Game Preview: Baltimore Ravens
Today Big Blue View takes a look at the Ravens in preparation for their game against the Giants.
2008 Record: 6-3 (tied for 1st place, AFC North)
Head Coach: John Harbaugh
Last time they met: In 2004, the Ravens beat the Giants 37-14 in Baltimore.
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR: Cam Cameron
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR: Rex Ryan
KEY ADDITIONS: QB Joe Flacco (1st Round, Delaware), RB Ray Rice (2nd Round, Rutgers), FB Lorenzo Neal (from Chargers), TE Adam Bergen (from Cardinals), G Adrien Clarke (from Jets), OL Oniel Cousins (3rd Round, UTEP), LB Brendon Ayanbadejo (from Bears), LB Tavares Gooden (3rd Round, Miami-Florida), CB Fabian Washington (from Raiders), CB Frank Walker (from Packers), S Tom Zbikowski (3rd Round, Notre Dame), S Jim Leonhard (from Bills)
KEY DEPARTURES: QB Steve McNair (retired), RB Musa Smith (to Jets), RB Mike Anderson (released), WR Devard Darling (to Chiefs), T Jonathan Ogden (retired), LB Prescott Burgess (injured/out for season), S Gerome Sapp (not tendered), RS B.J. Sams (to Chiefs)
NOTES AND QUOTES:
- Derrick Mason said he expects to play in Sunday's game against the New York Giants. Mason, who dislocated his left shoulder Sunday, is not expected to practice this week before the showdown against the defending Super Bowl champions. "I'm going to make the trip to New York and I expect to be on the field," said Mason, 34, who has played in 99 straight games. "My body typically responds well whenever I've had injuries. Just because I'm a little bit older doesn't mean it's going to respond well again." Ravens coach John Harbaugh was more cautious about Mason, who leads Baltimore in catches (46) and receiving yards (598). "He's going to be day-to-day," Harbaugh said. "It's going to be a game-time decision."
- The Ravens secondary will see a familiar face in the Giants' Plaxico Burress, a longtime receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 11 games against the Ravens, Burress has averaged 3.9 catches for 69 yards. He has scored just one touchdown in the past five meetings. "Eli (Manning) has got a lot of confidence in throwing it up there (to Burress)," Harbaugh said. "Sometimes when he's covered, he's not covered."
- The Ravens are also familiar with Burress' ability to push off and get away with it. "Yeah, he does the Vlade Divac sometimes," cornerback Samari Rolle said, referring to the former NBA center.
- After committing seven penalties for 55 yards in the first half of Sunday's game at Houston, the Ravens drew no flags the remainder of the contest."It was magic," Harbaugh joked. "We sprinkled magic penalty dust." Harbaugh got serious when he talked about the team's avoidance of incurring a personal foul for unsportsmanlike conduct or unnecessary roughness since Oct.19. "The personal-foul penalties have evaporated," Harbaugh said. "I'm proud of that, and I think they are, too."
- After converting four of four scoring opportunities inside the Texans' 20-yard line, the Ravens are 15 of 29 (51.7 percent) in the red zone and improved to 17th from 25th in the NFL in red-zone efficiency.
BY THE NUMBERS: 28 -- Consecutive games that the Ravens defense has not allowed a 100-yard rusher, the NFL's longest current streak. The defense plays the New York Giants, the NFL's top-ranked rushing attack.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Maybe the one thing you don't anticipate is how much you're like a shepherd. You know, someone strays, and you have to pull him back in. Then another strays, and we pull him back. There's a little of that going on all the time." -- Ravens coach John Harbaugh, on his first season as a head coach.
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Comments
Old Logo
Where’d you find the old Ravens logo? That one was the original logo, but some guy sued the club saying he had designed it and wanted big bucks from the team. He ended up with something ridiculous like $50, and the Ravens moved on to their current bird. Pretty funny story. Guy gets stiffed by the team.
Rexx
by Rexx on Nov 15, 2008 3:50 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
jrs
always digs up old logos for these previews. He’s a master of the old-time logo.
by Ed Valentine on Nov 15, 2008 5:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Ask and ye shall receive
Great website for old logos
some reallllly obscure stuff on there, logos I’ve never seen before.
Giants fan from the womb to the tomb
NY Ranger fans talk all things Blueshirts at
http://broadwayblueview.blogspot.com/
by Jim Schmiedeberg on Nov 15, 2008 8:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
yeah, he was a janitor who sketched it out (shown in Sun) they used it for 2 years or something and he didn’t get anything…money is power. poor dude probably sat on a urinal all flippin’ day doodling that…….no not that.
by raven on Nov 15, 2008 4:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
classy
but nothing I wouldn’t expect from a franchise that was owned by Art Modell.
by DoctorK16 on Nov 15, 2008 10:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Don't get us started
on the Modell debate. We’ve beaten this topic to death with the Browns’ fans, who hate him worse than Hitler! He was nothing like the Baltimore Colts’ Bob Irsay, who promised he wasn’t moving the team, then snuck out like a weasel in the middle of a snowy night. Modell begged for a new stadium and when the Mayor of Cleveland said no, he had no choice. The city of Baltimore tried every legit way to get an Expansion team but Paul Tagiabue stonewalled us, giving us no other choice than to make an offer to Modell. He was leaving Cleveland no matter what and it might have been our final chance to get a team after 12 long years without the NFL. Can you imagine how it would feel not to have an NFL team to root for, expecially one with the storied history of the Baltimore Colts. Cleveland had to wait all of 2 years and even kept their name and colors while we had to start from scratch.
Now it’s time to install Modell in the HOF while he’s still alive. However, he’s prety ill and has made a huge contribution to the league during his tenure as owner. He doesn’t own the team any more but this wrong needs to be righted by getting him in the Hall asap.
That’s my rant and I’m done!
Rexx
by Rexx on Nov 16, 2008 10:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Look
I’m not blaming Baltimore for taking the team. You’ll got shafted bad when the Colts left. As per the stadium business I’m one of these people who abhor spending of public tax money to build sports palaces. It’s corporate welfare. So the mayor of Cleveland(and state of Ohio) was right IMO to refuse to give Modell his stadium. Modell was classless for taking a team that fans were rabid and moving them out like that. The NFL business model makes oodles of money so it wasn’t like the Browns 1.0 weren’t turning a profit. He just wanted the state to subsidize him to make bigger profits. That’s a joke IMO.
by DoctorK16 on Nov 16, 2008 7:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Actually he wasn't making money
In fact, he was losing gobs of money on the team. He was the only owner in the neitre league whose only business was thge NFL team. He had made some bad business decisions involving financing his debt. He also was losing a lot of opportunities to get better revenue based on the sweetheart deal the city of Cleveland had with the Browns. So he really had only two choices, to stay in Cleveland and lose more money and face possible bankruptcy, or move the team to a locale that would pay better and build him a stadium to get better revensues, all of which Baltimore offered. Big difference from Indianapolis and what you thought.
Rexx
by Rexx on Nov 16, 2008 7:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
or he could have sold the team
and let a wealthier man who could assume the debt take it over, which is what ended up happening in Baltimore.
by DoctorK16 on Nov 16, 2008 8:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Baltimore had a CFL franchise during that time
to prove it could support a NFL franchise, and if I’m not mistaken they won the Grey cup to boot. That said, I still maintain that most people in Canada don’t give two sh!ts about the CFL and Buffalo needs to be allowed to move to Canada when Wilson kicks off, etc. You guys all heardmy rants in the preseason…
by NYcON on Nov 17, 2008 3:03 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I'll be out in the Meadowlands tommorow
I fully expect win number 9
by DoctorK16 on Nov 15, 2008 10:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I suspect
that the hitting in this game may be even more fierce than the Pittsburgh game. I hope no one(on either team) gets injured.
I won’t be able to watch the game since it won’t air here in SC but this is the last year I will suffer (no thanks to Roger Goddel) missing any games. My new home on the other side of my farm where I have a shot at Directv is nearing completion.
by giant fan since 57 on Nov 16, 2008 6:12 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

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