[News] Late For Work 11/29: AFC Playoff Picture: Ravens-Dolphins A Potential Wild-Card Preview

[BR News]

Is Kenneth Dixon the Ravens’ best running back since Ray Rice? Terrell Suggs’ new diet seems to be reeeeeeally working. The Ravens' best pass-rushing combination is back. J. Smith still ‘close’ to a return. John Harbaugh requests prayers for former Ravens TE Konrad Reuland.

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[The Greek]

must win game imo with the patriots on deck in their house which most likely is a loss.

[7NationArmy]

Maybe I misunderstood this but is Suggs' status not a joke? With the "I don't know whose status this is, but it said to copy and paste." Does that mean he just copy and pasted it because it told him to?

[budman]

Just now, The Greek said:

must win game imo with the patriots on deck in their house which most likely is a loss.

I wouldn't say it is likely a loss. We have always played them well and have beaten them more than most teams. Same story as always, as long as we can get to Brady and rattle him we can win. Flacco always seems to go next level when facing Brady, and with more weapons this time around, it should be a good game. I can tell you this--If Brady went to block against us as he did against the Jets, we would have destroyed him and not wussed out on hitting him like they did. Nobody likes hitting Brady more than Sizzle.

[MissRay27]

Happy for Suggs. Maybe he finally has contentment in his life. aka Maturity

[VermontRaven]

32 minutes ago, The Greek said:

must win game imo with the patriots on deck in their house which most likely is a loss.

 

23 minutes ago, budman said:

I wouldn't say it is likely a loss. We have always played them well and have beaten them more than most teams. Same story as always, as long as we can get to Brady and rattle him we can win. Flacco always seems to go next level when facing Brady, and with more weapons this time around, it should be a good game. I can tell you this--If Brady went to block against us as he did against the Jets, we would have destroyed him and not wussed out on hitting him like they did. Nobody likes hitting Brady more than Sizzle.

As much as I would love to beat the Patriots, I don't like our odds in that game.  We have NEVER beaten the Pats in the REGULAR SEASON at Foxborough

http://www.bostonglobe.com/2013/01/16/ravenshistory/njViDOZCFGlrWJQDPrXNEP/story.html

So, I agree with The Greek that this Dolphins game is HUUUUGE for us.  Gotta go at least 9-7 in my opinion (and very well may have to win @ PItt on Christmas--and hope PItt loses one additional game) to make the playoffs.

 

THEN-We'll beat the Pats in Foxborough when it really counts!!

[budman]

Regular or not-We have beaten them in Foxboro which most teams haven't done. I like our chances and think that Flacco will have his best game of the year. It should be close. Need to get past Miami first.

Edited November 29, 2016 by budman

[Bat-mite]

Sorry to hear about Reuland. Brain aneurysms are life-altering, and not in a good way. Often takes years to fully recover ... if you do. :(

[TheRavengers]

For the record, the Ravens are 1-3 vs. the Pats in the regular season under Harbs, and Flacco has thrown 7 TDs to 4 INTs and has a QB rating of 92.0, with a 65.41% completion percentage. He's got 9 TDs to 4 INTS vs. the Pats in the playoffs, all of which were in Foxboro.

So anyone who says Flacco seems to do well against Brady isn't lying. You could argue he plays even better in the playoffs against him, and winning in Foxboro is hard enough for anyone on any regular day.

Edited November 29, 2016 by TheRavengers

[Crusader]

Ravens better buckle up that chin strap because Miami is coming here with a vengeance.

[sami]

instead of Elam why isn't Levine out there? I saw Elam miss 3 tackles. Isnt Levine suppose to be a linebacker in a safetys body? I remember he was our secret weapon on defense. Well hes really a secret alright. Time to unleash him when we need someone to cover a TE.

[Minionhunter]

The commentators up here are looking at this game of Ravens vs. Patriots as their toughest left on the regular season. The Pats defense is falling apart, Gostkowski has missed kicks in at least 7 games this year, and based on the their play vs the Jets this week where they barely squeaked out a win (vs. the lowly Jets) Bill does not trust either his kicker or his defense. Plus Brady is hurt and that is significantly effecting his play and he is afraid that Garapolo will take his place. The patriots game is very winnable for us and I like our chances.

[Minionhunter]

instead of Elam why isn't Levine out there? I saw Elam miss 3 tackles. Isnt Levine suppose to be a linebacker in a safetys body? I remember he was our secret weapon on defense. Well hes really a secret alright. Time to unleash him when we need someone to cover a TE.

I would hazard a guess that they are trying to see what they have in Elam before the end of the year. But yeah, Elam does not look good.

[ibleedpurpleandblack]

  9 minutes ago, sami said:

instead of Elam why isn't Levine out there? I saw Elam miss 3 tackles. Isnt Levine suppose to be a linebacker in a safetys body? I remember he was our secret weapon on defense. Well hes really a secret alright. Time to unleash him when we need someone to cover a TE.

I would hazard a guess that they are trying to see what they have in Elam before the end of the year. But yeah, Elam does not look good.

Elam hasn't looked good in a while. Never clearly made the transition to the NFL. Another wasted first round pick...

[stixfix69]

What i love about our team, is we fear no one, we haven;t been blown out by any teams this year, have been in every game, and could have realistically won a few of the ones we lost....We will have the same O-Line for the 3rd straight game, the defense has been beastly, just have to stop Pees with the prevent when we have the lead, and we would look better.....Harbs if anything else is a great motivator, this team believes it can when every game, and they play like it for the most part...Lets not forget how young this team is, and the huge changes we made to key positions this year, and after all of that, we do control our own destiny leading the North.....

[ibleedpurpleandblack]

For the record, the Ravens are 1-3 vs. the Pats in the regular season under Harbs, and Flacco has thrown 7 TDs to 4 INTs and has a QB rating of 92.0, with a 65.41% completion percentage. He's got 9 TDs to 4 INTS vs. the Pats in the playoffs, all of which were in Foxboro.

So anyone who says Flacco seems to do well against Brady isn't lying. You could argue he plays even better in the playoffs against him, and winning in Foxboro is hard enough for anyone on any regular day.

Should have two more wins in Foxboro but Evans dropped a perfectly thrown ball and the defense gave up two 14 point leads!

[January J]

50 minutes ago, MissRay27 said:

Happy for Suggs. Maybe he finally has contentment in his life. aka Maturity

Was that the same ratchet lookin chick in that picture that posted the video on social media raggin on him? Couldn't really tell.

5 minutes ago, Minionhunter said:

The commentators up here are looking at this game of Ravens vs. Patriots as their toughest left on the regular season. The Pats defense is falling apart, Gostkowski has missed kicks in at least 7 games this year, and based on the their play vs the Jets this week where they barely squeaked out a win (vs. the lowly Jets) Bill does not trust either his kicker or his defense. Plus Brady is hurt and that is significantly effecting his play and he is afraid that Garapolo will take his place. The patriots game is very winnable for us and I like our chances.

Yeah they are actually struggling a bit. And the dolphins winning streak is all good and well but has a lot of ppl fooled- they haven't been playing all that well either. But hey neither have we so who knows. I do know if We somehow lose to Miami at home its absolutely imperative that we beat new England. We HAVE to win atleast one of the two or we are in real trouble.

 

[eze17]

Hopefully a complete recovery for Reuland. Stay strong and wish you the best.

[omar586]

we can only afford to lose one game to end the season.

[stixfix69]

The way some have commented it seems we should just quit now......This is ridiculous we are 6-5 atop our division with 5 games to go....This is what we should want coming down the stretch, we are facing 3 or 4 playoff or potential playoff teams, better to find out now if we are playoff worthy....And the best thing is we are going to face our toughest stretch, when our rookies are rookies no more, and the team getting healthy in certain positions......Embrace the challenge and back our team.....Our do some prefer we be the Browns and to have been out of the playoff hunt 5 weeks ago,,,,ha ha ha....Atleast we have something to play for going into December...

[Minionhunter]

  52 minutes ago, Minionhunter said:

  59 minutes ago, sami said:

instead of Elam why isn't Levine out there? I saw Elam miss 3 tackles. Isnt Levine suppose to be a linebacker in a safetys body? I remember he was our secret weapon on defense. Well hes really a secret alright. Time to unleash him when we need someone to cover a TE.

I would hazard a guess that they are trying to see what they have in Elam before the end of the year. But yeah, Elam does not look good.

Elam hasn't looked good in a while. Never clearly made the transition to the NFL. Another wasted first round pick...

Better it is a wasted Mr #32 than Mr #6...

[Minionhunter]

Thank you to all the positive comments, I think we have a real shot still and would rather be in this situation than Cincinnati's situation.

[Bat-mite]

51 minutes ago, stixfix69 said:

The way some have commented it seems we should just quit now......This is ridiculous we are 6-5 atop our division with 5 games to go....This is what we should want coming down the stretch, we are facing 3 or 4 playoff or potential playoff teams, better to find out now if we are playoff worthy....And the best thing is we are going to face our toughest stretch, when our rookies are rookies no more, and the team getting healthy in certain positions......Embrace the challenge and back our team.....Our do some prefer we be the Browns and to have been out of the playoff hunt 5 weeks ago,,,,ha ha ha....Atleast we have something to play for going into December...

Spoken like a true military man!  What's this quit stuff?

[Crusader]

we can only afford to lose one game to end the season.

That's if Pitts lose one game too. Pitt vs Patts is critical. Sad we will have to root for the Pats.

[VermontRaven]

30 minutes ago, Crusader said:

That's if Pitts lose one game too. Pitt vs Patts is critical. Sad we will have to root for the Pats.

Huh?  Check your facts before you post please. 

Pats have already beat Pitt.  And we are guaranteed to win the division with 1 more loss, if that loss is not to the Steelers.  Pitt has games left vs. Giants, @ Bills, @ Bengals, vs. Ravens, and vs. Browns

http://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/pit/pittsburgh-steelers

[baltimore1975]

Best back since Rice? What has he done to get that type of praise?

[rmcjacket23]

we can only afford to lose one game to end the season.

And the Steelers may not even be able to afford that...

[BallsoHard622]

I think we will pull out a win against the Dolphins if the offense can stay on the field. But that's the same thing that we've been dealing with every game. We need jimmy smith to make our playoff run.

[budman]

3 hours ago, stixfix69 said:

 

3 hours ago, stixfix69 said:

What i love about our team, is we fear no one, we haven;t been blown out by any teams this year, have been in every game, and could have realistically won a few of the ones we lost....We will have the same O-Line for the 3rd straight game, the defense has been beastly, just have to stop Pees with the prevent when we have the lead, and we would look better.....Harbs if anything else is a great motivator, this team believes it can when every game, and they play like it for the most part...Lets not forget how young this team is, and the huge changes we made to key positions this year, and after all of that, we do control our own destiny leading the North.....

I agree with you except I don't think we are THAT young. Suggs, Doom, Smith, Wallace, Webb, Weddle, Flacco, Pitta, Cox, Hester, Koch, Levine, McCellan, Powers, J. Smith, Zuttah are eithr right at 30 or older. Doesn't mean they don't preform, just not as young as you might think.

 

 

[VermontRaven]

8 minutes ago, budman said:

I agree with you except I don't think we are THAT young. Suggs, Doom, Smith, Wallace, Webb, Weddle, Flacco, Pitta, Cox, Hester, Koch, Levine, McCellan, Powers, J. Smith, Zuttah are eithr right at 30 or older. Doesn't mean they don't preform, just not as young as you might think.

 

 

Good point.  We were actually getting pretty "old" as a team, but did a nice job bringing in several young guys that have been productive this year (Stanley, Young, Dixon, Lewis, Judon, Pierce), and hopefully will continue to be for several more years as some of these older players enter the "back 9" of their careers.  Hopefully, we can continue that trend with good drafts and UDFA the next few years.