In response to Tim’s comment… we aren’t particularly close. Under 100 total comments at present. But that will only change one way. And keep in mind, this contest is to get actual responses. We know you all read this blog, and we want to hear your thoughts and feedback on what we’re writing. The contest is enticing you to do so.

Best of luck!

One of my main complaints with the former 1300 AM was the onslaught of commercials.  Obviously, the ads are needed to bring in revenue to the station, but at times these commercial breaks lasted a good five minutes. That’s a long time when there are no visuals (like on television) to help break up the monotony of sound. Unfortunately, since the station’s switch, the ad  blitzkrieg has seemingly taken a turn for the worst.

Driving home from downtown Baltimore, I was keyed up to hear the start of the second of two games being broadcast for Monday Night Football’s opening night. Instead, I was thrust into 12 minute hell of advertisement after advertisement after advertisement. Twelve minutes. In case you’re wondering, I traveled from M&T Bank Stadium on 395 to Route 100 in Columbia in the time span. The broadcast started with the announcers in mid-sentence explaining that the Raiders were now on their second possession.

That’s a darn shame. And it isn’t ESPN’s fault.

This same nonsense occurs on a daily basis on Baltimore’s 1300 AM. Try catching the traffic report on this station. They’ll introduce the traffic reporter. And the traffic music will play. But there won’t be any traffic report. What you will get, underneath the mundane music, is another ad in the background.

This station used to be a proud and reliable station. Now, one has to wonder if the powers that be aren’t trying to sabotage ESPN’s market share in favor of their own sports commentators that were moved to the FM dial because of the changeover. Maybe just a little?

But that is plenty of sappiness. Real football talk to follow.

The Ravens were simply one-upped tonight. They were in this game until the bitter end—six minutes to play, even—and it is hard to complain about a game that stayed so close for so long. A game that was winnable in so many ways until that six minute mark.

The Blame Game

Darren Stone: 40 Percent. Steep, I know, but deserving. Stone cost the Ravens upwards of 30 yards of field position on the most crucial drive of the game. Instead of starting near their own 45 yard line, the Ravens started all the way at their own 14. And instead of needing to game between 20 and 30 yards to get into field goal range, they suddenly needed more than 50 yards.

It changed everything. All because Stone wanted to get a lick in that didn’t faze his man anyway. When the Ravens hit the field, Flacco and the entire unit were pressured to pass and get big yardage. And that pressure is a big part of why Troy Polamalu wound up in the end zone just minutes later.

Wide Receiving Corps: 25 Percent. The blame here is for a few reasons. First and foremost, for their inability to get open. Flacco was rushed often, sure. But just as often Joe Cool had mountains of time in the pocket and no one to throw to. Good teams, good receivers, can use time to get open.

The Ravens were not able to do that. Part of it should be a credit to the Steelers pass defense. Part of it falls on the Ravens receivers.

But in addition to their inability to get open, the receivers deserve some blame for just being lazy. There were multiple times—multiple—where Ravens runners were taken down by defenders that should have been blocked.

Hines Ward may be hated, but he does his job as a blocker. To Mark Clayton and Derrick Mason: You need to run, and hit your defender. Don’t just assume he is going to let you block him.

Cam Cameron: 25 Percent. Cam has done wonderful things for the Ravens this season. His development of Joe Flacco is just the tip of the iceberg. His play calling in recent games has slipped, however. The Ravens were running plays that took far too long to develop—the kind of plays that never stood a chance against a solid Pittsburgh defense.

Additionally, the run game was effective but too often abandoned. Le’Ron McClain was not busting out as he has in the past, but both Willis McGahee (hoping he is okay) and Ray Rice were having success getting around the corner on the Steelers.

The Ravens needed to use that more. What was most disappointing about Cameron’s play-calling, though, was the timing. The Ravens wasted too many time outs and too much of their game clock waiting for Cam to find his perfect play.

How are Flacco or the offensive line supposed to make adjustments  to the defensive scheme with just moments to snap the ball? They simply cannot.

Joe Flacco: 10 Percent. Joe Cool was still Joe Cool. But the game finally caught up to him. His passes actually had more zip than normal, especially downfield, but his accuracy was off. The Steelers were able to confuse Flacco and force misreads and mistakes. Ultimately, Joe made several mistakes that seriously cost the Ravens.

Mythbusting

Myth: Willie Parker would change the game.

Actuality: The Ravens’ defense handled Fast Willie and he was never a factor in the game. In fact, as predicted earlier, the Steelers’ desire to put the ball in Parker’s hands may have actually cost them some points.

Sure, they needed to at least pretend like a running team, but using Parker on swings and play-fakes would have been far more dangerous to a battered Ravens defense.

Myth: Flacco’s inexperience would be trounced by Roethlisberger’s veteran guile.

Actuality: I would not say it was Flacco’s inexperience that cost him the game or many plays. The Ravens offense had plenty of issues as a unit and Flacco hardly deserves the blame. Flacco had this team in a position to win with just minutes left.

Roethlisberger, for all his veteran guile, took some costly sacks. Just like Flacco. Neither quarterback won or lost the game for their team.

Myth: You can beat the Ravens deep.

Actuality: Ok, so the Steelers almost got the Ravens here thanks to that guy with the weird name (I know, I know…it’s Lemony Snicket or something). But much like in previous games, the Ravens were hurt most by mid-range passes and missed tackles.

Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington were both benefactors of poor corner coverage on broken plays. But throwing deep was rarely an option for the Steelers and that is a huge part of what kept the Ravens in the game.

Underneath, an offense actually has to execute to score. Over the top, anything can happen – mostly for the Ravens good.

Gameballs

Offense: Willis McGahee, RB. Willis had a nice comeback day. While his running was fine (nothing special, but fine) and his scores kept things close, it was his blocking that had me on my feet. I have been on McGahee’s back all season for lack of effort, but today it was all on the field.

Defense: Terrell Suggs, LB. As previously mentioned, Suggs had a great day. A pair of sacks and a ton of effort.

Special Teams: Jim Leonhard. Leonhard’s big punt return set-up the Ravens first scoring drive and changed the game. He dropped an earlier punt but recovered nicely on the play and through the rest of the game.

Other Thoughts

• The Ravens’ defense was hardly on its best game, but who can blame them. By the middle of the second quarter, the Ravens’ defensive secondary was ready to start Mark Clayton and Derrick Mason as necessary.
• In the trenches, the Ravens defensive line had their typical success in pressuring Big Ben and flushing him from the pocket. At the same time, they had their typical issue wrapping the massive quarterback up. A number of Ravens missed big tackles. As the Rex Ryan era ends in Baltimore (the move to New York seems imminent now), we might just see a defense more focused on making the play, not creating a highlight.
• Want to talk about heart? Let’s talk Terrell Suggs. Two sacks, both meaningful, while playing with a harnessed right arm. Wrapping up instead of going for the big hit paid off. It took Suggs a quarter to figure out how to move and play with the harness, but he did it.
• And the Emmy goes to… Mitch Berger. He was on the ground before Tori Smith even hit him. He also deserves kudos for his monster tackle on Jim Leonhard (cut back, Jimmy!). But it was his massive flop that cost the Ravens three points. Walt Anderson and crew did a great job all game, until that moment. At the worst, I expected a five-yard running into the kicker. I was wrong.
• Speaking of officials: Thank you for staying out of the way. With the exception of the above roughing call above, they did a fine job. The only other call that almost bothered me was the holding call on Jared Gaither, negating a nice gain. Was it holding? Sure. Had they been calling holding all game? No. Meanwhile, the Santonio Holmes touchdown review was technically correct—but might not have been in the spirit of the rule. That’s a replay world, though.
• Sam Koch had a bit of an off day. It took Koch about a half to figure out what he was doing. In the second half, the Ravens were winning the field position battle in part thanks to a rejuvenated offense, but also thanks to Koch’s kicks.

Back later in the week with grades, end of season awards, flash-forward, and overall reviews. Stay tuned.

In John Clayton’s early analysis of the matchup, the focus is almost entirely on the Steelers. His questions are fair; the answers are loaded. According to Clayton, the Steelers have more to prove, the Steelers have the difference maker in Willie Parker, the Steelers have the edge in the series—and we’re not just talking records—and his bottom line: You have to put your money on the Steelers.

In his early analysis, ESPN’s AFC North blogger James Walker is heavy on Steelers talk as well. Walker has done a fabulous job all season and it’s nice of both teams to repay him with such success in the postseason. But still, the talk is leaning slightly to the Steelers.

But perhaps most disrespectful to the Ravens has to be the analysis in last night’s SportsCenter Special Report with analysts Merril Hoge and Cris Carter. Cris Carter who has gone a pathetic 1-7 in his postseason picks so far this year (his only correct pick was the Steelers last night).

Steele might be right. The tide might be turning for the Ravens. But the early analysis is all Steelers and its getting to be frustrating. I don’t want or need or expect the Ravens to be favored. I don’t even want the experts to be picking the Ravens: I like my inferiority complex just the size it is.

But it would be nice if, based on their comments, we could walk away with at least the notion that some of these guys have watched the Ravens play more than once.

Let me poke a few holes while I have the chance.

From John Clayton: Willie Parker will be the difference maker.

Willie Parker looked great last night—against the Chargers. Those Chargers of the league’s 25th-ranked overall defense and 11th-ranked rush defense. Cris Carter adds that the Ravens struggled against Chris Johnson in Tennessee, so watch out for Willie Parker.

But Parker isn’t quite as fast as Johnson, and the Steelers line isn’t quite a nimble as the Titans.

If we really want to get into the nitty-gritty of it all, let me bring it up this way: In six career games against the Ravens, Parker has averaged just 43 yards a game. In his last four games against the Ravens, Parker has not even topped 43 yards a game.

In fact, his only games with more than 50 yards against the Ravens were both in 2005, when he was splitting carries with soon to be Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis.

Also from Clayton: The Steelers won’t be surprised by anything the Ravens do on Sunday.

These I hate. Are we supposed to expect that the Ravens will be surprised by anything the Steelers do, though? The teams are familiar with each other. Beyond familiar. How Clayton can so easily report that the Steelers are therefore at an advantage is beyond me.

If anything, I would say that the familiarity favors Joe Flacco more than anyone else. Even a Steelers linebacker, in Clayton’s article, is quoted as saying that Flacco gets better every game, every week.

And from Walker: Roethlisberger made the important plays in the early season match-ups, Flacco didn’t.

Perhaps Walker should review his own blog, or even Clayton’s article. Flacco, for all his early mistakes, engineered a beautiful drive against the Steelers in the first matchup to tie the game with just minutes remaining.

Remember that? It was eerily similar, in fact, to Big Ben’s drive against the Ravens in Week 15. Head-to-head, I’d say that Flacco and Ben have both had their drives.

Ben certainly has the edge in many ways in these match-ups, but to say that Flacco hasn’t been able to make the plays when they count is somewhat absurd. The whole Ravens offense failed five weeks ago, not just Flacco.

I won’t even bother with Cris Carter.