Iggy's Raven's Report - 10 December 2009

Commentary | Schedule | Relevant Football Links | Predictions

Commentary

Personal Thoughts:
Ravens: Well, you knew this was going to be a tough game: Green Bay on Monday Night in December. What we didn't expect is the ugliness of the game. Penalties out the wazoo. Turnovers galore, and at the worst times. Flacco was still under pressure. Rodgers was not. Running game sputtered. Passing game had me holding my breath. Special Teams actually came through on a few occasions and Cundiff didn't miss a field goal (OK, he didn't try one either, more than can be said for the GB kicker). I don't want to dwell on the loss, but that one left us out in the cold.

The playoff picture is no longer in our hands. We MUST win out, and we must have Jax and/or Denver falter significantly. My realistic paper jockeying over the remaining games has us optimistically finishing at 9-7 and a tie breaker short of the playoffs. The only real goals left are .500 and sweeping the Team That Must Not Be Named.

Next up are the Lions, who play a mean game, and are one of the most snake bit teams in the league. We should handle them easily at home, but expect our struggling office to continue looking for itself. In the end, I anticipate a win, just not a convincing one.

Orioles: O's are feeling around to determine who might be interested in coming to Baltimore. The list will probably be short, and already picked over.

Crystal Palace Baltimore F.C. (Home games at UMBC): Club President Pete Medd has been named 2009 Sprinturf Executive of the Year in the United Soccer Leagues Second Division.

Alouettes: The streets of downtown Montreal was flooded by fans on Wednesday, as they celebrated their Grey Cup victory.

Blast: The Baltimore Blast (1-1) had the week off and return to play on December 13 in Monterrey (1-1). Game time moved to 1 PM.

I am gauging interest in a field trip to see the Blast play this season. So far, I have 3 people (self included) interested and we are discussing dates, so please email me if you are interested. Bueller?

Mariners (See website for more details): Defensive Lineman Adam Foley, who was part of a 2009 Baltimore Mariners defense, which led the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA) in turnover margin, has re-signed with the indoor football club, which will kick-off its third season in March of 2010. James Violand, who was an All-Metro performer at Oakland Mills (Columbia, Maryland) High School, an All-Region lineman at Shepherd University, and was named a National Strength and Conditioning Association All-American Athlete, has been signed by the Baltimore Mariners of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). The offensive lineman seeks to make his professional debut in the 2010 season, which will kickoff in March.

The American Indoor Football Association (AIFA), has awarded an expansion franchise to San Jose, California. The San Jose Wolves will start play in the 2010 season.

What do you want to see in the Ravens report? What should be scrapped? Actually, nevermind. No one is reading this anyway, so I will just butcher things up however I please, and you won't know the difference. Send an email to iggy at tealdragon.net. Thanks!

Schedule

2009 Preseason
Date	Opponent		Time	Result
Thursday, August 13	Washington Redskins		1-0-0	W 23-0
Monday, August 24	New York Jets		2-0-0	W 24-23
Saturday, August 29	@Carolina Panthers		3-0-0	W 17-13
Thursday, September 3	@Atlanta Falcons		4-0-0	W 20-3
2009 Regular Season
Date	Opponent	Record	Time	Result
Sunday, September 13	Kansas City Chiefs	1-0-0	1:00 PM	W 38-24
Sunday, September 20	@San Diego Chargers	2-0-0	4:15 PM	W 31-26
Sunday, September 27	Cleveland Browns	3-0-0	1:00 PM	W 34-3
Sunday, October 4	@New England Patriots	3-1-0	1:00 PM	L 27-21
Sunday, October 11	Cincinnati Bengals	3-2-0	1:00 PM	L 17-14
Sunday, October 18	@Minnesota Vikings	3-3-0	1:00 PM	L 33-31
Sunday, November 1	Denver Broncos	4-3-0	1:00 PM	W 30-7
Sunday, November 8	@Cincinnati Bengals	4-4-0	1:00 PM	L 17-7
Monday, November 16	@Cleveland Browns	5-4-0	8:30 PM	W 16-0
Sunday, November 22	Indianapolis Colts	5-5-0	1:00 PM	L 17-15
Sunday, November 29	Pittsburgh Steelers	6-5-0	8:20 PM	W 20-17 (OT)
Monday, December 7	@Green Bay Packers	6-6-0	8:30 PM	L 27-14
Sunday, December 13	Detroit Lions	1-1 Overall 1-0 Home	1:00 PM
Sunday, December 20	Chicago Bears	1-2 Overall 1-0 Home	1:00 PM
Sunday, December 27	@Pittsburgh Steelers	10-18 Overall 4-10 Road	1:00 PM
Sunday, January 3	@Oakland Raiders	5-1 Overall 1-1 Road	4:15 PM

Relevant Football Links

NFL: Tie Breaking Procedures

Iggy's Predictions

Week 13
- Buffalo (+3½) over the Jets. Despite coming off of bigs wins, both are struggling, so I flipped a coin. Seriously. Jets stay alive, albeit barely, in the hunt for the playoffs
- Denver over KC (+4½). It should be 14½. I guess 34½ would have just covered it.
- Cinciny over Detroit (13½), but take the points. Cincinnati has been failing to really "put away" their opponents. Can we put away Detroit now?
- Houston (+½) over Jax. If nothing else, you should want Houston to win and lock both teams at 6-6. Jax stays strong in the 6th seed
- Saints over the Skins (+9½). Although the skins keep most games close enought to cover, the Saint's usually don't. Should have gone with the Skins to cover.
- TTMNBN over the Raiders (+11½), but take the points. Raiders are 5-4 as the dog, while the TTMNBN is 3-7 as the favorite. Glad to be wrong on the overall winner.
- Eagles over Atlanta (+5½). Falcons are starting Redman, and I wish him luck. He will need it. Do the Eagles finally have their act together?
- Chicago over StL (+8½). The Ramns are really struggling. Rams kept it close enough to cover... with Boller at the Helm.
- Carolina over Tampa (+6½), but take the points. If tampa doesn't cover this, they should come darn close. They have been improving lately, but not enought to win games. Panthers by 10
- Tennessee (+6½) over Indy. Colts have flirted with their first loss one too many times. This time they will go down to a resurgent Titans team that could be playoff bound. I still like Vince Young.
- Pats over Miami (+5½). Patriots will rebound from the Monday night stomping. I was said to see Belichek lose... Not!
- Chargers over browns (+12½) but take the points. Game is in Cleveland, and the browns have been playing close games lately... close enough to cover that number. Hopefully they can flat out BEAT tht TTMNBN at home on Thursday.
- Dallas over the Giants (+1½). Manning could be gone any play with a season ending injury as his leg shows signs of a stress fracture. This will limit the Giants playbook. Any day now...
- Niners (+½) over Hawks. Niners have dreams of playoffs. Seattle doesn't. That wasn't supposed to happen
- Minnesota over Arizona (+1½). Warner could miss this one. Arizona is alive!
- Packers over Ravens (+3½), but take the points. A close game until the end, but the refs won't let us beat them in Green Bay. Arg!
- This Week: 8-8 Straight Up; 5-11 Against the Spread
- Season: 128-64 Straight Up; 89-103 Against the Spread
Week 14
- TTMNBN over Cleveland (+10½), but take the points. Cleveland hates the TTMNBN.
- Ravens over Lions (+13½), but take the points. Come on! Do you really think we can cover those numbers with the way we have been playing?
- Bills over Chefs (+½). Heads or tails? Really!
- Pats over Panthers (+13½), but take the points. Could be an interesting game.
- Vikes over Bengals (+7½), but take the points. This should be the Sunday Night game!
- Indy over Broncos (+7½), but take the points. Notice a trend? Going with the dogs.
- Packers over Chicago (+3½). Not bearing this one this week.
- Miami (+2½) over Jax. Hopefully, this isn't just wishful thinking.
- Saints over Falcons (+9½). Falcons are in a tailspin.
- Jets over Tampa (+3½). Tampa has been tough, but not that tough.
- Texans over Seattle (+6½). Texans have playoff hopes.
- Titans over Lambs (+13½), but take the points. Rams have been staying in games, so they must have some sort of defense.
- Oakland (+1½) over Wershington. Black hole will swallow skins, like it did the Bengals and Eagles.
- Cowboys over Chargers (+3½). San Diego isn't that good. Really!
- Eagles (+½) over Giants. This really could go either way.
- Niners (+3½) over Cards. SF at home on Monday night? You're right, I should have picked the Cards. In the very least, Niners are 5-1 as the dogs, while the Cards are 2-4 as the Favorite.

Please send comments to Iggy at tealdragon.net