MERGED: Threads About Controlling Our Own Destiny

[DMH_in_WA]

If we play with some intensity and like we mean it, I think we take down Cincy. They really haven't beaten anyone this year except maybe Buffalo when they were "hot". The game against the 49ers on a short week worries me way more.

That said, there are no excuses .. this is all in our hands. In 6 of our last 7 games, we play Cincy twice, Browns Twice, Indy and San Diego. That is all set up for us to not just make the playoffs but to get homefield advantage and a bye. They can't let the lapses like here in Seattle happen again.

[bmoreboys56]

we will indeed take the drivers seat, however the steelers will only be a half game behind. The ravens are in control of thier own destiny!!! They got this!!! Lets Go Ravens.

[darklight1216]

[quote name='neoi78' timestamp='1321247347' post='869787']
What happens when we face the Bengals 4-3 defense? Do they struggle like vs tenn, jacksonville, and seattle?
[/quote]
Absolutely, the offense always struggles against Cincy. This is a must win game against an injured team so I think that Baltimore will certainly win, but it might be another Arizona affair.

[jaege]

[quote name='1/28/01' timestamp='1321240446' post='869518']
This is correct. While the 3 losses to inferior teams are mind boggling, we can still handle our business AT HOME in a week and be atop the division (and quite possibly the conference) with a win next week!

Have faith, people! I know its tough, but have faith!
[/quote]


David Reed sacrificed our lead with his arrogant, useless, bumbling efforts to "make a play". Our best hope is we tie (which defaults us the lead) So we are in the lead of the division for a week? Maybe two? To actually WIN the division we have to win every other game we play, or the Steelers have to match us loss for loss. We need a 6 game sweep. For this Ravens team, that is a tall order. All that is assuming that the Bengals get stomped sufficiently that they are out. Faith is pretty hard to come by right now since we are staring into cold hard reality.

[jdynamite]

[quote name='DMH_in_WA' timestamp='1321267793' post='869959']
If we play with some intensity and like we mean it, I think we take down Cincy. They really haven't beaten anyone this year except maybe Buffalo when they were "hot". The game against the 49ers on a short week worries me way more.

That said, there are no excuses .. this is all in our hands. In 6 of our last 7 games, we play Cincy twice, Browns Twice, Indy and San Diego. That is all set up for us to not just make the playoffs but to get homefield advantage and a bye. They can't let the lapses like here in Seattle happen again.
[/quote]

The only reason I'm not worried about the 49ers game as much because if the Ravens take care of business against the Bengals and get a Win, they won't have enough time to celebrate, get comfortable or create a sabotaging game-plan ( Or Whatever It Is That This Team Does After Big Wins To Have Such Huge Let-Downs ).
Short week means they stay forced hopefully.

[Raven146]

The way were playing .forget about Cincy ..... The Browns will kill us!

[jdynamite]

The Reality is the Ravens should have 4 potentially "tough games left " IMO those games should be 2 games vs Bengals , 1 vs 49ers, 1 vs Chargers. But given the way this team has performed on the Road against subpar teams just never know.....
Sure the Chargers are on a losing streak right now, but they still are playing good enough to win games so I wouldn't over-look them either....

[jaege]

This Bengals game is a home game so I am not worried about it. Too much anyway. We have been doing fine at home. Thanksgiving is also a home game against a good team so, if we follow our trend, we should play a good game and win. Its that upcoming Browns game that has me worried. Away game, scrub team.... our recipe for loss. Later we have the Chargers away, that may be a loss as well.

[Paky Joe Frazier Vaccaro]

I'm italian,I love soccer(as a good italian),but I love American Football.
I'am a fan of the Ravens.I watch the matches on TV and I believe that the Ravens,will win the next game.
Go ravens...GO

[Wallace17_OutRunMe]

[quote name='Ravenglenn' timestamp='1321246601' post='869772']
That ship might have sailed already. They showed the Patriots remaining schedule and it's a cakewalk for them.
[/quote]
If the Steelers win out and the Ravens and Texans both just lose more game the Steelers would be the number 1 seed over the Patriots since they own the head to head tiebraker over them assuming the Patriots dont lose another game which is definitely possible looking at their schedule as you just mentioned...

[Wallace17_OutRunMe]

The way the Ravens are playing, their head-to-head tiebreaker over the Steelers with 7 games still left for them could be useless at the end of the season. Against teams other than the Ravens, the Steelers are 7-1. Against teams other than the Steelers, the Ravens are 4-3.

[Twistidfunk]

at this point a wild card may not even be in the future for the Ravens right now. I hate to get down on them especially being so high after sweeping Pittsburgh but I just can not figure them out. This is the 3rd dumbfounding loss of the season.

All the AFC north teams are "in the driver seat" right now and unfortunately the Ravens seem to be the down team at this point. When you lose to the Jags and Seahawks, I am sorry but there are no excuses. That is just awful football.

The damn steelers are probably gonna win the North.....again. These losses just killed us. Absolutely wiped the season away.

With 2-3 more losses looming for this team we'd be fortunate to get a wild card. smh

[Wallace17_OutRunMe]

[quote name='Twistidfunk' timestamp='1321279459' post='870126']
at this point a wild card may not even be in the future for the Ravens right now. I hate to get down on them especially being so high after sweeping Pittsburgh but I just can not figure them out. This is the 3rd dumbfounding loss of the season.

All the AFC north teams are "in the driver seat" right now and unfortunately the Ravens seem to be the down team at this point. When you lose to the Jags and Seahawks, I am sorry but there are no excuses. That is just awful football.

The damn steelers are probably gonna win the North.....again. These losses just killed us. Absolutely wiped the season away.

With 2-3 more losses looming for this team we'd be fortunate to get a wild card. smh
[/quote]
I agree with you I dont see how Ravens fans can come on here and say that they would rather lose to bad teams like the Jags and Seahawks and beat the good teams like the Steelers,Texans,and Jets. The losses to the bad teams who the championship caliber teams are supposed to beat are what you kill you at the end of the year when you lose the division or a bye week in the playoffs by one or two games...Ill admit being a Steelers fan and after the Ravens won last week I thought the Ravens were going to learn their lesson yesterday finally and take it to Seattle and blow them out. I was quite shocked the Ravens [profanity deleted] the bed once again against a bad football team...The Ravens opened the door extremely wide for the Steelers now to win this division seeing how winnable the Steelers schedule is the last 6 games with the only tough tough game on the road at San Francisco. The Ravens I believe are going to have to win out I think to win this division much like the Steelers will as well...

[OUravensfan]

Trying to stay positive here, we are undefeated at home, we have 2 big games in a row vs Cincy and San Fran. Winning these two games can exemplify somewhat of a statement. After that the schedule SHOULD bode well for us, I would like to think we are going to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with terrible mistakes vs terrible teams.

As for the Cincy game, if Travaris Jackson and Blaine Gabbert can beat us, then Andy Dalton is certainly capable of doing that too. Winning next week can put this team back on track....again.

[Wallace17_OutRunMe]

[quote name='OUravensfan' timestamp='1321288709' post='870502']
Trying to stay positive here, we are undefeated at home, we have 2 big games in a row vs Cincy and San Fran. Winning these two games can exemplify somewhat of a statement. After that the schedule SHOULD bode well for us, I would like to think we are going to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with terrible mistakes vs terrible teams.

As for the Cincy game, if Travaris Jackson and Blaine Gabbert can beat us, then Andy Dalton is certainly capable of doing that too. Winning next week can put this team back on track....again.
[/quote]
Dalton impressed me yesterday he gets rid of the ball fast and has good instincts for such a young QB. If the Ravens defense is not on top of their game on Sunday he could definitely give the Ravens some problems especially if Green is playing as well...

[lowrider]

I mean losing to the Seahawks is not the end all be all. It is just one game. But what it does is, it pushes back on the Ravens on the tougher games. So then when we lose these 'easy' games, then it forces us to win the tough games. Cinci and the Browns aren't going to be easy. But the Ravens did it to ourselves. We now have to get this win, against a tough young team.

[Tank 92]

[quote name='Twistidfunk' timestamp='1321279459' post='870126']
The damn steelers are probably gonna win the North.....again. [u][i][b]These losses just killed us. Absolutely wiped the season away.[/b][/i][/u]

With 2-3 more losses looming for this team we'd be fortunate to get a wild card. smh
[/quote]

Whaaaat??? How is the season wiped away?

Our fate is still in our hands. We have 7 games left and 7 games that we can win.
Fact; If we do that we are AFC North Champions.

[PuRock]

[quote name='lowrider' timestamp='1321291603' post='870605']
I mean losing to the Seahawks is not the end all be all. It is just one game. But what it does is, it pushes back on the Ravens on the tougher games. So then when we lose these 'easy' games, then it forces us to win the tough games. Cinci and the Browns aren't going to be easy. But the Ravens did it to ourselves. We now have to get this win, against a tough young team.
[/quote]

Good devil's advocate.

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Last few years we beat the teams we were suppose to win but lose the big games against good teams. This year we are winning the big games against good teams but losing the games we are suppose to.

Maybe for once, this will be the recipe for a deep playoff run. I know it sounds absurd but we are in a different scenario than we have been the last few years.

[PuRock]

[quote name='awholelottahaloti' timestamp='1321292184' post='870629']

Whaaaat??? How is the season wiped away?

Our fate is still in our hands. We have 7 games left and 7 games that we can win.
Fact; If we do that we are AFC North Champions.
[/quote]

Yeah its insane when I see our fans giving up. Really? Have we learned nothing about the NFL over the years. Things can change so quickly week to week. You just need a shot and we have that.

Ofcourse these are the same fans when we win three straight. Its we're the best team in the AFC. We are unstoppable. et al.

[gabefergy]

We have won every big game that we have played this season. Every game left on our schedule is a big game, so that clearly means we are going to win out. My logic is flawless.

[PuRock]

[quote name='gabefergy' timestamp='1321292904' post='870661']
We have won every big game that we have played this season. Every game left on our schedule is a big game, so that clearly means we are going to win out. [b]My logic is flawless.[/b]
[/quote]

I'm sold.

[Tank 92]

[quote name='gabefergy' timestamp='1321292904' post='870661']
We have won every big game that we have played this season. Every game left on our schedule is a big game, so that clearly means we are going to win out. My logic is flawless.
[/quote]

Yes, flawless. I'm in.

[Tank 92]

[quote name='PuRock' timestamp='1321292340' post='870634']

Yeah its insane when I see our fans giving up. Really? Have we learned nothing about the NFL over the years. Things can change so quickly week to week. You just need a shot and we have that.

Ofcourse these are the same fans when we win three straight. Its we're the best team in the AFC. We are unstoppable. et al.
[/quote]


Yeah, the "we're the best", "we're the worst" claims are useless and hollow. Speculation is exactly that, speculation. Too much time listening to "analysts".

[Twistidfunk]

[quote name='awholelottahaloti' timestamp='1321292184' post='870629']

Whaaaat??? How is the season wiped away?

Our fate is still in our hands. We have 7 games left and 7 games that we can win.
Fact; If we do that we are AFC North Champions.
[/quote]


Losing to teams we should be beating and how we are losing them does not instill a lot of confidence.

I was confident we would take down Pittsburgh and we did. We were finally taking control of the North but then we do this and now we are looking up at Pittsburgh?

I look at that schedule also and I go yah, we can win every single one of those games but then I look at past performances and you got to admit to yourself there are likely anywhere from 3-4 more losses on there. It just the M.O this season for the Ravens.

Pittsburgh likely has the same amount of losses but the difference is they have been beating teams they are supposed to beat. I don't see them hitting the skids like we have been so they will probably end up owning the North.

The Bengals. We should be able to handle them but in reality we probably split.

I hope they can pull it together and make a solid run here.