Nostalgia

[Malkavian Raven]

[size="2"][font="Century Gothic"]As December comes to a close we must say goodbye to 2009, the emotional rollercoaster that has been the regular season and the twenty-four teams that won’t be playing come the second Sunday of January. For Ravens fans and critics, there is a lot to be merry about as Baltimore is still very much in control of their playoff destiny.

So now, as I look back to January, I can remember the excitement that came when the Ravens made the playoffs last year as the sixth seed. With a lot of starters out or playing with injuries, no one expected Baltimore to go far.

[right][b]Wild-Card Weekend in Miami…[/b][/right]
Home to the Baltimore’s Superbowl 35 Championship game, Florida and the Dolphins played host to the Ravens. With Chad Pennington boasting an impressive seven interceptions in the Dolphins 11-5 season, the playoff road looked short for the Ravens.

However, the Ravens smash mouth defense forced four interceptions and forced a fumble which afforded it’s newly born offense plenty of opportunities with momentum, good field position and some room for error. More impressive was the defenses ability to hold the Dolphins to three field goals.

[right][b]Titanic Meltdown…[/b][/right]
If the Ravens game in Miami showed the league anything, it was to let a sleeping “underdog” lie. Terry Collins and the Titans started their regular season off with 10 straight wins, knocking off the Ravens in Week 5 at M&T. Again, Baltimore wasn’t expected to present much of a challenge.

A defensive battle start to finish, it was on the legs of “Automatic” Matt Stover the Ravens pulled ahead 13-10 late in the fourth quarter. Tennessee tried to rally, but Baltimore’s defense stiffened and shut the Titans down.

[right][b]Pittsburgh: Round Three…[/b][/right]
The Steelers looked to be on a mission in the regular season, sweeping their division and finishing the regular season at 12-4, there was no doubt the AFC Championship Game would be the “must see” of the post season and it didn’t disappoint.

With the Steelers having skimmed by the Ravens twice before, once by an OT field goal and the second time on a controversial TD pass with less than a minute to play, this game was destined to be an instant classic.

The fourth quarter brought with it a Steelers lead of 16-7, but the Ravens weren’t about to let Pittsburgh beat them three times in one season. Baltimore rallied and scored a TD midway through the quarter to cut the Steelers’ lead to two. It was now on the shoulders of the defense who executed all game and did nothing less on the Steelers final drive.

What sealed the Ravens fate was rookie QB Joe Flacco throwing a late INT which was returned for a TD and putting the Super Bowl out of the Baltimore’s reach.

[right][b]The Off-Season…[/b][/right]
For me, the off-season brought a lot of tears as we let go of defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, defensive linebacker Bart Scott and safety Jim Leonhard (all of whom landed with the New York Jets). The worst, however, was the departure of place kicker, Matt Stover; leaving linebacker Ray Lewis as the only remaining member of the Ravens’ 1996 starting season team.

[right][b]The Draft…[/b][/right]
Baltimore went into the draft allotted six selections; would the 2009 draft bring them another first round thoroughbred like 2008 did with Joe Flacco? The Ravens selected OT Michael Oher out of Mississippi in the first round. Other draftees were DE/OLB Paul Kruger (Utah), CB Ladarius Webb (Nicholls State), ILB Jason Phillips (TCU), TE Davon Drew (East Carolina), and RB Cedric Peerman (Virginia).

[right][b]The Preseason…[/b][/right]
With high expectations from the previous season, the Ravens seemed to pick up right where they left off. The preseason brought Baltimore together with the Redskins, Jets, Panthers and Falcons; two of which did not disappoint fans. Those two games being the Jets and Falcons, as it gave us a chance to see how the Ravens would fair against former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan (Jets) and which of the leading rookie QBs from 2008 had matured more over the off season, Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan (Falcons).

The Ravens faired well against the Jets and Flacco showed everyone why they voted him Diet Pepsi Rookie Of The Year over Matt Ryan (who won the RotY honors by the Associated Press (pssh, shows what they know)).

[right][b]Regular Season…[/b][/right]
With an undefeated preseason, the regular season looked very promising and when the Ravens started out 3-0 it started to look like Baltimore was a team to be reckoned with. However, that was not the case as they dropped three straight and fell to .500. From there on, it was a win followed by a loss, a win followed by loss, etc. Until last weekend when the Ravens managed to win two in a row.

[right][b]The Final Stretch…[/b][/right]
Of all the teams in the playoff race, the Ravens appear to be heating up at the right time. Other teams have been burning the candle at both ends and from the middle (Colts, Saints, Vikings, Bengals, Eagles, Packers) while other teams are starting to cool off (Jags, Broncos, Patriots) and some teams just haven’t had it together all season (Steelers, Jets, Titans, Texans, Giants, Dolphins).

With only two games remaining in the season, one in 2009, the Ravens need only to win out to be assured a playoff spot and should the Chiefs and Jets play spoilers late in the season, Baltimore could walk away with an AFC North Division Title.

[right][b]So…[/b][/right]
Looking back on 2009, what is your favorite Ravens moment?, your worst Ravens moment?, and aside from the obvious, Lombardi #2, what would you like for 2010 bring to Baltimore?

My favorite moment of 2009, watching Ed Reed return an interception 108-yards to break his previous NFL record of 106-yards. My worst moment was in the AFC Championship game, watching Willis McGahee get carted out of Heinz Field. As for 2010, another first round draft pick that will be as promising as Joe Flacco and Michael Oher have been.

~ Malkavian Raven[/font][/size]

[Shawn`]

My favorite 09 moment would be the Ray Lewis 4th down stop in San Diego.

Those 3 weeks were the best, I remember after the Browns win we were number 1 on the power rankings and were deemed "the best team in the NFL". Good times.

Worst moment of all our losses was the Clayton drop on 4th down in New England, I stood there for a good minute wondering what just happened.

The Minnesota missed FG hurt a lot too. But when Hauschka was lining up I called that he was going to miss so it didn't hurt that bad.

Wouldn't it suck if we lost to Cincinnati three times? Similar to last year except with Pittsburgh, even though I really don't want it to happen, my mind keeps this thought looming in the back of my head.

[AlaskanRavensFan]

My Favorite 2009 moment was when Ed Reed hit Knowshon Moreno and knocked his teeth and the ball loose!

The Worst moment was watching Flacco throw in inexusable pick at the end of the the Colts game. I mean we had played a pretty good defensive game only to choke with a Bollerific play to dash our hopes of winning.

A close second to that would be seeing Webb come up lame this past Sunday. DAMN! He was playing so well too!

Does anyone else think that neither the Colts or Saints will even win one playoff game?

[ROH522155]

The Ravens Super Bowl win was in Tampa not Miami and Matt Ryan got the real rookie of the year award. Flacco got the Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Year.

[ROH522155]

[quote name='AlaskanRavensFan' date='22 December 2009 - 07:12 PM' timestamp='1261527156' post='319341']
My Favorite 2009 moment was when Ed Reed hit Knowshon Moreno and knocked his teeth and the ball loose!

The Worst moment was watching Flacco throw in inexusable pick at the end of the the Colts game. I mean we had played a pretty good defensive game only to choke with a Bollerific play to dash our hopes of winning.

A close second to that would be seeing Webb come up lame this past Sunday. DAMN! He was playing so well too!

Does anyone else think that neither the Colts or Saints will even win one playoff game?
[/quote]

They may win one, but I don't think they will get to or win the Super Bowl. My prediction is Eagles vs. Chargers

[ROH522155]

My favorite moment from 09 is beating Tennessee to get to the AFC Championship game and my favorite from the 09 season is beating Denver while I was right behind the bench at my first Ravens game ever! The worst moment I think was losing at home to the Bengals by allowing them to drive down field and score a game winning TD.

[ROH522155]

[quote name='Shawn`' date='22 December 2009 - 06:39 PM' timestamp='1261525154' post='319274']
My favorite 09 moment would be the Ray Lewis 4th down stop in San Diego.

Those 3 weeks were the best, I remember after the Browns win we were number 1 on the power rankings and were deemed "the best team in the NFL". Good times.

Worst moment of all our losses was the Clayton drop on 4th down in New England, I stood there for a good minute wondering what just happened.

The Minnesota missed FG hurt a lot too. But when Hauschka was lining up I called that he was going to miss so it didn't hurt that bad.

Wouldn't it suck if we lost to Cincinnati three times? Similar to last year except with Pittsburgh, even though I really don't want it to happen, my mind keeps this thought looming in the back of my head.
[/quote]

I'm pretty confident that we would beat the Bengals if in fact we do play in the postseason.

[K-Dog]

Not to be a coat tail rider but these are my two answers as well

[quote name='Shawn`' date='22 December 2009 - 06:39 PM' timestamp='1261525154' post='319274']
My favorite 09 moment would be the Ray Lewis 4th down stop in San Diego.[/quote]

I was at that game too. I was consumed with fear looking at the amount of field left to travel for the chargers and the time on the clock. Chargers had pleanty of momentum and more than enough talent. If the chargers converted on this down, game over Ravens WILL loose I figured.

The Ray Lewis like he was shot out of a canon. I was screaming my head off.

[quote name='Shawn`' date='22 December 2009 - 06:39 PM' timestamp='1261525154' post='319274']


Worst moment of all our losses was the Clayton drop on 4th down in New England, I stood there for a good minute wondering what just happened.

[/quote]


It all seemed way to remenincent of the last time we played the Pats.
Granted if Clayton had not dropped the pass, there really is no telling we would have scored.
Too many Pats fans on my wifes side of the family to feel good about the game ending as it did.