Stick with Baltimore Beatdown all game long to post your thoughts and opinions as the Baltimore Ravens break their curse on Monday Night Football and finish off their sweep of the Cleveland Browns tonight. While the Ravens are 4-7 on MNF and have lost their last five in a row on that national stage, the Browns might be just what the doctor ordered to right the team's ship and get them back on track for the next few tough games starting next week when the undefeated Indianapolis Colts come to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
But for now, the Ravens need to prove to the pessimists and non-believers that this team can indeed contend for a post season berth and what's the best way than to continue to beat the teams that we are big favorites over? The losses the Ravens have suffered, and suffered seems to be a great word to describe those defeats, have been to teams that are all in first place in their respective divisions. The wins have been over teams that the Ravens were expected to beat and we need to continue that trend tonight over a very dangerous Cleveland team.
The Bronws may be one of the worst teams in the NFL, from the players on the field to the folks who run their Front Office. However, to me the Browns have absolutely nothing left to lose and therefore the wounded animal can be very dangerous when backed into a corner. They have zero pressure on them and can pull out every trick play from the playbook and throw it all at once at us in what is their Super Bowl. If Cleveland loses the rest of the games but wins tonight, they will cherish that victory and do whatever they can to rub it in our faces, especially on this website.
However, all the Ravens need to do is follow the lead of what the Cioncinnati Bengals did to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh yesterday, one of the hardest places to win in the NFL. The Bengals stayed in the lead all day and never let the Steelers get comfortable on offense, all the while continuing to pound the rock in the run game and making the sure throws to move the chains. They covered the Steelers wideouts like glue, allowing them to constantly blitz and put pressure on Big Ben. I am certainly on their bandwagon now, and you all should be as well, because the Steelers loss puts us in control of our own destiny. If the Ravens can beat Pittsburgh in two weeks, then we should be in position to take the lead in the Wild Card race for the stretch run of the season.
Baltimore needs to prevent the easy and especially early score by Cleveland, and at the same time, wear down the defense and desire of the Browns by going on long scoring drives that ram the ball down the throat of their interior. Follow the same game plan they used in their earlier 34-3 pounding, utilizing all their running backs and passing when they need to to control the game and the time clock. Get out of Cleveland healthy and with a resounding victory to begin to focus on ending another curse, this one of the Colts beating our butts every time we play them. But that is for next week, as we need to focus on taking care of business tonight on prime time TV.
Ravens: 27-10