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I’ve been sick with the flu for a week now.  Feel like I’ve been nailed to my bed.  Not nailed in it but nailed to it – the difference between the two is HUGE.  Just like the difference between a good Ravens football team and a lousy one.
Sunday, I scraped myself out of bed and made my way to the couch to watch the Birds.  I wasn’t sure if I’d see the dominating team that beat the Broncos or the team that lost to the Bengals earlier in the season.  I got my answer.  The Ravens played like I felt.  Like absolute dog shit.  From week to week, I have no idea which team is going to take the field.  The Ravens are still holding on – and I don’t mean holding on to a shot at the playoffs – I mean holding on to the jerseys of every player that runs right past them.  And this time it wasn’t just the defense.  The offense had their share of problems too.  But the DB’s on this team are some of the worst I’ve ever seen play for the Ravens.
*Note to any NFL quarterback: if you wanna move the ball down the field on Baltimore, just put it in the air.  You probably won’t get a touchdown that way, but you’ll get a slew of pass interference penalties that will set you up nicely inside the red zone.  Then, you’ll get the TD.
After the game, I went out on my balcony for some sun and fresh air and a little bird landed next to me.  We got to talkin.  He told me things were kinda rough in his life right now, not to mention winter is coming. He just lost a close friend in a freak accident. Said he was headed to FLA to chill and relax and think about things for a little while.  Then he flew away.  Just like that.  His friend’s name?  Playoffs.

Run down, run over and run into the ground

This season isn’t totally over but winning the AFC North is. There’s a lot of football left to play and the Ravens can turn things around.  They need to get a grip on themselves and not every player on the opposing team.
Next up, Cleveland.  I know you think this is an easy one.  Guess again…

Kuh Kaw!

- Ryan Sickler, Ravens Blogger

CLICK HERE FOR MY OFFICIAL NFL RAVENS BLOG
MY UNEDITED BLOG IS BELOW.
THE NFL HAS AN IMAGE TO UPHOLD.  SO DO I.

Why I Hate The Bengals

Let’s just get to it.  We have to play the Bengals twice a season.   They’re in the AFC North.  Nothing we can do about it.  The NFL set it up.  We go to their place once and they come to our house once.  But it’s not like playing the Stillers or the Browns.  Win or lose it never seems to be eventful.  It’s just something necessary that has to happen.
Playing the Bengals twice a year is like when you were a kid and you had to see that one aunt who you couldn’t stand…twice a year.  You really didn’t want to see her.  It was never eventful.  But you had to.  Your parents set it up.  “She’s family.”  Then they hit you with the sales pitch.  “She has a pool.”  It’s an above ground pool.  And it’s October now.  When we head to her place, it’ll be November.  At that point it’s freezing and there’s enough shit in her pool to kill Lochness.
It’s always the same ol with her.  She never seems to better herself.  Then your parents tell you, “She just bought a new Cadillac!”  And you think, “Ok.  Maybe she’s finally steppin it up.”  When you get to her place, what’s sitting in her gravel driveway?  An 86 Eldorado.  Covered in rust.  New?  My ass.  New to HER!
That aunt is just like the Bengals. Can’t keep a good man – even when she has a bad year and she’s still lucky enough to land one.  And when she gets one?  She doesn’t know how to treat em.  They don’t wanna stay.  They’re never happy.  And most of em have rap sheets a mile long.
The Ravens are gonna handle the Bengals the same way you’d handle your aunt; make short work of em and send em back to Cincy in that 86 Eldorado.

Kuh Kaw!

- Ryan Sickler, Ravens Blogger

CLICK HERE FOR MY OFFICIAL NFL RAVENS BLOG
MY UNEDITED BLOG IS BELOW.
THE NFL HAS AN IMAGE TO UPHOLD. 
SO DO I.

It hurts.  Physically and emotionally. Like the time Bill Gramatica lept in absurd celebration, tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season.

The Ravens lost a heart breaker to the Patriots on Sunday and it came down to the final drive.  The Ravens were right where they needed to be.  They had momentum & they were moving the ball with ease – a few yards here, a first down there.  Completion after completion.  You could feel it building.  Joe Flacco has em on the ropes!  We’re gonna score and win this game!
And then?  A perfect pass for first and goal.  Dropped.  Game over.  The excitement, the rush, the screams of joy…gone.  Just like that.
I’ve had that feeling before.  At my girlfriend’s place.  She was looking hot, we both had a few drinks and things were heating up.  I was right where I needed to be.  I had momentum and I was moving with ease – a bra here, panties there.  Completion after completion.  We felt it building.  It was inevitable.  I was gonna  score!
And then?  Doorbell.  Her parents.  “We brought Taboo!”  Game over.  The excitement, the rush, the screams of joy…my erection…gone.  Just like that.
I don’t mind losing.  Been doing it most my life.  It’s the way we lost that stings.  Fundamentals.  It always comes back to the basics.  You could look at a number of plays that hurt the Ravens but the one that everyone will remember is Mark Clayton’s dropped pass.  I’m not saying catching a potential game saving pass, under pressure, with other professionals trying to stop you, while thousands of fans scream at the top of their lungs is easy.  It’s not.  But when you get paid millions of dollars to do it?  Catch the damn ball!  If you were paid millions of dollars to make creamed corn, wouldn’t you make the creamiest damn corn anyone’s ever had?  You’d have to for that kind of $!  If not, you’re fired.  You’re not getting another opportunity next week.  They’ll find someone else to make the creamed corn.  Someone younger, quicker, smarter and better.  Who knows?  Might be Mark Clayton.

Next up, the Cincinnati prison squad, AKA, the Bengals.

New England.  See ya’s in the playoffs…

Kuh Kaw!

- Ryan Sickler, Ravens Blogger