Ask Baltimore Beatdown: Questions for the Ravens Blogger

and should come close to 4000 yards, as the Ravens are throwing a lot more than anyone expected.

What did you think about Quinn’s hit on Suggs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xex97MHLy18

our best pass rusher. Quinn’s hit, while not a deliberate attempt to injure, was on purpose and aimed below his knees. Brady should be fined more than Ray Lewis was for his hit on Ocho Cinco a month ago ($25K), and should also be forced to miss as much time as he is making Suggs miss, which might be as much as the rest of the season.

but the defense has been truly disappointing. The players are just not executing and it all starts with the non-existent pass rush.

who hasn’t had much playing time so far this season. Hard to make up for the loss of your best pass rusher when your pass rush wasn’t that good to begin with.

Hope we play over our heads and you do the opposite, but I doubt it. Just want the game to be competitive through the second half.

Honestly, inquiring minds want to know.

in pro football as I do in baseball. Flacco’s growth has continued and we are throwing it more so he is looking better. However, he still has his moments of looking like a kid.

and hope we assign a nickel or safety to him. He’s had great games against us and might once again.

with big bookend tackles in Gaither (6’9", 345#) and the well known rookie Michael Oher at RT. Freeney will get his but I love Oher’s nastiness and expect him to be our LT one day in the not so distant future. Go see the movie later this week and read the book, The Blind Side, as it is a great one.

…most players totally agree w/ him and so do I. He isn’t whining and the league should listen to people like him. The rules are so favorable to the “stars” of the NFL that it is hard to not laugh when Tom Brady gestures and then the refs throw the flag. I said in an earlier column that they should just cutr out the middle man and give Brady a yellow bean bag flag to throw ion his own. Knowing how Brady has done against you guys, you should agree w/ me.

and got a penalty from it and then on the next play Freeney intercepts Brady. Brady is then the last line of defense and aims for Freeney’s knees and Freeney goes down with a season ending injury.

So, yeah. I’d be agreeing with Lewis about that.

Looks like he could use some home cooking. And some rest.

said he was ready to play. I think he could of played against Cleveland but why not wait for this week instead, which was the right decision. As good as he is against the run, he is not the pass rusher we need and will miss with Suggs out.

where our defense played like last year’s. Then again, I guess we also exposed the Broncos for the pretenders that they are.

or at least tow wins out of the three games, including the Steelers twice. Tough route, but possible.

I bring Ngata cookies and you offer a crow bar? Which do yo uhtink he’ll open his door for?

I love Ray Rice and have since college. I have a soft spot for Rutgers as a good chunk of my HS class went there and I like how they revived their program in recent years. (Was it EVER alive this century? Maybe they “vived” it?) Rice worries me more than Faulk did last week (and Faulk was a big concern for me and, apparenlty, Dungy too) simply because he’s on the field more and seems to carry the ball with a fierceness. Think MJD with Ray Lewis’s mentality. If Colts can get comfortable with their containment of Mason and Heap hurting them semi-deep, I think they can then close the envelope tighter on the run and short pass game.

I hope Freeney busts loose out of frustration and starts another 9-game streak.

As Bruce pointed out, the Ravens are an inconsistent team and predicting a final is tough. It could be one of our traditional recent no-contest games, or could end up like SF/Hou where we’re not really concerned about losing, but think we should win more thoroughly (on paper, at least).

I am of the opinion that we should start taking a preseason approach to games—not that we don’t care who wins, but that we find out what we have, who can do what, and try different personnel packages in different situations, so that when we hit week 19, we’re holding a hand of about eight cards and the opponents are only holding five. Depending on how the game unfolds, new schemes, injuries, etc, we can just play the card we tried out in week 12 for a series, etc. Balt is a good but not great team, so gives us a ’real-world" lab to test things in, as opposed to playing the Chiefs/Raiders and trying things against them.

1) Ben Grubbs at LG is a former first round pick from 2007, Matt Birk at Center from Minnesota and Chris Chestor at RG. All have been great for us this year, especially Birk. Birk is the older one of the group, as our other 4 guys are all under 27. Chestor has player nearly every position on the line and is actually a back up TE if we ever need him. Willing to switch alot. One thing you need to watch out for though is when Oher and Gaither line up next to each other on the left side. Many should consider our O-Line to be one of the best in the AFC.

2)

(Sorry – I just think they don’t have any chance without him AND Suggs.)

Don’t apologize. It is definitely going to be tough without our two best pass rushers. Suggs is definitely not playing, but Ngata has been practicing this week and I just cannot see him missing a game like this.

3) Not much man. It really hasn’t. We looked good against Denver because they play a short offense. But other teams have lit us up. Wayne should be able to manhandle Foxworth and Washington. The fate of the secondary this weekend is going to be with Ed Reed. He must play one of his best games of the year if we want to stop slow down Peyton.

4) The fact though that it was Ray making a play like that is what made that play great. Of course it was a wide open tackle, but Ray making it is what was great. We needed someone to step up, make a play to end the game, and Ray did that. He is still…………serviceable. Still is great at getting his men where they need to be, motivator, all the things you think of when you say Ray Lewis.

5)

Are they going to wear all black including pants? Cause that’s ugly.

Won’t even go there. You just disrespected the greatest uniforms in the league. The all black is god like.

6) Heap started off on fire in the beginning of the season and was a huge part of our offense. We would like to see more, but Ray Rice is who has gotten alot of Heap’s looks.

7) Of course I have to say Ravens win 26-21. Peyton will get his, I am well aware of that. If we can get an interception on him, that would be huge. If the Ravens are to lose though, I hope to see a good game. I just cannot see us losing this one by 20 like we are used to. Should be one of the best games of the year. You guys have to admit however that we are not a team you really want to see right now.

1. O-line is a strong point, if we stay out of the penalties.
2. Ngata lives at…..wait, crowbar,…nevermind. He eats at a lot of local buffets though.
3. Pass defense is totallly a result of the pass rush. If we get one, we’ aces, if not, we’re toast.
4. Ray is still a great player, might have sacrificed speed for smarts but still understands the game as good as any.
5. Black, better than the black pants w/ white tops that make them look fat, especially the o-line guys.
6. If you know where Heap’s been, let all of Baltimore know as well. He’s been around but not enough!
7. Bet the house on the over, but I do not like our chances in a shootout and can’t see our defense stopping you so we’ll have to open up the playbook and try to keep up. Thanks!

and a nasty guy on it. I’ve seen him play w/o his helmet and block a defenseman over the field from one side to the other. He’ll push you around and do more even if you’re on the ground. While I don’t like Gaither’s chances against Freeney, I do like and look forward to the Oher-Mathis battle.

Thanks!