Ray Who?

A lot of alleged experts, in the wake of this game, will talk about the Ravens having taken the Browns too lightly, being unprepared, giving the game away, etc. Anything...anything but admit that the Browns just plain beat the perennially-overrated Ravens.

They rack up 51 points, and it's nothing. Cinci has a bad defense. Why, ANYBODY could score FIFTY ONE POINTS against them!

I can already hear the Yabutts. Jamal Lewis averaged around 5 YPC. "Yabut He got mostly stuffed, and got most of those yards on 2 or 3 runs." Big deal. His runs resulted in conversions, and ultimately points. The Ravens defense had held previous running backs to 2.7 YPC. Lewis was pounding at the door from inside the three several times.

The Ravens were also in a froth over Jamal's vicious, dastardly "strengths and weaknesses" comment, and probably left recievers wide open in theit obsessive fixation on punishing this despicable attack on them.

Arrogance. "Jamal knows there aren't any weaknesses." If people score on you, there are weaknesses. You are only human, Ray. That's why the Browns ran right at you. They knew you were too fast to run around, so they just got right up in your face. See, Ray? You're really good at running around and being everywhere at once, but a guard or center can push you around.

Jeez...we'll leave Ray alone for now, as he denies this and talks about how he threw Fraley aside and leapt tall buildings and stuff...

Anderson actually played a pretty competant game, throwing only one stupid and about five really inaccurate passes. 109 QB rating. Yeah, you have to figure that Quinn, once he gets his feet wet and some reps under his belt with these recievers, will do better. But that's for down the road apiece.

Bernie Kosar said what I've been saying (naturally): Quinn really is learning stuff on the sidelines. People who say he isn't are idiots. (BK didn't say that part. He just thought it.) And the smartest thing they can do for him is allow the rest of the offense to integrate and get more consistant. Support him, so that he needn't carry the team on his back.

Anderson has made real progress. Against the Raiders, He was putrid for the first and some of the second half, but at the end, he rallied them and came back, big-time. He proved something. In this game, he was---well--a little above average, but for the whole game, against an even better defense.

Here, they actually passed to set up the run at first. That was them relying in Anderson.

The offensive line did a beautiful job of protecting him--the Ravens blitzed, seemingly, every play (probably hoping to get Jamal, their arch-enemy slanderer). As for run-blocking, I'm not certain. After all, this is the 2.7 YPC Ravens. Lewis ripped off the longest gain of the season against them, and scored the first rushing touchdown against them.

Hey, how 'bout that Jason Wright? He made them look pretty sick, no? Probably, when they took Jamal off the field, they backed off from their vendetta. Wright is really underrated. I still like Harrison's versatility and speed more, but who can argue with playing this guy ahead of him. Dude is TOUGH. Makes big plays.

That's called DEPTH. Dorsey actually filled in for Steinbach at LG, and from what I know did a servicable job. More depth.

Mr. Yabutt, how about McGahee? He got most of his yards on 2 or 3 runs. Take that Yabutt and apply it to Lewis. See?

The secondary has been getting beat up, until this game, substantially because the front seven was unable to generate much pressure. Ask Hanford Dixon...and listen to the answer for once: You can't expect a secondary to cover for longer than around 4-5 seconds. This game, they did get pressure.

In nickels, they moved Pool up front, like a strong safety, and used Adams as the second deeper "shell" guy. And they sent Poole on blitzes, again and again, when he wasn't on the TE. (That's who McNair went to on those plays.)

I heard this from Jerry Rice on Sirius NFL Radio: Braylon Edwards and he talk a lot, and he advises Edwards. They're going to work out together this off-season. He really likes Edwards, "because he listens."

Oh, man! Can these ears hear any sweeter music? What we've seen out of Edwards so far is just the beginning. He wants to be THE best, and he's not letting up. He was wide open on that 78-yarder. Blown coverage? More likely, it was a move Jerry taught him, along with healed ACL's that let him run full-speed. Oh, yeah.

Didn't you just know that K2 would play? And kick butt? You'd probably need to cut both his hands off to force him out. No...he'd insist that he could catch with his teeth. What a warrior. What an inspiration to the rest of the team, both offense and defense.

Willie McGinest: According to Andre Knott (sp?) he was telling everybody else what to do, like he was stealing the Ravens signals or something (tee-hee). I don't know if he blitzed much, but I do know that when the Ravens ran at him, they were sorry. He is a real asset. I was wondering if he had anything left, but that's been answered. It remains to be seen if he can attack the QB like he did before (forgive me if he did, and that was why Wimbley got to McNair later on)--but he can stop the run.

This was a new offense, offensive line, and QB making progress, as anybody with a brain would have expected. In truth, I thought they'd lose this game...until about half way through that first possession touchdown drive. I was still wondering how they would screw it up, but encouraged:

They were attacking, through the air. The Ravens were not getting pressure. Things were starting to mesh. Oh yeah. When Ryan Tucker comes back, do they replace Shaffer? I think not. Shaffer had some early problems, but now is doing a hell of a job, and fits with the other guys a lot better. But I wouldn't rule him out at right guard...not at all.

Bentley should return before the season is over. What then? HE could well be brought back (for this season) at guard. What nice problems the Browns have!!

Remember after last season? The O-line sucked and had no depth. Give Savage some credit here: It's not just fixed--it's one of the best and deepest offensive lines in football! Remember the secondary? Give Savage some credit here, as well.

Quit bashing him because we don't have a great third wide-out and the defensive line still needs work. He's taken care of EVERYTHING else that was wrong in one offseason.

Well, next week they come down to Earth. They find out how far they have to go, because they play THE best team in the NFL. Even I can't muster up any hope for them to upset the Pats.

Hell, all Brady needed was a freaking Randy Moss! He was nasty enough with journeymen. All that defense needed was Adalius Thomas. That's just peachy.

The important thing to watch in this game is how close they can keep it. I do think that the Pats won't be able to get much more heat on Anderson than anyone else has with this offensive line. I do think that if Anderson isn't in brain-fart mode, they can move the ball.

It's just that I expect Anderson to make more mistakes, and Brady not to make any, and for Moss to burn them repeatedly, as he has everybody else. And for the Pats to also run the ball.

Well, maybe our man Cribbs will hit a couple dingers for us. Yeah. That's the ticket.

I want ten points.

Good game. (Literally).