his career. As one of the All-Time greats at his position, that immediately sways things to 2000. I would go with Grubbs over Mulitalo, though Mulitalo had a very good career as a run-blocker. Mitchell would leave the Ravens for a large contract in Carolina, but I do not believe he was ever thought of as good as Birk. You could argue that Mitchell was heading towards the prime of his career, while Birk was at the end of his; but I would argue that Birk still has enough left in 2010 that he gets the edge. Chester is probably more talented than Flynn, but I would still take Flynn. My rationale on that is while Flynn played Guard for the Ravens in 2000, he would shift to Center and have a very good career there. Chester has looked uncomfortable when asked to play Center previously. Swayne was the old vet who had been in the league since 1987 at that point and had little left, ending his career the following year. Yanda gets the nod here.

That is 3-2 in favor of 2010, so the only discussion here is was Ogden so dominant that you give that group the nod? For that answer, I think you have to look at Oher. While Oher is having some problems in his second-year and first as a LT; he still figures to be a multiple time Pro Bowl player. He will never be Ogden, but he is good enough that I do not think you can say the 2000 group was better.

EDGE: 2010

Part 2 will compare the Defenses and Special Teams.

Ravens lose in OT to New England; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-10-17T17:07:00.004-04:00

Ahead 20-10 in the 4th Quarter, the Baltimore Ravens coughed-up their lead and lost in overtime to the New England Patriots.

Visiting Foxboro for the third time in a calendar year, the Ravens held the ball for 40 of the game's 73 total minutes and manged to lose. Instead of moving to 5-1, and grabbing the head-to-head win against the Pats; the Ravens fall to 4-2 and will potentially have to come back to New England a fourth time in a year plus this January.

As I write this Damon Yaffe of 105.7 FM is screaming in the background of the Ravens offense being a Ferrari, with a driver (Cam Cameron) who is not comfortable behind the wheel. There is plenty to critique about the offense down the stretch and in OT, but for me that discussion only occurs after discussing the non-existent pass rush. The Ravens had 3 sacks today, but far too often Brady was allowed to step-up in the pocket with nobody in his face.

The Good:

1) Flacco threw for 285 yards, 2 TD's, zero picks, and found 7 different receivers. The post-game shows are receiving calls and emails from people that want to see more emotion from Flacco. The comments are just a result of the game ending as a loss. There was no difference between the Flacco we saw today, and the Flacco that led the Ravens to the winning drive at Pittsburgh. The result was different, so the perception also changes for many.

2) Another favorite whipping boy locally has been Todd Heap. Even though he has played in every game of 6 of his 9 previous seasons (including every game of the past two years), Heap is often referred to as Mr. Glass. Not only did Heap have a tough TD grab today, he came back into the game after receiving a crushing personal-foul. Dickson and Pitta were lucky to have joined the Ravens, and have Heap as a mentor.

3) Cundiff had good kickoffs again today, and eliminated Tate as a return weapon for New England.

4) Mason had a good day with 8 grabs, for 100 yards.

5) Ngata had two sacks, Carr had an INT, Landry had good-pressure on a blitz, and Ellerbe showed some athleticism.

The Bad:

1) Rice had 28 carries for just 88 yards. I like that the Ravens committed to running the ball. I do not know why McGahee received zero attemps, after averaging 12 carries the previous two weeks.

2) Danny Woodhead is generously listed as 5'9, 200 lbs. He showed good quicks, and elusiveness, and I am sure he is difficult to locate due to his height. There is no way the Ravens should have allowed Woodhead to run for 63 yards (11 carries), and get another 52 yards as a receiver.

3) Zbikowski and Parmele are not turning the ball over as return men, but neither one is giving the Ravens additional yards and positive field-position. Josh Wilson was unable to play today with his hamstring. After the bye I expect he is going to be given the opportunity to help in the return game.

4) Lamar Divens and Arthur Jones were inactive today. Kruger was obviously inactive and physically unable to play. Terrence Cody either did not touch the field, or made zero-impact today. Did Brandon McKinney play today? (EDIT, I see McKinney actually got the start - my error) Cory Redding is 31 next month. Kelly Gregg is 35 next month. That seems like incentive to me to want to rotate bodies in on the line, and limit some of their snaps. While Ngata had another strong-game, he came into the game having been limited all week. You would think based on that, the Ravens would have wanted some additional depth ready to play this week.

5) Flacco had a 3rd down and 6 yards to go in OT, and forced a pass to Heap against double-coverage. The pass went incomplete, and replays showed he had other options. If you run plays with Boldin, Housmandzadeh, Mason, and Heap on the field together; you should never be in a position to have to throw against double-coverage, as there should always be a receiving option working against a single defender.

6) You come out on the first-drive, and hit back-to-back passes to Housmandzadeh. The second reception came with 12:52 left on the clock in the 1st Quarter. That was Housmandzadeh's last reception of the day. How does that happen?

7) After the Patriots scored a touchdown in the 4th Quarter to close the gap to 20-17, the Ravens took over on offense. 18 yard pass completion to Boldin. 7 yard run for Rice. McClain for 2 yards, setting-up 3rd and 1 on the Ravens 47. Baltimore needed to convert that 1st down. Flacco was stopped on a QB sneak, and Baltimore punted. I think that one of the RB's needed to run that ball, with McClain as my choice.

8) Baltimore takes over with 1:51 left on the clock in the 4th Quarter, and eventually has to punt on 4th down with 45 seconds left. Welker is allowed to return the ball 22 yards, allowing the Patriots to start their drive on their 47 yard line. New England did not score there, but the Special Teams miscue was inexcusable.

9) Michael Oher continues to have difficulties with penalties on the road.

10) I personally like Suggs, and find myself defending him a lot. Today, I found his sack-dance annoying. Perhaps that annoyance was after seeing him blown-up several times at the line, and also out of position when New England ran a reverse.

The Ugly:

1) McClain's penalty can not happen in a battle of field position.

2) Between 1:51 left in the 4th Quarter, and OT; the Ravens had four different offensive possessions. They managed two first-downs.

Up-Next:

Buffalo, already 0-5 and on a bye this week, will be the sacrificial victim next Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens will be motivated to get the taste of this game out of their mouths, and enter the bye with a win. It is hard to imagine any scenario where the Bills (currently minus 74 in point differential) will actually be able to challenge Baltimore.

NFL Picks Week 6

2010-10-17T07:45:00.002-04:00

As always, picks are head to head and not against the spread.

Record last week: 7-7
Season record: 42-32
Record last-season: 169-79

Atlanta @ Philadelphia: Philadelphia
Cleveland @ Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh
Seattle @ Chicago: Chicago
Miami @ Green Bay: Green Bay
Detroit @ New York Giants: New York Giants
New Orleans @ Tampa Bay: New Orleans
San Diego @ St. Louis: San Diego
Kansas City @ Houston: Houston
Baltimore @ New England: Baltimore
Oakland @ San Francisco: San Francisco
New York Jets @ Denver: New York Jets
Dallas @ Minnesota: Minnesota
Indianapolis @ Washington: Indianapolis
Tennessee @ Jacksonville: Tennessee

Duke the obvious favorite, but MD well positioned to surprise

2010-10-16T10:17:00.004-04:00

Duke is the defending National Champion, and figures to be even more physically imposing during this 2010-11 season.

The Blue Devils lose Jon Scheyer's 18 points per game, the bulk of Brian Zoubek, and the offensive rebounding and defense of Lance Thomas. Still, they return plenty and have added talent as well. Kyle Singer, and Nolan Smith both averaged over 17 points a game, and are poised for even bigger Senior seasons. The Plumlee brothers are skilled, with the younger Mason being the better athlete. They represent good options to step-up and replace Zoubek, and Thomas. Freshman Joshua Hairston (Montrose Christian - Vasquez, Bowie) was a a Top 20 recruit, and should contribute to the rotation immediately.

The strength of this Duke team is going to be their guards. After Smith, you have Sophomore Andre Dawkins who received good playing-time during the year (12.6 minutes), and knocked down 37.9% of his 3 point attempts. While his minutes were significantly cut during the NCAA Tournament, I expect they will be increased this coming season. Dawkins will have plenty of competition for minutes though from Freshman Kyrie Irving, and Sophomore transfer Seth Curry. Irving is recognized as one of the Top 5 recruits in the Country and is supposed to have an explosive first-step. While you respected Scheyer's all-around game, you were never going to be wowed by him as an athlete. Curry (the younger brother of NBA star Stephen), officially joins Duke after sitting out last-year due to transfer. In his Freshman season with Liberty (Big South), he averaged 20 points a game (including 26 at Virginia, and 24 at Clemson). With a year to prepare in Coach K's system, he is going to be ready to produce from Day 1. Freshman Tyler Thorton (Gonzaga, D.C.) is going to struggle to find minutes, but not due to a lack of skills.

Quite obviously that is a very-good Duke team, and it is clear to see why they are seen as the favorites in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Nationally. With their combination of talent, game experience, and having won last-year; you would expect them to win 13-14 games in ACC play.

I do not expect Maryland to match that, but I do think the Terps are being underrated by many.
As I review the prognostications of National college writers, the consensus is that after Duke, there is not a lot within the ACC. The order varies, but most people are picking North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, and Florida State as the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th best teams in the league.

When the writers get around to talking about Maryland, they do so with the Terps as an afterthought. I guess part of me enjoys that. There are a lot of players on the Maryland roster with something to prove, and lowered expectations are only going to motivate them further to prove themselves. Gary Williams talked at-length last-year about how hard that team had worked in the off-season as preparation for the year. So it was very telling last-night when Williams stated this group of Terrapins had worked even harder.

The defending Regular Season Co-Champion of the ACC, and the last team to have beat Duke is not going to roll over quietly. There are too many questions existing to believe Maryland can again compete with Duke for the Conference title. There are enough answers existing though to believe the Terps can win 10-11 games in league-play, and be a very dangerous team next March.

If Duke is the accepted best, than you have to feel good about the Terps. It is possible that Singler stays at the 3, but I expect him to probably spend more time at the 4 this season. That will allow Duke to have Irving, Curry, and Smith on the court together. It also gives Duke better depth in their front-court.

2010-11 Blue Devils:
1) Irving,Thorton
2) Curry, Dawkins
3) Smith
4) Singler, Hairston, Kelly
5) Ma.Plumlee, Mi. Plumlee

2010-11 Terps:
1) Bowie (Senior), Howard (Frosh)
2) Tucker (Senior), Stoglin (Frosh)
3) Mosley (Junior), Parker (Frosh), Palsson (Frosh)
4) Gregory (Senior), Padgett (Soph), Pankey (Frosh)
5) Williams (Soph), Weijs (Junior)

Irving, Curry, Smith > Bowie, Tucker, Mosley
Thorton, Dawkins = Howard, Stoglin, Parker, Palsson
Singler, Ma. Plumlee = Gregory, Williams
Hairston, Mi. Plumlee, Kelly = Padgett, Weijs, Pankey

Maryland Madness & my Terrapin Questions

2010-10-15T20:09:00.004-04:00

The University of Maryland Terrapins Men's Basketball Team officially kicks of the start of their Fall Practice, with their 'Maryland Madness' event tonight.

Terp fans no longer have to think back to how Michigan State's Korie Lucious ended the Maryland season last-year.
After that March loss, I had the following questions and projections:

http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/03/terps-basketball-in-2010-11.html

2010-11 Questions / Projections

1) There is a lot of hand-wringing from Maryland fans that Bowie is not a legitimate point-guard. Okay, I agree. He is SG, in a PG body. He also will be a Senior, and Gary Williams has a major bias to his 4 year players. Bowie does have good quickness, and an ability to drive. Bowie came into today, hitting 39% from 3 point-land. With 2 makes in 3 attempts today, Bowie hit 11 of his last 15 three-pointers to end the year. While his Junior year was a disappointment overall; Bowie did play his best ball to end the year. It should also be remembered that in his Sophomore year, he made 28 starts, and averaged 9 points a game.

Terrapin fans should come to grips with the idea that Bowie is going to start to at-least begin next-year. If he improves his ball-handling, and his ability to make foul-shots, he will get more than 20 minutes a game. If he does not; he will be effectively sharing the position with either Howard, or Stoglin.

2) Both Howard, and Stoglin are described first as scoring guards, as opposed to true PG's. While neither is described as a superior athlete, they are both supposed to be strong, physical, scoring threats. After prepping at Oak Hill, I believe Howard is going to be more likely to come-in and challenge Bowie early.

2a) I'm very interested to see how good of a handle both Howard, and Stoglin have; and what percentage they shoot from the foul-line. It has been a blessing being able to have Vasquez, and Hayes on the court in close-games; with their ability to control the ball, and make foul-shots under-pressure.

3) I see Jordan Williams dominating inside next-year as the lead option in the flex. He will come back to College Park even bigger, stronger, quicker - and really be set-up for a tremendous year. I do not think he will have any problem adjusting to being the main-option. If anything, I think he will thrive off of that. Where I do think he will have to adjust, is dealing with defenses sagging on him, until his teammates show an ability to consistently hit from the outside. Before Williams played a game as a Terrapin, I stated I believed he could average 8 points, and 5 boards as Freshman. In-fact, he out-produced that expectation as he averaged 9.6 points, and 8.6 rebounds. Next-year, I expect 15 & 10 per game.

4) If Williams will be the Number 1 option, Sean Mosley will be option 1a. Mosley increased his scoring from 5.3 points, to over 10 points as a Soph. He averaged over 50% from the floor, and made 39% of his shots on 7 Field Goal Attempts per game. In comparison, Vasquez averaged over 15 FGA's per game. As Mosley gets closer to those level of attempts, he should also be at 15+ points per game.

5) In his Sophomore season, Cliff Tucker averaged 20 points per game against National Champion North Carolina. In his Junior season, Tucker scored at-least 8 points 9 times. I fully expect Tucker to be a consistent scorer next-year. He has the athleticism to get to the rim (though he could learn to finish better), and shoots at a high-percentage from the floor 49.7%, and from 3 at 35.4%. There is no reason he can not replace Hayes' level of scoring (11 points per game).

6) Dino Gregory figures to get 1st-crack at the vacated PF position. Milbourne has spent the past two-years as an undersized 4. Gregory is also a bit undersized, but has better bulk than Milbourne. He does not have Milbourne's offensive-game, but should be better equipped to more regularly help rebounding, and as a defensive presence.

6a) Padgett, and Pankey will be active bigs that can run the floor, block shots, and help rebound at both the PF, and Center positions. Pankey should basically mirror what you received from Padgett this year, and Padgett should be ready to take the next-step. If Padgett shows improvement, he can push Gregory as the starting 4.

7) Stoglin and Howard are going to get plenty of minutes off the bench backing-up Bowie, and Tucker. In-fact, I think Stoglin and Howard get more minutes as the backups to Bowie, and Tucker; than Bowie, and Tucker got as backups to Vasquez, and Hayes.

7a) Parker has the potential to be a future star, and the athleticism that is going to get him time off the bench. I envision Parker getting time next-year at both the 2, and 3.

7b) I think it will be interesting to see what Maryland gets out of Palsson. Potentially, he might be the best 'shooter' on the roster. If that is the case, and he looks confident (physically and mentally), I can see him getting minutes as the zone-buster we hoped Jin-Soo Choi was going to be. If Palsson looks uncomfortable, I would not be shocked to see him Red-shirted.

8) The overall athleticism of the roster will be increased. Tucker, Gregory, Padgett, Parker, and Pankey are all very good athletes. Stoglin, Howard, Bowie, Mosley, and Williams move well, even if none of them are jump out of the gym types.

9) This should be a team that improves month-to-month. Williams, Mosley, and Tucker are going to need to carry the load early. It should again be a team that opponents do not like facing come March.

10) I can see why some will project Maryland as an NIT team, but I think the Terps will be on the right-side of the bubble, and around 10 ACC wins.

Since that point, the Terps signed 2010 JUCO Berend Weijs, and we have seen Steve Goins officially depart. This has left the Maryland roster looking like:

2010-11 Terps:

1) Bowie (Senior), Howard (Frosh)
2) Tucker (Senior), Stoglin (Frosh)
3) Mosley (Junior), Parker (Frosh), Palsson (Frosh)
4) Gregory (Senior), Padgett (Soph), Pankey (Frosh)
5) Williams (Soph), Weijs (Junior)

Here are a couple of other previous posts that look forward to this 2010-11 season:

Baltimore Sun Reports Terps Sign 2010 JUCO:
http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/05/baltimore-sun-reports-terps-sign-2010.html

MD BBall Major OOC Opponents:
http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/08/md-bball-major-ooc-opponents.html

Terps Basketball Schedule & Predictions:
http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/09/terps-basketball-schedule-predictions.html

Will the Ravens pursue Merriman?

2010-10-14T07:46:00.005-04:00

The San Diego Chargers have announced that OLB/DE Shawne Merriman was placed on the Reserved-Injured list and, per NFL rules, will be released when he is healthy.

With that release scheduled to occur, you can bet the Ravens leadership within the Castle is debating the positives and negatives of trying to add Merriman to the Baltimore roster. I believe the Ravens will make the offer. If that happens, the chances are good that he signs here. First, every defensive player in the league would love to play in Baltimore. Secondly, the former Maryland Terrapin would be close to his native Washington D.C.

The biggest negatives in adding Merriman lay on the field, and the injury concerns which make you question what production you would receive from him.

After being an All-Pro during the his first three seasons in the league (2005-07), Merriman had reconstructive knee surgery early in the 2008 season, which ended that year. In 2009, he played in 14 games, but registered just 4 sacks as he dealt with continued knee pain, and a poor foot. Here in 2010 he has played in 3 of the 5 games for the Chargers, but not registered a sack as he had hamstring issues.

It is obviously fair to question what Merriman has left, but I think the Ravens should bring him in and find out. Baltimore is 3rd in Total Defense, but just 22nd in the league in sacks. (Tennessee leads the league with 22, Baltimore has 8). Even if the pass-rush never improves this year, the Ravens are going to have a chance to hoist their 2nd Lombardi Trophy. If the pass-rush can be improved, you are just increasing the odds of obtaining a title. Merriman has to be released by the Chargers when he is deemed healthy. So when the Ravens could sign him, he will already be on the mend. The Ravens would be obtaining him with an eye mostly towards the playoffs. My goal would be to have him providing a situational pass-rush in December.

The steroids Merriman took his first-year in the league? Does not really matter, as he was an All-Pro the two-following years without them. The sack-dance? Maybe poor taste to some, but let us see some sacks first, and we can debate the dance later. The incident with Tila Tequlia? Strange, but the charges were dismissed a week later.

Frankly, none of that matters. What matters is there are not going to be any other 26 year-old, 3x All-Pro's dropped from the sky at a position of weakness. Maybe he will not be able to help, but as an organization you have to find that out for yourselves. The only way the Ravens meet their own expectations for this season is by winning the Super Bowl. With those expectations, the potential for Merriman to help far outweighs any risk.

Better in the living room or at M&T?

2010-10-11T20:40:00.008-04:00

Before yesterday, the last-time I had been to a Ravens game was the last game of the 2004 season against Miami. Yesterday brought my all-time Ravens game attendance to five.

I think it is safe to say that I prefer watching from the comforts of my living room, vs.spending the day at M&T Bank Stadium. I wonder if I am in the minority here?

Even with a relatively dull-game, the crowd was in good form yesterday. It is always enjoyable being part of that type of atmosphere. I think the Ravens do a great job as an organization of making their fans as comfortable as possible. There are seats that are better than others, but there are no horrible seats in that stadium.

My preference to watch at-home has little to do with anything the Ravens do or do not provide on Game-day. If you want to say I am 'selfish', for not supporting the team with attendance; there is some validity to that point-of-view. I do appreciate that our fans (and their dollars) combined with the agreement to build M&T Bank Stadium, are the reasons the organization moved here from Cleveland in the first-place.

If the Ravens actually had problems attracting crowds, I might be more prone to want to go to games. Simply because I respect how important the Ravens are to this City, and I would want to my part to keep them here.

Since the Ravens have zero-problems with selling-out the stadium, I selfishly get to enjoy the games being aired on T.V. for free. I get to replay plays as many times I would like. The trip to the fridge is not a 20 minute adventure. When I am on my couch, I do not have people getting up and walking past me repeatedly. I can keep my lap-top open and watch my fantasy team again perform to middling results.

On the other-hand, I usually spend an inordinate amount of time watching the typically poor studio shows on ESPN, CBS, FOX, and NBC; and that is probably a good argument for going to the game itself. (Or just spending more time watching the consistently good NFL Network) While I am half-kidding about disliking the network studio-shows, I do appreciate the game-telecasts. It is usually interesting to hear what the Ravens Coaching Staff, and the players are saying to the National reporters. It is also interesting to hear the perspective of those National reporters.

I can accept being called 'selfish' for rather watching from home, but I would not be able to agree with anyone who thinks I am not a passionate fan. The only time I can remember missing a game was in 2003 when Jamal Lewis went for 295 yards against Cleveland. That game was missed as I was traveling to the United Kingdom, so I think the excuse is legitimate enough.

I had fun yesterday taking my Wife Laura to her first-game ever. I will have fun in two-weeks when I go to the game with my Dad. I think after that though, it will be another several years before I again return.

So, does anyone else have similar thoughts? If you would always rather be at the stadium, how come?

Ravens beat Denver; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-10-10T18:01:00.004-04:00

The AFC North leading Baltimore Ravens moved to 4-1 overall, with a 31-17 win over the Denver Broncos at M&T Bank Stadium.

It was an encouraging game for several reasons, none more than the fact the Ravens were able to dominate a potential play-off team, despite not playing their best.

The Good:

1) Baltimore dominated the Broncos on the ground, running 233 rushing yards. This allowed the Ravens to hold the ball for 36 minutes. The domination of time of possession, allowed the Ravens Defense to only be on the field for 52 plays.

1a) Ray Rice had his best game of the young season, finishing with 133 rushing yards, 27 receiving yards, and two TD's.

1b) McGahee received 10 carries of his own, and contributed with 67 yards of his own and a score.

1c) After being irritated about not receiving the ball on the goal-line last week, McClain received several short-yardage attempts today.

2) Kyle Orton and the Broncos finished with 314 passing yards today, but the majority of those numbers were obtained when the game was effectively over. While I am sure the Ravens will be spending time addressing their coverage against slant-routes, overall the Baltimore Secondary performed when needed.

2a) Yes, Moreno was out of the game for Denver but the Ravens defense can feel good about limiting the Broncos to 39 yards rushing. After the Broncos scored to end the first-half, they also received the ball to start the 2nd-half. The Ravens defense stepped-up and forced a 3 & out to open the 3rd Quarter and basically eliminated any chance of Denver getting back into the game.

3) Ed Dickson's 58 yard reception was beautiful. His young legs ran away from the Denver defenders, and when they caught-up to him he was strong enough to drag those defenders forward for several more yards.

4) Another new Raven who contributed today was Cory Redding, who added a sack.

5) If I was writing this from the perspective of a Denver fan, one of my negatives would be their Rookie WR Demariyus Thomas electing to try and run back a kickoff 5-7 yards deep in the end-zone. Since I am writing this from the perspective of the Ravens, that was spectacular hit from Jason Phillips, made all the better by the forced-fumble.

5a) Kudos to Cundiff for his kickoffs today, which were just booming.

6) I liked the decision from the Ravens to go for the TD on 4th & 1 at the Broncos goal-line, on the initial drive of the game.

7) The M&T Bank Stadium crowd helped force Denver into 10 penalties for 90 yards.

8) Was good to see Josh Wilson get some playing-time today.

The Bad:

1) While I liked the decision to go for it on 4th down, I thought the decision to throw was poor. Once it was decided to throw, and Flacco realized he was not going to be able to complete the pass; he should have thrown the ball away and avoided taking the sack and losing yards.

2) The Broncos only had 1 sack, but it did appear that the Ravens were having trouble with their pass-defense. Flacco seemingly had limited time in the pocket. I acknowledge this as nitpicking considering how effective the Ravens O-line was with the running game.

3) Lloyd made a great-catch for his first TD near the end of the 1st-half for Denver. While giving him credit for the play he made; the Ravens either blew an assignment or Landry was just torched.

4) Denver would have probably been one-dimensional even if Moreno had played. As he was not able to go, and the Broncos were quickly down 17-0, you knew their offense was going to be pass-only. It was a bit of a disappointment that the Ravens were not able to get after Orton more effectively. Notably Johnson did have some success pushing the pocket.

4a) Antwan Barnes was released by Philadelphia yesterday, and had zero-sacks with his time with the Eagles. Still, I think he is a better option than currently exists on the Ravens roster to provide some pass-rush opposite of Suggs. I hope he is resigned.

5) When Ngata appeared shaken-up after his series on offense, who else had the 2nd-guess thought that it was a mistake to use him in that capacity?

6) I get that Denver was never going to challenge the Ravens with their run-offense. I get that Terrence Cody's best attribute is his run-defense. Still, this game was basically over mid-way through the 2nd-quarter. It seems like this would have been a good opportunity to give some extended playing time to the Rookie.

The Ugly:

None. The passing yards Orton obtained were meaningless. The Ravens dominated this game against a team that will still have a chance to win the AFC West.

When the Ravens commit to running the ball, they eventually take away the will of the opposition.

Up-Next:

The 4-1 Baltimore Ravens head north to face the 3-1 New England Patriots. This will be the first meeting between the teams since Baltimore throttled the Pats 33-14 last January in the AFC Playoffs.

Partly due to that beating, and partly due to the recent trade of Randy Moss - I am anticipating a Patriots team looking to make a statement next Sunday. It should also be noted that the Patriots were off this week with their bye, meaning Belichick will have had an extra-week to prepare for Baltimore.

I respect New England, and anticipate a difficult game for the Ravens. That said, I do not fear them. Without Moss running deep, I question the impact of Welker underneath. It seems to me that the Ravens will be able to key on Welker now, unless Brandon Tate shows he can make plays down the field. We just saw Laurence Maroney today with the Broncos, and while he did not do much; I think he was the most capable New England running-back prior to being traded.

I'm interested in seeing how Belichick uses Woodhead, Taylor and Green-Ellis against the Ravens.

This will be the Ravens 3rd trip to Foxboro in a year. That familiarity can only help, and could be the catalyst for some animosity between the teams in a burgeoning rivalry.

I believe this off-season will be different

2010-10-09T10:14:00.004-04:00

Among Oriole fans, there is a lot of talk of what this off-season will be like.

The late former Oriole Executive Syd Thrift once stated, "It is like I am offering Confederate money," when talking about his pursuit of impact Free Agents. It is often stated that perception is reality, and the perception among many Oriole fans is that the O's will either not be able to attract top-talent to Baltimore, will have to drastically over-pay (compared to the player's actual market-value) to do so, or is unwilling to spend the money necessary.

Each of those points have some truth, and some inaccuracies.

When you have had losing seasons every-year from 1998 through 2010, it obviously becomes a more difficult proposition to sell elite FA's on coming-here as a destination. When you are talking about elite MLB FA's, you are typically talking about players who are looking to sign a contract that will extend through most of the prime-years of their career. If all things ($$) are equal, it simply is going to be easier to sell that FA on going to an established contender, vs. going to a team that is building.

Even if all teams were on absolute equal-footing financial wise, that above point that it would be easier to sell an elite FA on going to a contender, vs. going to a team that is building would be accurate. As financial disparities do exist, it becomes even more difficult for those franchises with less overall resources to attract that type of talent.

More difficult does not equate to impossible though. If Teixeira had been a FA this Winter, he might have looked at the O's roster, and been more likely to believe better days were ahead. It is possible you could have sold him on coming home, even if you were offering less money overall.

There are two marquee FA's available this off-season in Carl Crawford, and Cliff Lee. If Darvish is posted in Japan, there will be three elite talents available. I would be surprised if anyone believes any of those players will be spending their 2011 Summer in Charm City. However, let us say that the O's decided they wanted Crawford*, and were willing to offer a 6 year contract totaling $102M ($17M per season). Simply by offering that market-level contract, the O's would be considered by Crawford. I think we can all agree though, that if the Yankees countered the Oriole offer with similar years, and dollars; Crawford would be heading to NY.

(*I do not believe the O's have any interest in going after Crawford, just using him to make the point)

In a scenario where the O's have offered Crawford 6 years $102M, and the Yankees have counted with 7 years $126M, the Orioles are left with two options. Option 1 would be going back to Crawford, and offering more money (and years) than you believe he is worth. (Something like 8 years and $136M) Option 2 would be walking away and allowing the Yankees to obtain him.

Consider me one who believes that the prudent move would be for the O's to walk away from the table at that point. While I want the O's to obtain difference level talent, it will rarely end well for the O's (who will always have less resources available vs. NY, and probably Boston) to spend more money for a player than they are actually worth.

You will note that I said it will 'rarely' end well, instead of stating it will 'never' end well. My rationale there is that I do think it would be possible to build a team constructed around a few highly paid stars, combined with young pre-arbitration players making very little. In that scenario, you could argue that it would be worth-it to overspend for elite talent.

So, I believe it will be hard to attract elite-level talent to Baltimore (though not impossible) until you win. I believe that if you did obtain that elite-level talent, you would likely have to overspend to do so. I tend to believe the O's would 'overspend' on a few select players, but are not going to make an extensive-investment in years and dollars to players if they have to pay over market-value to do so. I also think the Orioles are basically adopting the mantra from Boston's Theo Epstein that, "If you convince yourself you need a certain player to win, then you've already lost. It just doesn't work that way," Epstein said. "One player doesn't have that much impact. It's about building organizations, not adding players. There's no player you can add to make up for an inherent weakness in your organization, a foundational weakness. You need to build the foundation up to get to the point where you don't need to add that one player. I mean, you can pursue that one player -- and yeah, he'd be a great fit. But if it doesn't work out or if the money gets ridiculous, you can turn to a different player and be in just as good a shape, almost."

With that established, this gets us back to this off-season. As I stated above, I believe there are only 2-3 elite FA talents available this Winter. That does not mean there are not players available whom could significantly help this team.

I think the O's would be willing to take the the payroll to around $90M (a $20M +/- difference vs. 2010), but that does not mean they will get there. They can make offers to the players they identify, but that does not mean those players will sign. I think 2010 was significant, because the core you want to move forward with received more time in the bigs - and the larger issues became further apparent. The O's clearly want to address 1st, and 3rd and that is going to cost some money.

The O's have some cash to burn, options that can improve them, and MacPhail's desire for stark improvement. While not my preference (and also not the O's preference), they also have the option of packaging together several younger players for a larger move.
All of this is coupled with a need for the O's to build off the last 2 months, and build back their season-ticket (and corporate box) sales. MacPhail is always going to be somewhat patient, but I do think he is going to be deliberate/systematic about improving the team to the point that we go into spring-training believing contention is actually within the realm of possibility.

I would argue that acquiring Martinez or Lee for 1st, and Beltre for 3rd is the quickest and simplest way to improve the lineup without majorly disrupting the team. Meaning acquiring those players would not cost what they see as an overwhelming investment in Crawford. Would not be prohibitive in cost in-terms of players they trade from within for larger talents.

There is a dearth of top talent at the upper-level minors (in large part because of recently graduated talent to the bigs). If you assume that Markakis, Wieters, Matusz, Arrieta, and Jones are a fairly untouchable core at the Major League level, and that you are worried about your overall depth, you probably are not excited about the prospects of trading Tillman, Britton, Bell, Hernandez, Bergesen, Reimold, Snyder etc etc.

(Of course if you acquire Beltre, you would probably than be willing to package Bell.)

If you go into next season having resigned Uehara, Wigginton, and Izturis, while signing FA's Martinez or Lee, with Beltre you would look like:

Starters:
Matusz, Guthrie, Arrieta, Bergesen, Tillman

Bullpen:
Uehara
Gonzalez
Hernandez
Johnson
Berken (?)
Simon / VandenHurk
Patton / 2nd Lefty

Everyday:
Roberts 2nd
Markakis RF
Martinez or Lee (etc. etc) 1st
Wieters C
Beltre 3rd
Scott DH
Jones CF
Pie LF
Izturis SS

Bench:
Tatum, Andino, Wigginton, Reimold

That is a team pretty close to contention. Reasonably, all that would have to happen is the growth you are already expecting of your younger talent, and an avoidance of your 'older' (ie Roberts, Scott, Guthrie, Martinez or Lee (etc etc), Beltre, Uehara) players falling through the floor. If the O's had that team, at that point I could see MacPhail trying to trade Tillman, Bell, and etc. etc. for a veteran starting pitcher, or perhaps a better option at SS.

I think this off-season will be different. I do not think the O's are going to be offering Confederate money this Winter. I think they have identified positions they want to improve, and have options available to them that are a step-below the true elite options which would be much harder to obtain. The Orioles will still have dollar and year limits that they will not want to go past for players like Martinez, Lee, and Beltre; but I do think the O's will be aggressive in their pursuit. That aggression by itself would make this off-season different.

NFL Picks Week 5

2010-10-08T22:57:00.002-04:00

As always, picks are head to head and not against the spread.

Record last week: 9-5
Season record: 35-25
Record last-season: 169-79

Chicago @ Carolina: Chicago
Tampa Bay @ Cincinnati: Cincinnati
St.Louis @ Detroit: Detroit
New York Giants @ Houston: Houston
Denver @ Baltimore: Baltimore
Atlanta @ Cleveland: Atlanta
Kansas City @ Indianapolis: Indianapolis
Jacksonville @ Buffalo: Jacksonville
Green Bay @ Washington: Green Bay
New Orleans @ Arizona: New Orleans
Tennessee @ Dallas: Dallas
San Diego @ Oakland: San Diego
Philadelphia @ San Francisco: San Francisco
Minnesota @ New York Jets: New York Jets

Ravens win at Pittsburgh; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-10-03T16:02:00.005-04:00

On the verge of falling two games behind the Steelers within the division, the Baltimore Ravens scored the decisive touchdown with under one-minute remaining in Pittsburgh.

The importance of the win can not be understated. Pittsburgh had started their season at 3-0 without Roethlisberger, and will be getting him back for their next-game. If the Steelers had won today, the Ravens would have suffered their second road-loss within the division. With the win, the Ravens grab that important head-to-head victory, and will put Pittsburgh into a position where they are forced to win in here in Baltimore.

The Good:

1) When the Ravens turned the ball back over to Pittsburgh with 2:40 left on the clock, it did not look good. Baltimore had spent an unnecessary time-out prior to their 4th down, and you wondered if the Ravens would get the ball back in-time to mount one last rally. The Steelers aided Baltimore with a couple of penalties, but Flacco and the Ravens deserve credit for punching the ball into the end-zone.

1a) As Mark Clayton was piling up another good afternoon for St. Louis, I was becoming further frustrated by the lack of production from Houshmandzadeh. Houshmandzadeh showed-up when needed during that last-drive, and ran a perfect route on the Pittsburgh defender for the Touchdown. You had to feel good for Houshmandzadeh that his first real contributions helped give the Ravens a crucial victory.

2) Most of Mason's production came on the opening drive, but he still finished with his best game of the 2010 season.

3) Flacco completed passes to 7 different receivers for 256 yards.

3a) Flacco had people in his face quite often today, but was only sacked once. Flacco gets credit for getting rid of the ball, and the offensive-line gets credit for dealing with the crowd noise and edge rushers of Pittsburgh.

4) Heap, and McClain both made several nice blocks today giving Flacco some additional time to throw.

5) With Rice being used as little more than a decoy, McGahee was the focal-point at RB prior to his concussion. While limited to 2.8 yards per carry, his 14 attempts helped keep the Pittsburgh defense honest.

6) Lardarius Webb made several nice plays in the second-half, including eliminating a completion to Mike Wallace in the end-zone.

7) I think Brandon McKinney made a positive difference on the line. He helped control the middle of the Steelers offensive-line, and helped team with Ngata to limit Mendenhall to 79 yards rushing.

8) Suggs brought pressure today, and had big-time sack on Batch in the 3rd Quarter. The sack, and 7 yard loss, occurred on 3rd down and Pittsburgh's Jeff Reed missed a 49 yard-attempt on 4th down. That was crucial.

9) Ngata was probably the best player on the field.

The Bad:

1) I was happy that Kruger got action today, and on Ngata's sack provided some pressure. His penalty on Special Teams took away field-position.

2) While he was active for his first NFL game, I did not notice any contribution from Terrence Cody today.

3) Some-times you have to tip your cap to the opposition, but the 93 yard, 7 minute drive from the Steelers was hard to watch. After holding Pittsburgh to basically nothing all day, the Ravens suddenly were unable to stop the Steelers ground-game. I guess this is nit-picking really, since Baltimore limited Pittsburgh to just 210 yards overall.

4) As shown by Reed later in the game, many Kickers have trouble converting FG's to the open end-zone in Heinz Field. Still, did anyone have confidence in Cundiff when he lined-up to attempt that 46 yarder in the 1st-Quarter?

5) Chris Carr is playing well at CB, but I was surprised by the decision to deactivate Josh Wilson. At the minimum Wilson can help this team as a Kick Returner.

The Ugly:

None. The Ravens could have easily lost today, and the reaction around town would have been that the sky was falling. Obviously not having Roethlisberger available was limiting to the Pittsburgh offense. Still, the Steelers had the lead with under 1 minute remaining on the clock. At-home, all their defense had to do was keep the Ravens out of the end-zone.

Flacco and the Ravens made the plays necessary to win, and they obtained a pretty critical victory.

Up-Next:

Baltimore hosts Denver who won today in Tennessee. The Broncos QB Kyle Orton is throwing the ball all over the place, and putting-up a lot of yards. Second-year RB Knowshon Moreno missed his second-straight game with a hamstring. Laurence Maroney, and Buckhalter were able to do nothing against the Titans. Denver totally eliminated Chris Johnson as a weapon today. The Broncos won despite allowing 6 sacks.

Gaither criticism without merit

2010-10-03T10:30:00.003-04:00

After attempting to return to practice this week, Jared Gaither suffered a further set-back and will again being seeing a specialist.

This had led to a new round of frustration from many with the 6'9 340 lb Offensive Tackle.
There are many message boards, and talk-shows around town that are filled with criticism for Gaither. It does not take much digging to see that much of the criticism is being circulated from leadership within The Castle itself.

Clearly the opinion exists from the Ravens that Gaither is a malcontent, who does not enjoy the game. The Ravens are certainly putting it out there, that Gaither is not willing to play through this injury. People are entitled to their opinions, but that conjecture is just that - simply an opinion.

The line of thinking that he is not even injured is malicious. Anyone making that charge should think about their own maturity before questioning Gaither's.

The Ravens believe that when Gaither showed-up to Training Camp 30 pounds lighter, that was Gaither showing his displeasure of being moved to RT. Gaither has said that is not true, that he dropped the weight to improve his foot-work, and alleviate stress to his feet. He quickly put the weight back on, when asked to do so. Anyone that believes Gaither lost the weight because he was 'pouting', has limited evidence on their side.

Do I believe that Gaither would rather be at LT? Sure I do. Left Tackles make more money than Right Tackles do. It is easy to believe that Gaither would rather get paid more. If you can believe Gaither would like to maximize the money he makes, it should be easy for you to believe he would prefer to be playing right now and performing (even at RT). The only way he is going to get the contract he desires, is by playing.

Instead of talking about opinions, and conjecture - let us talk about facts that are known:

1) Gaither has previously played through an injury and been commended for it by the Ravens.

"I think it's a really courageous effort. He's a young guy who has figured out how to play through pain and play well through pain. It's just a tremendous [statement] for where he's going as a football player. He's going to be a great football player."
– Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on Gaither playing with an injured shoulder the past couple games (2008 season)

2) Gaither needs to play, to get the contract he is looking for.

3) Gaither has been rehabbing regularly with Tessendorf.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/spor...g_pattern.html

4) Gaither has said numerous times he wants to retire as a Raven, wants to be part of the organization, and is frustrated by the injury.

You have a bunch of people piling onto a player that are not inside his body, and do not know what pain he is going through. If actions speak louder than words, than Gaither showing previously he was willing to play through pain should mean something. If everything comes down to $$, than people should get that Gaither would be making more money this off-season by playing vs. winding-up on IR.

All fans of the Ravens better hope he can return this year, because it is hard to envision the team achieving their lofty goals without him.*

*Today's game is going to be an example of that I think. I do not see how Yanda survives on the outside against the edge-rush of Pittsburgh without a lot of help. I hope to see the Ravens use a lot of 'Jumbo' sets and position Cousins next to Yanda on the right-side.

NFL Picks Week 4

2010-10-03T08:28:00.004-04:00

As always, the picks are head-to-head, and not against the spread.

Record last-week: 7-9
Season record: 26-20 (57%)
Record last-season: 169-79 (68%)

San Francisco @ Atlanta: Atlanta
New York Jets @ Buffalo: New York Jets
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh
Carolina @ New Orleans: New Orleans
Denver @ Tennessee: Tennessee
Cincinnati @ Cleveland: Cincinnati
Detroit @ Green Bay: Green Bay
Seattle @ St. Louis: St. Louis
Indianapolis @ Jacksonville: Indianapolis
Houston @ Oakland: Houston
Arizona @ San Diego: San Diego
Washington @ Philadelphia: Philadelphia
Chicago @ New York Giants: Chicago
New England @ Miami: New England

Maryland moves to 4-1, receives help from ACC Coastal

2010-10-02T22:01:00.003-04:00

Down 9-0 to Duke at-home, the Terrapins of Maryland rallied to 21-16 victory.

With the win, the Terps move to 4-1 overall and 1-0 within the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Saftey Antwin Perez played like the 5 Star recruit that he was, and Maryland received points on an explosive return from Tony Logan and reception from Da'Rel Scott.

Adrian Moten, and Joe Vellano also deserve credit for their performances tonight.

In the ACC's Atlantic Division, the Terps have also received some help. Coastal powers Virginia Tech, Miami, and Georgia Tech have scored wins over North Carolina State, Clemson, and Wake Forest respectively.

Clemson, NCST, and Wake dropping these home-games means that only MD and Florida State are undefeated in the Atlantic.

FSU has grabbed hold of the Atlantic with their wins over Wake last-week, and Virginia today.

After a bye next-week, Maryland will travel to Death Valley to face Clemson on the 16th. Clemson will be at North Carolina this coming week. If the Terps can win this game, the season will have the potential to become very interesting.

O's win, move over .500 since the AS Break

2010-10-02T21:44:00.008-04:00

Brian Matusz won his 10th game of 2010 tonight, as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers 2-1.

Matusz's win was his 6th consecutive winning decision, and really punctuated his impressive 2nd-half. For the second straight start Matusz had at-least 8 k's.

Down 1-0, Nick Markakis homered for the second time in two days, bringing his OPS above .800.
Uehara notched his 13th save of the year.

With the win, the Orioles are now 37-36 since the All-Star break.

A look at the Pittsburgh Steelers & Prediction

2010-10-02T19:53:00.003-04:00

Heading into the 2010 season, the conventional wisdom from many was that the 4 game suspension of Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, combined by the departure of WR Santonio Holmes and injury to T Willie Colon would be too much for the Pittsburgh Steelers to overcome.

As we head to Week 4, the Steelers remain undefeated. You do not have to like the Steelers, but as always they remind you that do have to respect their organization.

The rivalry between the Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens continues tomorrow. One of the reasons the rivalry has evolved into one of the best within the NFL, is that the identity of these teams remain consistent. They want to be physical, they want to run the ball, they want to stop the run. With Roethlisberger unavailable, the Steelers have recommitted to running the ball between the tackles. Former 1st round pick Rashard Mendenhall is running downhill and making the move towards becoming elite.

Roster:

O-Line: The injury of Colon did not receive a tremendous amount of attention, but it was significant. He had started every game for the Steelers at RT during the previous 3 seasons. Colon was replaced with Flozell Adams who spent many years with the Cowboys. Adams was a former Pro Bowl player in his own right, but has slowed. He is also one of the most penalized players in the league since 2005. The Ravens will attempt to take Adams, and get him to false-start. At Center, the Steelers are starting their 2010 1st-round pick Maurkice Pouncey. As positive as Pittsburgh feels about Pouncey, Baltimore may be able to exploit the rookie with more complicated schemes. Max Starks is one of the better LT's in football.

RB: A week ago the Ravens were mauled by Peyton Hillis. Mendenhall was busy putting-up his own 140 yards against Tampa. In his 64 rushing-attempts this year, Mendenhall is averaging 5.2 yards a carry. I think the rookie Jonathan Dwyer could eventually help them as a straight ahead runner.

WR/TE: With the trade of Holmes, I thought that 2008 2nd-round pick Limas Sweed would get a chance to emerge this year. Sweed's season was ended before it began to an Achillies' injury. The constants of Hines Ward at receiver, and Heath Miller at TE remain. Antwan Randle El has returned to Pittsburgh for his second tour of duty. The second WR is second-year player Mike Wallace. Wallace had 39 receptions for 756 yards as a rookie last-season. In the first game of this season, Wallace had a 52 yard reception. Last week he had a grab for 46 more (with 2 touchdowns). He is obviously playing the role of their home-run hitter right now.

QB: With Dennis Dixon injured, the starter for the second straight week will be the long-time veteran Charlie Batch. Batch threw the ball just 17 times last week, and you have to expect a similar approach from the Steelers tomorrow.

DL: The Steelers 3-4 defense remains anchored by Casey Hampton up-front at the NT. On either-side he is joined by Aaron Smith, and Brett Keisel at the Ends. Both of those players are better against the run, than as pass rushers. Pittsburgh continues to wait on 2009 1st round pick Ziggy Hood to emerge.

LB: Pittsburgh remains loaded at LB. Woodley and Harrison outside, Farrior and Timmons inside. In the draft the Steelers added 2nd round pick Jason Worilds and 4th rounder Thaddeus Gibson. These two are being groomed to eventually take over for Woodley and Harrison, and will cause the Ravens problems tomorrow on passing downs.

With Gaither unable to play tomorrow, the Ravens are going to have give Yanda help-outside. Maybe we see jumbo packages tomorrow with Cousins. We will see two TE sets, with the second TE (along with Rice/McGahee and McClain) helping to pick-up the pass-rush. My hope is that Dickson and Pitta opposite of Heap can pull some defenders from the box running seem routes.

Secondary: Safety Ryan Clark stated this week that the Ravens are just another football team. Interesting commentary from an unspectacular aging starter. After spending last-year with Arizona, Bryant McFadden is back at a corner position. Opposite of him is Ike Taylor. That is rather pedestrian pair of starters, who are reliant on pass-rush from their front 7. Like all Steelers, I am sure they are physical and good at helping defend the run. If the Ravens have any time to pass, Boldin, Mason, and Houshmandzadeh should be able to make plays against this group.

Last-year the Ravens did not have to face Troy Polamalu in either match-up. No such luck this year.

Prediction: Every division game is important. The Ravens have already lost in Cincinnati, which has only increased the pressure for Baltimore tomorrow. Pittsburgh wants to defend their home-field, but is playing with a bit of house money after starting 3-0 without Big Ben.

If the Ravens had Kindle, I would love his potential to cause problems for Adams. As they do not, I wonder where the pass-rush is coming from tomorrow.

If Baltimore is going to get the road victory tomorrow, I am convinced that some of Ravens rookies have to contribute. That includes Terrence Cody making his NFL debut, and Dickson and Pitta at TE. The Ravens run defense was horrible last-week, but obviously you expect that to be better. Cody can help not only with his play, but by giving some rest to Gregg.

Rice has stated he feels good and will play. I respect the will, but still think it might be smarter to hold him out. In the AFC Championship Game two years ago, McGahee was excellent with his blitz pick-up.

Baltimore can win tomorrow. Without Roethisberger, the Ravens probably should be expected to win tomorrow. Vegas basically agrees as Pittsburgh is a 1 point favorite. That means Vegas would see Baltimore as the favorite on a neutral-field. Tomorrow is a statement game for both teams. If the Steelers win, they take control of the division and get their QB returning. If Baltimore wins, the Ravens grab that important road win.

I'm optimistic that Kruger, and Cody are going to help. I am pessimistic that the Ravens will be able to keep Flacco up-right.

17-13 Pittsburgh.

Maryland losing to Duke at the Half

2010-10-02T19:24:00.003-04:00

The University of Maryland is losing 9-7 to Duke at the half in College Park.

The Terrapins were down 9-0 and facing a potential knock-out punch from the driving Blue Devils, when Saftey Antwine Perez made a red-zone interception with under 5 mts remaining in the second-quarter.

Maryland was able to finally put together a drive and carve into the lead on the subsequent possession. That drive was aided by a 44 yard connection between O'Brien and Smith. The Terps ground-game has been ineffective so far tonight, and O'Brien was having a very limited half until that drive.

The Terps have allowed 227 yards, including 173 through the air.

This is an absolute must-win game if the Terps want to end their season in a bowl. Maryland needs to play the 2nd-half with an attacking mentality.

Looking forward to the O's off-season

2010-10-02T10:37:00.006-04:00

After sweeping a double-header yesterday against the Detroit Tigers, the Baltimore Orioles are now 65-95 with two games remaining in the 2010 season.

65 wins represents a 1 game improvement over the 2009 season, which is frankly amazing considering the O's were 32-73 when Showalter took over. With one win in these last two games, the O's will have a .500 record since the All-Star break. (currently 36-36) The Orioles had a winning August. The Orioles will have a winning September/October. With Showalter at the helm, the O's have showed they can play against the division.

Two weeks ago, I asked after further inspection who are the O's?

http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/09/after-further-examination-who-are-os.html

My basic opinions remain. You are not as good as you look when everything is going right, nor as bad as you look when everything is going wrong. As currently constructed, I think the O's in 2011 would be the .500 level team I predicted them to be here in '10. Watching the youth of this roster continue to grow and mature is going to be fun.

What also is going to be fun, is seeing how the O's choose to augment their roster.

Before the O's make plans to pursue players currently external to the organization, I anticipate they will prioritize resigning Uehara, and Wigginton. I do believe both players will be back in an Oriole uniform for 2011.

There are no secrets about where the O's need to improve. Izturis is the worst offensive every-day player in the Majors, and his defense is not at the level of a Belanger or Ozzie Smith to make it acceptable.

(Check-out this thread started by Tony Pente on his own Orioles Hangout forum about Izturis. http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102979 )

Josh Bell is a legitimate 3rd-base prospect, but 53 k's (vs. 2 walks) in 155 at-bats clearly indicates he is not ready to hold down the position.

I've made clear that I believe in the talents of Nolan Reimold, and feel he could handle 1st-base if handed the position full-time. With the Achillies' and the birth of his child behind him, I expect him to have a focused off-season, and be prepared to help the O's next-year. The reality is that as encouraging as his rookie season was, this sophomore season was a nightmare. If the Orioles have visions of rapidly improving, you can not go into 2011 with 1st-base being a question mark.

Barring trade or injury; Guthrie, Matusz, Arrieta, and Bergesen are four locks for the O's 2011 Opening Day rotation. Without a Free Agent addition, or the acquisition of a starter via trade; Tillman will head to Spring Training as the most-likely 5th starter. Britton (and to a lesser extent VandenHurk) will be waiting in the wings as internal replacements when injuries or non-performance occurs.

If you believe like I do that Uehara returns, you have to be excited about the prospects for the bullpen. Uehara, Gonzalez, Hernandez, Johnson, Berken (if able), Simon/ VandenHurk, Patton / 2nd lefty is potentially very good.

You know who will man RF, C, and 2nd. Even if the O's decide to move Jones to LF, you know that he will man one of the OF spots. My guess is that he returns to CF at-least to start '11. The odds are very low on Scott being traded, so really you know who is the DH. Unless the unexpected presents itself, Pie figures to be back in LF.

You can not make Free Agents sign, but it will still be interesting to see whom the O's choose to pursue.

In June, I asked if the O's should consider Victor Martinez this off-season:
http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/06/should-os-target-victor-martinez.html

Now in October, you are hearing his name with some frequency. I expect the O's will make an offer here. If the O's could get him for 2 years, I see a lot of value in his potential acquisition.

I've come around to the idea of pursuing Adrian Beltre for 3rd. Here is a Fangraphs.com article about the type of contract it will likely take to land him.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/contract-crowdsourcing-results-adrian-beltre/

Four years, and $60M seems like a reasonable estimation of what it would take to bring him to Baltimore. He is not the hitter he has shown to be this year with Boston, but he is a capable offensive and defensive player that would improve the everyday Oriole lineup.

The Orioles have spent additional time scouting Japan this year, and I'm interested to see if the O's will aggressively pursue top-level talent such as the starter Yu Darvish, or SS Hiroyuki Nakajima. Both players are mentioned as potential options to be posted this Winter. The first-link below talks about that possible posting, the second link is a previous entry from me on Darvish complete with scouting reports. At the time I was suggesting a posting-fee possibly at $60M, which would represent a slight increase over what Boston provided to negotiate for Dice-K. If it is now going to be significantly lower, and similar to what it cost for Igawa - you can bet the Orioles will be involved.

http://www.metsblog.com/2010/09/30/yu-darvish-could-be-up-for-grabs/
http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2010/07/2011-os-rotation.html

What these last two months have done is reset the clock. People are seeing tangible improvement, and potential for the franchise. Questions remain, but even if no major additions are made the talent exists internally for this team to take major steps next-year. That by itself is going to have people looking forward to '11. With a couple of key additions you have to wonder just how much this team could achieve.

Happy for O'Brien, not ready to forget Robinson

2010-09-30T07:23:00.003-04:00

Terps Redshirt Freshman QB Danny O'Brien was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Week for his play against Florida International.

Dealing with his own injuries, and making an unexpected start; it was an impressive outing for O'Brien. It is pretty evident that O'Brien is the more polished (and traditional drop-back) passer in comparison to Junior Jamarr Robinson. The fact that O'Brien is this comfortable in Maryland's offense this early in his career, really bodes well for him.

I am feeling a bit conflicted here though as a Terps fan. O'Brien is receiving a lot of accolades for completing 18 of 27 passes for 250 yards, and 2 TD's at-home against the Florida International. How is that any more impressive than what Robinson did at Florida State (20 of 27 for 213 yards passing, 1 TD, 58 yards rushing) last-year?

I acknowledge that O'Brien looks like the more comfortable 'QB', but Robinson is the superior athlete. This is not the NFL, this is College with spread offenses all the rage. I think it is an interesting question to ask who is better equipped to get the most out of the surrounding skill-position talent. You can easily make a logical case for that being O'Brien, but I think it would be mistake to totally write-off Robinson yet.

Pryce figures to be back, but issue remains

2010-09-30T07:02:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, the Baltimore Ravens released DE Trevor Pryce. Even with just 2.5 sacks in his last 13 games (and 11 in 32 games), the move came as a bit of a surprise. That is, until news was found all over the internet that Pryce will likely be resigned by the Ravens next week.

So while Pryce figures to return, the Ravens pass-rush issues remain. The Ravens drafted Kindle with the hope of turning him loose on QB's opposite of Suggs on passing downs. With Kindle being unavailable, teams are simply doubling Suggs and eliminating him as a weapon.

While Pryce out, I hope that Kruger gets a chance to be activated this week and get after the QB. I think adding Kruger, and Cody to the line will help this defense a lot. Obviously Cody was drafted as a run-stopping tackle, and he was never known as a pass-rusher at Alabama. Still, if you have Cody line-up next to Ngata opposing offensive-lines are going to have to double-team one or the other. Likely that choice will be Ngata. When that happens, Cody is going to have an opportunity to collapse the pocket.

EDIT: Despite claims from Harbaugh in today's Baltimore Sun that Pryce would return, Pryce has signed with the New York Jets. I do not think Pryce is a huge loss, but you have lost depth.

O's win, take 2 out of 3 in Tampa

2010-09-29T22:03:00.002-04:00

Buoyed by 7 scoreless innings from veteran Kevin Millwood, the Baltimore Orioles beat the Rays 2-0 in Tampa.

With the win, the O's moved to 4-1 against Tampa for the month. Since the All-Star break, the Orioles are now 34 and 36 overall. If Baltimore can take 3 of 4 against Detroit, the O's will have played .500 baseball for the last 46% of the season.

I felt good for Millwood tonight. The odds are pretty strong that he was making his last appearance as an Oriole. Tampa takes a lot of pitches, and they also have hitters that expand the zone. Millwood exploited the high strike-zone being called by home-plate Umpire Angel Hernandez. In the bottom of the 7th, Millwood took the mound being staked to the 2-run lead. When he walked Zobrist to start the inning, I had images of the game coming apart. Of course it progressed to a two-out bases loaded situation, with B.J. Upton at the plate. Consciously you know Millwood had to be aware this was going to be the last hitter he faced (and would face in an Oriole uniform) and he was able to get the strike-out.

I would think that if Millwood wants to continue playing in 2011, someone will give him a look. If he decides to call it a career, he should feel good about how he earned his fourth 2010 win, and the professionalism he showed this season.

Two other Oriole players who should feel good tonight are Felix Pie, and Koji Uehara. Pie knocked in the O's two runs, with his triple in the 7th. He fell behind in count against Niemann, but was able to battle before getting a pitch to hit.

For the second-time in the series, Uehara was just outstanding in the 9th. Uehara earned his 11th save on the year, striking out Crawford swinging, and Johnson looking to end the game.

Matusz was dominating

2010-09-28T07:49:00.002-04:00

Brian Matusz was pretty dominating last-night in the O's 4-0 win at Tampa.

Matusz is not going to confuse anyone of Randy Johnson in his prime, but in his own way he was every bit as impressive.
As Palmer pointed out on the telecast, Matusz's curve was in top-form. That big-break helped him go 7 innings of score-less ball, allowing 3 hits, 2 walks, while striking-out 8.

He was now won 5 straight decisions, and 6 of his past 7.

Since the All-Star break, Matusz is 6-3, with a 3.82 era. In 66 innings, he has allowed 59 hits, 23 walks, with 54 k's.

Tampa is playing for a Divisional crown, and obviously in the mind-set that every-game matters. The fact that Matusz was able to walk into that building, in that setting and shut-down Tampa is something to take note of.

As an aside, how about Uehara in the 9th? Obviously was not a save situation, but the Rays had absolutely no chance against him. He has great movement, and even better control. His fastball is really the equivalent of 4 different pitches, because he has the ability to work up,down, in, and out.

Ravens should rule out using Rice

2010-09-28T07:35:00.003-04:00

It was reported yesterday that Ray Rice has a serious knee contusion, but could possibly play this weekend against Pittsburgh.

That should not happen.

Rice appears to me to be a gamer, and somebody that will attempt to play if thinks he can at all. You can look back to his College days at Rutgers, and see the massive amounts of rushing attempts he piled-up. This is a player that wants the ball, and wants to help his team win.

The most important thing Rice can do to help his current team, is making sure he is available for most of this season. Going into Pittsburgh with a serious contusion, is akin to walking into a cage with a Lion with raw meat strapped around your neck. It never matters what the records are between Pittsburgh, and Baltimore; the end result is always a physical game with pain involved.

Absolutely it is a very important game for the Ravens. You would love to get that divisional win, and especially the road win over Pittsburgh. If you lose, you have already dropped two divisional games and will force yourself into must wins at home in the rematches against the Steelers, and Cincinnati.

Someone though has to remind Rice that as important as this game is, it still only Week 4 of the Regular Season. If the injury was made worse, and he missed significant time that would jeopardize the season. With McGahee, and McClain (and Parmele) you should have the depth needed to play a game or two without Rice. Afterall, you are playing a Pittsburgh team that is finding ways to win without their QB. That is the perfect example of a team adjusting to a lack of personnel.

There is no way I would play Rice this weekend, and I would consider having him miss the Denver game at-home next week as well. My goal would be to have him ready for the trip to New England on the 17th.

BSL interviewed by Kevin Van Valkenburg / Baltimore Sun

2010-09-26T18:39:00.002-04:00

Baltimore Sports and Life was interviewed this week by Kevin Van Valkenburg of the Baltimore Sun.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-or-orioles-20100924,0,1418901.story

I think Van Valkenburg got an interesting cross-section of opinions for his article, and we appreciated being asked for our thoughts.

Ravens beat Browns; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2010-09-26T17:19:00.003-04:00

After the first-play of the 4th Quarter, the Baltimore Ravens found themselves trailing the Cleveland Browns. The Ravens rebounded to score the last 10 points of the game, and win their home-opener against their divisional opponent Cleveland Browns.

While much of the game itself will be critiqued, the result is Baltimore moves to 2-1.

The Good:

1) The best news of the day is probably the information Coach Harbaugh provided to the media about Ray Rice. No apparent ligament damage, though an MRI will be scheduled.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/blog/2010/09/rice_sprains_knee.html

2) Flacco looked horrible last week in Cincinnati, but the criticism he faced this week from some was ridiculous. Flacco was able to tune all of that noise out, and respond by completing 71% of his passes.

3) 3 of Flacco's completed passes were to Anquan Boldin who dominated the action in his Ravens' home-debut. 8 catches, 142 yards (17.8 yards per reception) is elite-level production.

4) Todd Heap had a solid day with 4 catches, for 46 yards. It continues to look to me that he is enjoying more single coverage, and running routes a bit deeper than the past two-seasons.

5) When Rice was given the ball, he responded. 15 carries, for 80 yards equals 5.3 yards per carry.

6) Parmele had another good day as a kick-returner.

7) Give credit to the offensive-line for not allowing a sack today. Cleveland has very little in their front-seven, but what matters is that Flacco did not spend his day picking himself up off the ground.

8) After missing a 51 yard-attempt, Cundiff came back and nailed his 2nd attempt (49 yards).

9) Joshua Cribbs is one of the best Kick Returners in the game. He got his yards (averaged 23.5 yards on his two returns), but the Ravens Special Teams did not allow him to break something long.

10) I wrote a week or so ago that it would have been dumb to trade McGahee. The potential injury to Rice reminded how quickly things can change in the NFL. McGahee had a nice 4th Quarter, finishing the game with 7 carries for 29 yards.

11) The Ravens entered the 4th quarter losing the time-of-possession battle by roughly 8 minutes. When the game ended, the Ravens finished with a slight advantage. Baltimore did not just score the last 10 points of the game, they effectively managed the clock.

The Bad:

1) Terrence Cody was deactivated for today's game even though he expected to play. Were the Ravens unconvinced of his health, or are they not seeing enough in practice? Either way, you have to think his bulk could have helped against the Browns rushing-attack.

2) Peyton Hillis got the start for Cleveland today, due to an injury to Jerome Harrison. In his rookie season in 2008, Hillis had 343 yards including a 22 carry 129 yard effort against the Jets. In 2009, Hillis had 13 rushing attempts for the season for 54 yards. Today, Hillis consistently ran downhill on the Ravens, plowing through the line of attack. He finished the day going for a 144 yards on the ground (6.5 yards per carry), and another 36 yards as a receiver.

Hillis gets credit for running hard north and south. The left-side of Cleveland line gets credit for opening up some holes. The Ravens front-seven has to take some blame for not slowing Hillis down.

2a) Hillis' 48 yard run near the end of the 3rd Quarter was compounded by a pathetic penalty from Tom Zbikowski.

3) Despite the sacks by Suggs, and Landry to start the 3rd Quarter, the Ravens were never able to generate much of a pass-rush.

3a) Do the Ravens need to put the picture of Trevor Pryce on some milk-cartons?

3b) The Ravens have to commit to getting Paul Kruger active and on the field each week. He was drafted as a pass-rusher, and you have zero existing pass-rush. Activate him, and send him after the QB.

4) The Ravens had their first-possession of the 2nd quarter start with just under 12 minutes on the clock. Baltimore had already scored their first touchdown of the day on their previous possession. The Ravens quickly moved from their own 7 yard-line to the Cleveland 44 yard-line. Moving the ball at-will, the Ravens elected to go with a gadget play on 1st and 10. The result was a 6 yard loss, that helped put the Ravens in a 3rd down and 9 yards to go scenario at the Cleveland 43. Flacco responded with a 27 yard strike to Boldin for a 1st down. The Ravens eventually scored put the ball in the end-zone on this drive, but that is not the point. The gimmick play was unnecessary and could have cost the Ravens points.

5) The penalties that Mason, and Oher received should have been avoided.

6) Another week, and again no production from Houshmandzadeh. (1 catch, 4 yards. For the year 2 catches, for 31 yards). As I write this, Clayton has 2 receptions for 25 yards against the Redskins. This gives Clayton 14 catches, 168 yards, and 2 TD's so far on the year. The Ravens added Houshmandzadeh for a reason, they have to get him incorporated into the offense.

7) Zero receptions for Dickson and Pitta. Combined they have 2 catches for 18 yards. Jermaine Gresham (Bengals) has 13 for 99 yards. Rob Gronkowski (Patriots) has 5 for 48. Aaron Hernandez (Patriots) has 13 for 211. The Ravens need to find a way to get these two the ball.

The Ugly:

1) I predicted the Ravens to win 38-3 today, and the final score was 24-17. I predicted a game where the Ravens would dominate both sides of the ball, and never be pressured. Cleveland held a 4th Quarter lead. For this, I nominate my own prediction as ugly.

I understand that Cleveland was playing with some pride today, and divisional games always tend to be a fight. Still, if you look at that Cleveland roster - particularly their Defensive Line, and Linebackers; they are severely lacking. Even without Gaither, the Ravens Offensive-Line should have been able to maul that group.

Combine that with the Ravens own troubles with stopping the run, and you have plenty of things to wince about today.

Up-Next:

2-1 Baltimore heads north to face the rival (and 3-0) Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh had 4 sacks today, and allowed none in their 38-13 beating of the Buccaneers in Tampa. Charlie Batch is not going to scare anyone at QB, but the long-time veteran is very comfortable in the Steelers offense. The Ravens had trouble stopping the straight-ahead rushing of Peyton Hillis today. With that in-mind, you can expect the Steelers to try and use a similar game-plan with their power RB Rashard Mendenhall (19 carries, for 143 yards today).

I thought Pittsburgh was a dangerous semi-forgotten team going into this season. Their 3-0 start without Roethlisberger shows they have focused and rallied around each other. Having already lost at Cincinnati, this is a game the Ravens really need to win if Baltimore ultimately wants to win the AFC North title.