With Indy, the Steelers and a trip to Green Bay on the books for the next three weeks, last night’s game against the Browns was definitely a must win. That said, I can’t glean much from it. I want to say that the Ravens’ defense seemed to be firing on all cylinders, but that’s giving them too much credit. It was Brady Quinn and the Browns who deserve the attention. Brady Quinn was awful and the Browns’ offensive line might actually be worse than the Ravens’.

One point that I can make with confidence is that Steve Hauschka should be fired. End of story. What is it going to take to get rid of this guy? It seems like he is going to have to blow one more game-winner before they can him, and I’m sure he’ll come through. I have never paid so much attention to a kicker. For the last 10 years I really didn’t have to.

Remember back in the preseason when the local press was talking up the “three-headed monster” that was to be the Ravens’ running game this year? That hasn’t quite played out, but if there ever was a time for it, that time is this coming Sunday. Ray Rice is obviously a quality back with a very bright future and he should be the main back for this team, but if you run him every down he won’t last.

And the Ravens don’t need to run him every time. Willis McGahee is making too much money to not be splitting carries. When he doesn’t do the whole dance-around-in-the-backfield-until-someone-blows-on-him-and-he-falls-down routine, he can be pretty effective.

And where has Le’Ron McClain been? That guy was our running game last year. I think Harbaugh should take these three guys and run 100 times next Sunday. Take a page from the Bengals’ playbook. The Ravens have three good backs and we should use them to return to their smash-mouth ways. Grind down the field, suck up the clock and most important, keep Peyton Manning on the sidelines.

Oh, and if it’s fourth down and the Ravens are less than 30 yards out, go for it. Field goals are not an option anymore.

The Bengals are certainly more legitimate than I thought. I have always thought Carson Palmer, when healthy, is one of the better quarterbacks in the league and yesterday he showed the type of poise and talent he’s capable of. Having said that, I think the loss was the result of a floundering Ravens squad rather than a shining Bengals performance. Flacco was under throwing everything, the Ravens receivers weren’t stepping up to passes, the offensive line was ineffective, and the defense was inconsistent.

What went right? The telling stats in this game were the Ravens going 1-10 on third down conversions and possessing the ball a mere twenty minutes. They were dominated on all fronts. Now they are 4-4 and going into Cleveland on Monday night. Even with the Browns coming off a bye and being at home on national TV, this will be the easiest opponent the Ravens face for the next month. This game has become a must win and with I have to admit that my confidence is pretty low.

I’m tired of the inconsistency. You can’t tell which team is going to show up from week to week and it’s getting out of control. I don’t like pointing fingers at anyone in particular but I think some heat has to be applied to John Harbaugh. I know, he can only coach, he can’t play the games for his players. But somehow he has to do a better job of motivating this team. He has his work cut out for him.

We have all seen it happen before, the Ravens lose a couple and then, as the team begins to feel sorry for themselves, it spirals out of control. If they go 4-5, then there may be no turning back. The season is halfway over but the way I see it, this coming game could spell the end.

But who knows? The Ravens could lose to the Browns and then mop the floor with Indianapolis. You just can’t tell anymore.

This has been one crazy year already. Back in September I never would have imagined that the Vikings and the Broncos would have two of the best records in football, or that Washington would have a complete and total collapse, or that the Bengals would be the best team in the AFC north.

The Ravens should beat the Broncos. Kyle Orton should combust under pressure. The Ravens’ special teams should be putting points on the board. This was the game I would have expected looking at the schedule back in September. The Ravens are a good team even at 4-3 and the Broncos have many more problems than their nearly perfect record would have you believe.

The way the Ravens played in the second half of yesterday’s game was some of the best football I’ve seen them play all year. The defense hung strong and was effective against the pass and the offense kept pushing hard on the run. I like that the Ravens stuck with the run even though their success with it was spotty in the first half. Joe Flacco composed himself in the second half and had success, particularly with Kelley Washington. The team knew they needed a win and they played with a passion that has been absent from their other games.

The schedule really heats up beginning next week and doesn’t let up until mid-December, when the Lions come to town. Both Cincinnati and Cleveland will be coming off bye weeks when they face the Ravens and then Indianapolis comes to town followed by a night game against the Steelers. November will be a tough month for sure, but if the Ravens can play like they did in yesterday’s second half, I see no reason why they can’t make it through this month winning the games that I thought they would win way back in September…when it all made sense.

It is getting downright brutal to sit through a Ravens game these days. I know it could be worse. We could be Tennessee, but I can’t decide if I would rather see my team get beaten soundly or lose in the final seconds like the Ravens keep doing.

There’s no denying it, the Ravens’ defense is weak. It’s more than just a secondary issue now. Granted, the secondary is still a massive problem but the defense as a whole is suffering. It’s such a strange feeling not having a reliable, lights-out defense. What happened? I have to think that it’s more than Rex Ryan or Bart Scott leaving. Those guys are great but to see a collapse of this magnitude, it has to be bigger than two guys.

Where’s the bottom? For 39 consecutive games no single runner put up over a hundred yards on us. It has happened twice now in two weeks. Adrian Peterson is almost expected, but even he has only had one other hundred-yard game all season. Cedric Benson is just inexcusable.

Having a hard time stopping the run makes the secondary issue even more pronounced. Only one other team in the NFL has given up more 20-yard-plus pass plays than the Ravens this year and we still haven’t faced best of the deep-threat offenses. What’s going to happen with Brandon Marshall in two weeks? What about Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes coming at us at the same time? What happens against Indianapolis? There are many challenges ahead and the word is out—the Ravens are not the defensive powerhouse they once were.

Offensively, I wish we had a little more success with the run in the first half, but you can’t take anything away from the offense yesterday. They hung in there and fought back as best they could. Flacco’s 448 yards is pretty impressive considering that before the final drive of the first half the team had a total of -4 yards. As for Steven Hauschka, all I can say is as a kicker you have one job and if you can’t do it then you don’t belong in the NFL. A 44 yarder indoors should be a sure thing, and it hurts even more because it used to be.

If I am pointing a finger this week, though, it’s at Frank Walker. He got beat on just about every play. When you tackle the guy you are covering and he still catches the ball you know you are out of your league. Yes Hauschka missed a field goal, but Frank Walker gave one away. That’s how I see it.

It seems the Ravens have been in decline since the game against the Browns. Yes, they are awful about playing to their opponent’s ability instead of their own. Yes, it has always been like that and I don’t think it will ever change. It’s a team mentality that frustrates the hell out of me. But there is no reason why the Ravens should be losing to teams like the Bengals.

Or is there? When you look at the box score for yesterday’s game, it wasn’t even close. The Ravens were outplayed all day. Aside from Ray Rice, whose extra effort gave us our only offensive touchdown, no one on that offense did their job.

No one on the sidelines did either. What possesses someone to run the same play five separate times in a game when it isn’t working? At what point was Cam Cameron going to try and open the field a bit more? When you look back at the Cleveland game, the team was all over the field. They hung it all out there. Now look at yesterday’s game. After Ed Reed’s pick six it looked like the team went into hang-on mode. I’m all for conservative play when you are winning, but you still need to keep putting points up on the board.

The Achilles heel of this team is the cornerback position. Foxworth and Washington can’t handle stud-wide receivers, and we are going to face a lot of them this year. Teams are finding out very quickly that they can kill us on the corners. It’s hard to get used to as a fan because we used to dominate in this area.

And in a final note, someone said to me yesterday after the game “are you guys going to complain about the officiating after every game?” and my response is that until the officials start getting things right or blow an equal amount of calls for both teams, yes.