Ravens Lose To Chargers, Door Opens For Steelers
Somewhere sitting on the sidelines of QUALCOMM Stadium there is a tub of gatorade still sitting full. As the stadium emptied, the Gatorade sobbed quietly with the hopes and dreams of being dumped on John Harbaugh going unfulfilled. Once again, the Ravens had a chance to slam the door closed on the Pittsburgh Steelers, and once again the Ravens looked unfocused, unprepared and simply out played.
The entire evening was dominated by the Chargers offense and Philip ‘Worst Day Ever’ Rivers. The Ravens looked flatfooted on both sides of the ball. The coaching staff did not have an answer after halftime when trailing 17-7. All Johnny Boy could do was stare while his offense failed to produce and his defense couldn’t stop Rivers or even the 16th ranked running game – probably thinking the whole time that he should have spent more time preparing for this game than phoning his baby brother about how to beat the Steelers.
The defense had no answers for Norv’s good play calling. Usually a well timed Ray Lewis tongue lashing would get the defense back on track, but not even the oratorial skills of Abraham Lincoln could get this defense to rise up and stop Rivers and Co. Every time the Chargers figured out the defense was in man they would exploit the outsides, and every time the Chargers figured out the defense was in zone they would exploit the middle. Rivers vision was exceptional…. thanks for reading my letter before the game, Phil.
Flacco looked simply awful. He looked himself – aside from that God awful fu manchu thing he has on his face. I swear he just took the hair from the unibrow and moved it to the sides of his mouth…. as our friend Todd put it, he looks like the camera man from a 70’s porn movie set. He couldn’t hit his receivers and checked down so many times I lost count. And, let’s not fool ourselves, that last TD was garbage.
With this embarrassing collapse by the Ravens, the door could never be more wide open for the Steelers to step through and take control of the AFC North. Interestingly enough, with that loss, the Steelers jumped from 5th seed in the playoffs to the 1st seed. The Ravens just flip flopped with the Steelers. It’s only half a game, but if the Steelers can beat San Fran, that will be a more permanent result… for at least a week’s time.
With the AFC North hanging in the balance tomorrow night, you can be damn sure that #7 not only suits up, but plays his heart out on one leg. If the coaches believe that a hobbled Big Ben is still their best chance at winning Monday night’s contest, you can be damn sure they are going to start him. It’s a warm day in San Fran (61 degrees), and will cool off to 44 degrees late in the evening. That’s perfect football weather, and it’s good weather for an ankle sprain to stay loose.
This game is the biggest of the season for the Steelers. Who would have thought that they would need to circle the 19th on their calendars when it dealt with another Harbaugh. I hope Johnny Boy gave little Jimmy all the pointers he could think of. The ‘Niners are going to need it. 98% of the time, the Steelers bring it every Sunday. But you know without a doubt that the Steelers will be bringing a new level of intensity to this game knowing that they can take full command of the AFC North as well as the AFC itself. How sweet would that be – Wild Card to #1 seed, home field and a bye all in less than 24 hours? Go get’em boys.
Go Steelers!
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