Pretenders

The Ravens officially branded themselves with the title of Pretender with yesterday's embarassing 19-14 loss in Buffalo. As poorly as they had played both yesterday and most of the season, they amazing thing is that had they won, they'd be in 1st place in the AFC North today and still only remain a game out. Where do we start? Offense, defense, special teams, coaching? Take your pick. You can blame it all on the injuries the Ravens have endured, but so has every team this season. Remember, this Bills team was starting rookies at both quarterback AND running back. Give props to the Bills, though. Their defense surely didn't play like the 32nd ranked defense, and their offense did just enough to keep them ahead of the Ravens when it looked like a repeat of the previous collapses against the Cowboys and Broncos. Not only was I impressed with rookie Marshawn Lynch, who always seemed to fall forward and gain the extra yard when needed, but I was also equally impressed with the play of their offensive line. Quarterback Trant Edwards did just enough not to lose the game, and actually made a few big plays at key points to keep the drives alive.

I could wear out the keyboard listing the many ways the Ravens blew this game and probably any opportunity to even get a sniff of the post-season. However, I will save those topics and post each day this week on an aspect of the team that contributed to yesterday's team loss. Entwined throughout the entire team was an obvious lack of effort, one that reeked of a team that once again, expected the opposition to roll over in fear of this "awesome" defense. It was not just the 11 penalties, but the five first half defensive offsides ones that just had me pulling out my fingernails to distract me from the mental pain that they put me through. All that and I'm not even taking into consideration the two "phantom" pass interference penalties, including one on the end zone that led to the Bills only touchdown of the day.

But as I said, I'll get to the different parts of the team throughout the week, starting with the offense on Tuesday, followed by the defense, special teams and coaching on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively. For now, I will marinate in my juices, still stewing about what this team and its leadership is missing.