Ravens-Bengals: A Battle For First
Whenever I heard buzz this preseason of the Bengals as a sleeper team to watch, I scoffed. It just didn’t make sense. I couldn’t see how a team that went 4-11-1 last year could turn it around and compete in this division, no matter how much they had supposedly improved.
I want to remain skeptical but the record so far speaks for itself. They’re one fluke play from undefeated, and that’s hard to do if you’re not good.
Now they come to Baltimore to take on a Ravens team that has become the class of the division. At stake — who’d have guessed? — is sole possession of first place.
There’s been talk of how Carson Palmer has the skills and the receivers to do some damage. That’s true in theory, maybe, but the Bengals’ passing offense ranks just 22nd in the league. Where they’ve actually done well is in running the ball (11th best), and we know those yards won’t come easy.
Here’s the basic rundown on the two teams from Dan Kolko at masnsports.com, including the rest of the team numbers.
Sooner or later the Ravens will lose a game or two they’re supposed to win. It usually happens to everybody, and maybe it’ll happen against the Bengals when the two teams meet again four weeks when the two teams meet in Cincinnati. I just can’t see it happening today.
Ravens 27-17
Have the Ravens even forced a punt from the Bengals in the 1st half? Can Flacco start actually throwing the ball down the field instead of dunking it to running backs?
Ed Reed vs. The Bengals.
The Ravens are not who we thought they were. This game was weak in so many ways and it is not the refs’ fault, I’m sorry.
officiating is awful all over the league.
as tempting as it is to pin this one on them you can’t because the ravens secondary sucks and no decrease in penalty calling will change that.
also this game looked like the billick years and that might be the scariest indictment there is.
Ugh. I finally make my way back to Rochester to the good news of the Red Sox getting swept (so much for using past playoff performance as a barometer) and the horrifying news that the Bengals beat the Ravens in Baltimore?
What the heck?
Someone tell me what went wrong!
LOL @ NEW ENGLAND SPORTS
at least the day wasn’t a total loss.
No doubt that seeing the Red Sox get swept out of the playoffs on the same day that the Patriots lose is a beautiful thing. I love seeing that city/region get taken down a peg or two.
We must now transfer every bit of mystical energy we have to the Angels, who will almost certainly face the Yankees in the next round.
As for the Ravens, it’s a tough loss but I think the Bengals really are that good. I’m not saying they’re locks to win the division or any such nonsense, but they’re right there with the Ravens and Steelers. Every game just got that much more important.
I read Posnanski’s beyond just excellent “The Soul of Baseball” on the train back to the Rochester today. It’s funny what can end Pax Romana.
The worst part is that I don’t have a thing to say right now but I need to say it anyway. The Ravens lost to the Bengals, the Yankees swept the Twins, I’ve been studying in my own way the issue of parity in professional sports, I have this sinking feeling, I’m pretty sure parity couldn’t save the Orioles from the 2000s, Dick Whitman couldn’t hold back any longer, and I just don’t know.
Like I said, I’ve been studying and writing (because you can’t write if you don’t write) about parity in professional sports. It’s such a gigantic subject, though, that I need to know if it’s worth tackling for our collective benefit. I don’t expect whatever we find out together to save the Orioles or baseball or prove finally that baseball is lost forever in competitive imbalance…but I think that we can learn A LOT, and that’s the most important step to changing everything that needs to be changed.
But, yeah, is this even something worth talking about?
I think making a solid Mad Men reference is a good start. Hell of an episode tonight.
I do also want to apologize for…well, you know. I think I can tend to get super stressed out and it’s all too easy to take it out on the internet, and I am sorry about that. Taking a two week vacation to my friend Mickey’s house in Florida took a lot more than I’m comfortable sharing off of my mind, and I feel rejuvenated in many ways (especially since I rediscovered the Red Sky at Night Clipper City, served across the street from my Wednesday night hangout in Rochester).
I’m still going to get drunk and post here (obviously).
@Andrew – Welcome back, dude.