..
Bigravensfan.net
"better
than a
halftime quickie"
.. |
Bigravensfan.net |
|
WEEK 6 IN REVIEW |
| Pre Game Analysis: |
WEEK 6: THE FACTS:
Visit the ESPN Ravens Clubhouse Week 6
Predictions:
(open dates: Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis) |
Watch this week's video
previews. Ravens
laying goose eggs Having brushed aside the Cleveland Browns 12-0
and recording their third shutout of the year in the
process, the Ravens head down to the unfriendly confines
of Alltel Stadium to face their old nemesis, the
Jacksonville Jaguars. The underlying themes surrounding
this game are plentiful. The balance of power seems to
have shifted in the AFC Central. The Jaguars are reeling,
the victims of two straight embarrassing losses. Riddled
by injuries, both physical and emotional, the team has
their proverbial backs to the wall early in the season. A
win by the Ravens would put them 3 games ahead of
Jacksonville and give them a sweep of the head-to-head
series. The Jaguars, led by head coach Tom Coughlin, are
a proud team and will do anything but lay down. They will
come out swinging like the pros that they are and will
seek to take advantage, once again, of a young Baltimore
secondary. The last meeting between these two was a game
for the ages, with Jacksonville sprinting out to a 17-0
lead, only to have the Ravens fight back, winning in the
final seconds, 39-36. In that game, Mark Brunell throw
the ball at will, burning the Baltimore secondary time
and time again. The Ravens will arrive with a defense
brimming with confidence and their famous "on-again,
off-again" offense, which, if true to form, is
scheduled to be "on". The matchup is crucial
for both teams. For Baltimore, still trying to break into
the "elite team" club, it represents their best
opportunity to date to bust down the door: A national
television audience, a place in which they have never won
and the opportunity to take a stranglehold over
Jacksonville in the division race. For the Jaguars, it is
pride, survival, gut-check time. This team is not nearly
as bad as they have appeared over the past two weeks and
they most certainly are anxious to stand up and shout
that message to the world. This week's main event will
tell much about the character of this Baltimore team.
Jacksonville is the "ring" and for the Ravens,
this is the "fight". A few weeks ago, they
knocked the Jaguars down. On Sunday night, they can knock
them out. |
| Post Game Analysis: |
Week 6
|
Ravens win Blooper Bowl Comedy of errors highlight Jags game Boy, those guys at ESPN sure are funny. Slipping a Three Stooges tape in on us in place of Sunday Night Football. The Ravens arrived at Alltel Stadium on Sunday with their "national TV" reputation well in hand. Stumblers, fumblers...all-around bumblers. The kind of performances that made for good water-cooler jokes on dull Monday mornings. This time, however, the team from Baltimore would meet their match. From the outset, Mark Brunell & Co. had that "We'll show them!" attitude and never let up on the gaffes. Pick your highlight: The numerous botched snaps from center? The fumbles? The interceptions? Perhaps it was the inadvertent on-side kick that the Ravens recovered right under the nose of five Jaguar players, who stood and watched. The Ravens, however, proudly fought back. Dropping pass after pass, including a sure TD by a wide open Qadry Ismail, Baltimore wasn't ready to relinquish it's national crown so easily. Tony Banks, he of national TV shame, stepped up to the plate. Under pressure and trying to avoid a sack in his own end zone, Banks fired a strike to Jacksonville defensive lineman Tony Brackens, who returned it for an apparent touchdown. But as a nation on the edge of their seats discovered, the follies had only just begun. A third stooge emerged....the referees....and believe me, this gang was not going to be denied. Those crazy guys at ESPN must have slipped a peep-show onto that replay screen because the decision-maker didn't see what the rest of the country saw...and overwhelmingly voted for. Perhaps as payback for an earlier botched call on the Ray Lewis fumble recovery, the ruling was that Brackens had fumbled the ball before he entered the end zone and the Ravens recovered and regained possession. As the network's Chris Berman would have proclaimed, "Those tricky refs!". The Ravens' Red Zone Frustration Force had gained a new member and the Jaguars, for all intents and purposes, were finished. |
