Baltimore Sports Then and Now

Baltimore Ravens (12-4) Vs. Kansas City Chiefs (10-6)

With the playoffs on the way, the Baltimore Ravens look to keep their success on the road in the playoffs rolling. With that it could

The Baltimore Ravens clash with the Kansas City Chiefs this upcoming Sunday.

give them a chance for a second Super Bowl victory in team history.

The Ravens need to stick to their old way’s by playing dominate defense and dishing out a large helping of Ray Rice. This should give them the needed help to win the first round and deep into the playoffs.

Look for Joe Flacco to have plenty of chance’s to pass down the field, especially if Rice gets going. Flacco is one of the best play-action fake quarterback’s in the NFL. If Flacco gets going it’s going to be trouble for the Kansas City Chiefs.

There are a lot of impact player’s starring in this “Wild-Card Showdown” this Sunday.

On the Ravens side, the defense showcase’s two of the most influential player’s that are  in the NFL Ray Lewis and Ed Reed who are definitely going to leave their impact on this game. With both of them playing on defense it makes the rest of the defense play at a unbelievable level.

The offense has two player’s that will show up in this game and that is Rice and Anquan Boldin. With the running talent of Rice and the tough catching ability of Boldin, it should be a great day for Flacco and the Ravens offense.

On the Chiefs side, the defense has a lot of talent with their two impact player’s rookie safety Eric Berry and veteran outside linebacker Mike Vrabel. Both of them should have a chance to stop the Ravens running attack and passing attack if not jump started.

The offense has two impact player’s that have to have a big day  in order for the chiefs to even have the thought of winning against the high powered Ravens and that is Matt Cassel and Dwayne Bowe. Not to mention that they have to get some sort of running game, to not be one dimensional in this game. This needs to happen or the Ravens are going to have a fun day this Sunday.

This should be an interesting game as the Chiefs have one of the best running attacks in the AFC and the Ravens are sporting one of the best defenses. The game will mostly likely come down to this aspect.

The Ravens defense may bend in this game, but surely not going to break. The Ravens can’t afford to get tired in the fourth quarter, where they are known for blowing leads this season.

With talent on both sides for the Chiefs and Ravens, it should be a close game and surely going to be a great one.

The Ravens should be able to come away with the victory if they stick to running the ball and letting Flacco show off his play-action skills.

But if none of this comes into play than look for the Chiefs to be celebrating a win against a great football team.

Well it’s enough of me writing, now it’s time to watch the game and see who can be the last team standing this Sunday afternoon.

Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3) vs. Baltimore Ravens (8-3)

The most anticipated game of the year in regards to the AFC North and the Charm City comes into play this upcoming Sunday.

The Baltimore Ravens face-off with the Pittsburgh Steelers for sole possession of first place in the AFC North.

The game is to take place under the lights in a prime time showdown. The teams that are going to showcase this is the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It should be a brutal game, as it always is when they face off.

This is going to be a injury plagued game, as both teams have injuries on both sides of the ball. The thought of this is going to change the outcome of the game for sure. Other than the injuries the Ravens are going to have a big advantage, as they will be playing home and have the fierce cheers of their beloved fans behind them. The cold should just give the game a bit of a winter felt fight.

The first match-up they had this year, does not even equal up to the hype and meaning of this one. The Ravens got the best of the Steelers in the first game with a dramatic finish, this will even better the hype of this game and make the battle for first in the AFC North that much more interesting.

There are going to be a couple of different aspects in the upcoming game, that did not show up in the previous game.

On the Ravens side, the ball hawking Ed Reed was not available. He did not have the chance to spread his wings and show his knack of getting his hands on the ball. With him back the Ravens should have two of the most dominating forces on the football field, with Ray Lewis patrolling the front of the defense and Reed controlling the back of the defense. With them two on the field, look to see hard hits and people flying to the ball.

On the Steelers side, Ben Roethlisberger was not playing. It’s hard not to say that Roethlisberger is not one tough son of a gun. He has unbelievable great movement in the pocket and that makes it hard for the opponents defense to get their hands on him and take him down. So look for a lot of broken plays to be fixed when he takes the field on offense.

With both teams offensive lines depleted look for both defenses to exploit that. Its going to be a lot of hits on both Joe Flacco and Roethlisberger, making this a take them down drag them out game.

One of the big keys to this game is to develop a running game, this will make it easier to pass the ball down field. Whichever team develops the best running game, should have a really good chance of coming away victorious.

Another big key to this game is the new found ability of the Ravens passing game. This should come in effect, as the Steelers secondary is ranked near the bottom of the AFC. With the thought of this, its going to be a must for the Ravens offensive line to protect Flacco.

On the other side the Steelers must find away to protect Roethlisberger or the Ravens defense is going to have a big day in the backfield of the Steelers.

With all this in question, its a matter of what team can answer them more correctly.

After the Baltimore Ravens season ended abruptly in the divisional playoff game, the Ravens look to make a deeper push into the playoffs this season.

Ray Lewis Is The Prime Example Why The Ravens Defense Is So Great.

Anquan Boldin Proved That The Ravens Made The Right Choice By Getting Him.

After making a couple of key off season moves, the Ravens should have a better team on the field. An with the help of these players, there could be another championship brought to the charm city.

The main off season acquisitions came on the offensive side of the ball with Anquan Boldin, Donte’ Stallworth, and T.J. Houshmandzadeh adding some real talent and weapons for Joe Flacco and the rest of the Ravens offense.

It seems that finally the Ravens offense has caught up to the defense, which should make the Ravens a balanced and dangerous team in the NFL.

The new offensive weapons were on showcase Monday night, when the Ravens took on the New York Jets. Boldin had a 110 yards on 7 catches, which was a big part in the Ravens getting the win. Houshmandzadeh had 1 catch for 27 yards, and also helped the Ravens offense with a couple of pass interference calls on the Jets defense. Stallworth is on the disabled list, and should help complement the other two receivers that the Ravens picked up this off season.

Not to mention the outstanding play from tight end Todd Heap who had 6 catches for 72 yards, with a key diving catch for 35 yards to help the Ravens put the Jets away. We should be seeing a lot of this great play from the Ravens offense for the rest of the season.

Lets take a break from the revamped Ravens offense and talk about the Ravens defense that has been the corner stone for the Ravens success in the last couple of years. They showed on Monday night that they still have the power to be great, by just shutting down the other teams offense.

The Ravens defense is one of the leagues best defenses year in and year out, but this year the Ravens offense should be just like the defense and come out on top of the league when it comes to offense.

What the Ravens put on display Monday, is just a taste of whats to come for the Ravens in the upcoming season.

After years playing against the Ravens, T.J. Houshmandzadeh now a member of the team.

Surprising many experts who thought he was headed elsewhere, former Pro Bowl receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh has agreed to a one-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens. His addition adds to an already talented receiving corps and gives third-year quarterback Joe Flacco another talented option.

Initial reports had Houshmandzadeh heading to Washington or Oakland, but he ended up joining a Baltimore team with legitimate postseason aspirations.

“Baltimore was about a chance to win the ring,” Houshmandzadeh told USA Today. “Five or six teams have a legit shot to win a Super Bowl this year and they were one of them. Without me.

“Although I had other options and I was seriously considering those, I just couldn’t pass this up. Winning is why we play sports.”

Houshmandzadeh is no stranger to the Ravens as he spent eight seasons with AFC North Division rival the Cincinnati Bengals. During that time, he caught 507 passes for 5,782 yards and 37 touchdowns while playing alongside Pro Bowl regular Chad Ochocinco. Read the rest of this entry →

Before officially breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak on September 6, 1995, Cal Ripken Jr. blasted a home run in the contest against the Angels.

It is probably a bit of an overstatement to say that Cal Ripken Jr. saved major league baseball 15-years ago this week when he passed Lou Gehrig to become baseball’s all-time “Iron Man”. However, there is no question that Ripken played a huge role in the healing process following the most contentious labor strike in baseball history.

Baseball had been riding high in 1994 when a desire by the owners to institute a salary cap and the insistence by the players never to accept one halted the sport in its tracks. The World Series was not held for the first time in 90 years, leaving many fans bitter and vowing never to return to “America’s Pastime.”

The strike carried into the offseason and wasn’t resolved until a federal injunction against the owners leading to the resumption of baseball in late April 1995. Overall, the strike lasted 234 days and cancelled more than 900 games while in essence changing very little.

As could be expected, when baseball did return the fans were not rushing back to greet the players as long-lost heroes.

Instead, fans displayed their disillusion with both sides by staying away in droves as stadiums that were typically full were suddenly seeing large swaths of empty seats. Those who did come to the ballparks often brought with them signs reflecting their frustration with sayings such as “$hame on You” or shouted comments like “You ruined the game!”

For most of the 1995 season teams across the league saw attendance figures plummet as baseball struggled to regain the interest of fans who had realized there were other things to occupy time and interest. Read the rest of this entry →

Koji Uehara has emerged as the closer for the Orioles.

Buck Showalter was hired to turn around the struggling Baltimore Orioles, but no one could have predicted the immediate impact the new manager would have on the team. After winning 32 times in their first 105 games, Showalter, who took over on August 3rd, guided the O’s to 17 victories in the month of August and into the role of spoiler in the American League playoff race.

The winning month for Baltimore was the first for the franchise since June 2008 and marked the first time the Orioles have had a winning record in the month of August since the 1997 season.

But the Orioles haven’t moved into a position to avoid the worst record in baseball and a 100 loss season by beating bad teams at home. The Orioles have become legitimate spoilers in the American League playoff race.

Of their 17 wins, six came at the expense of the Los Angeles Angels to basically knock the defending AL West champions out of contention in their division.

Baltimore also won four of seven against the Chicago White Sox and split a four-game series with the AL West leading Texas Rangers.

They finished the month with a 5-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox that further erodes the chances for the perennial playoff contender.

There is no secret to the success of the Orioles in August. Quite simply, since Showalter’s arrival they have increased their offensive production while decreasing the number of runs they allow. Read the rest of this entry →