Tim Tebow has been traded from the Denver Broncos to the New York Jets. He will get the chance to play for former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator and current New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan.
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Matt Birk, who is a six time Pro Bowler, inked a 3 year deal with the Baltimore Ravens on Friday. The 35 year old center was considering retirement, but it looks like he will be returning. Matt Birk has started 96 consecutive games which is currently the longest streak among NFL centers.
The following is a clip from an interview with Matt Birk last year:
Ray Rice was the second leading rusher in the NFL in the 2011 season and had over 2,000 yards from scrimmage. Even though he performed as one of the best running backs in the NFL, it is reported that Ray Rice only earned $555,000 in 2011. It would be nice if the Baltimore Ravens could sign him to a long term deal, but it looks as though he may get the franchise tag.
The deadline is March 5th for the franchise tag, so hopefully a long tem deal would get signed by then. If the Baltimore Ravens give Rice the franchise tag he would get a one year deal worth 7.7 million. The worst case scenario would be if Ray Rice decides to hold out for a long term deal like Chris Johnson did last season for the Tennessee Titans.
Ok it is time to announce the RavensBlogger.com Player Awards for the Baltimore Ravens 2011 season. The awards are as follows:
Most Improved Ravens Player Award – This award goes to Lardarius Webb. Lardarius Webb stepped up his game in 2011 and is one the best cornerbacks in the league now. Many felt that he should have been selected to the Pro Bowl. Webb led the Ravens with 5 interceptions during the regular season. He had an additional 3 picks during the post season. Lardarius Webb Career Stats
Ravens Rookie of the Year Award – This award goes to Torrey Smith. Although Torrey struggles during the pre-season, he was a pleasant surprise during the 2011 regular season. His speed gave the Ravens the ability to stretch the field and opposing defenses must account for him. Taken in the 2nd round of the 2011 NFL draft, Torrey Smith made the most impact as a rookie in 2011. Torrey ended up with 841 yards receiving and 7 TDs in 2011. Torrey Smith’s Career Stats
Ravens Offensive Player of the Year Award – This award goes to Ray Rice. Ray Rice led the entire NFL in Total Yards from Scrimmage in 2011 with 2,068! When Ray Rice got his touches it usually equated to a Ravens victory. Ray Rice’s Career Stats
Ravens Defensive Player of the Year Award – This award goes to Terrell Suggs. Terrell Suggs was a beast on defense for the Baltimore Ravens in 2011 recording 14 sacks and 7 forced fumbles. Statistically, this was Terrell Sugg’s best year of his career. Go out and get your “Ball So Hard University T-Shirt” Terrell Sugg’s Career Stats
Ravens Leadership Award – This award goes to none other than Ray Lewis. Whether it was cheering on his teammates while on the sidelines or leading by example on the field, Ray Lewis has always been a great leader for the Ravens. Listening to the speech Ray Lewis gave after the big loss to the New England Patriots made me personally feel better and was an example of his amazing leadership skills. Ray Lewis’ Career Stats
The Baltimore Ravens have already indicated that they would like to get Joe Flacco signed to a long term deal. The problem now is to come to an agreement on terms. Joe Flacco has helped the Baltimore Ravens appear in 4 straight playoff appearances since he became the Ravens starting quarterback in 2008. Joe Flacco even played better than Tom Brady in the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots.
Flacco is going to want a lot of money in his new deal. I must say Flacco has been very durable during his first four years with the Ravens and pretty much never gets injured. It will be interesting to see what the terms of Joe Flacco’s contract will be. Hopefully the Ravens will be able to get a deal done and still have enough room to re-sign other much needed valuable players.
The Baltimore Ravens have been to the playoffs for 4 straight years with Joe Flacco as our quarterback. Each of those four years has ended with a heartbreaking loss in the playoffs. Including yesterday’s 23 to 20 loss, the Ravens have loss in the AFC Championship game twice in the last four years. I’m not sure which playoff loss hurts the most. I don’t know if it was last year’s collapse to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2nd half or this loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship.
I do know that I am proud of my team. Many people didn’t give the Baltimore Ravens a chance against the Patriots and their powerful offense run by Tom Brady. They did not believe that the Ravens defense could stop Tom Brady from throwing any touchdown passes but they did. Nobody thought that Joe Flacco could out play Tom Brady statistically in this game but he did. Flacco had a 95.4 QB rating while Tom Brady had a low 57.5 QB rating. I mean who thought we would sweep the AFC North Division at the beginning of the season? Who knew that the Ravens would go undefeated at home for the first time in franchise?
In short, this loss was heartbreaking to say the least but there are several things to be proud of this season if you are a Ravens fan.
It will be the classic matchup of offense vs defense. The Baltimore Ravens have one of the best defenses in the NFL while the New England Patriots have one of the best offenses in the NFL. The last time the Baltimore Ravens played the New England Patriots in the playoffs, the Ravens not only won the game, but blew the Patriots out 33 to 14. Most sports analysts, however, are picking Tom Brady and the New England Patriots to win this time. The Patriots are heavy favorites to beat the Baltimore Ravens today in the AFC Championship game and advance to the Superbowl.
The last time the Ravens beat the Patriots in the playoffs they did so despite a poor statistical performance from Joe Flacco. Ray Rice had a big day that game and broke one for a TD on the first play from scrimmage. If you are counting the Ravens out in this game, take a look at what happened last time these 2 teams met in the playoffs in New England:
The Baltimore Ravens won ugly yesterday but we usually win ugly so that is no surprise. The Ravens found a way to defeat the Houston Texans and advance to the AFC Championship and that is all that matters. Here is a video clip of some of the Ravens vs Texans highlights from the playoff game at M & T Bank stadium in Baltimore.
The Baltimore Ravens remained undefeated at home during both the regular and post season this year. The Ravens also remained undefeated against the Houston Texans. This game was a little closer than the first one this year. The Texans continuously fed their star running back Arian Foster who ended up with 27 carries for 132 yards and a TD. Ray Rice was held to just 60 yards on 21 carries even though he got his opportunities.
The difference was that our quarterback Joe Flacco threw 2 TD passes and no interceptions and the young Texans QB threw no TD passes and 3 interceptions. The Ravens definitely need to improve in some areas but they did enough to win and hold onto the lead once they got it. The Ravens will have to go on the road to face an explosive New England Patriots offense led by Tom Brady.
The major area of concern for me is that the Ravens led the NFL in sacks but had no sacks today. We will definitely need a better pass rush when we play the New England Patriots next week.
Ed Reed Comments on Joe Flacco
The story of the day is about Ed Reed’s comments that he made on SiriusXM NFL Radio about Joe Flacco. Personally, I think the media took Ed Reed’s comments and blew them out of proportion. I’ve listened to fans call in to radio talk shows upset by the comments. Some of these same fans acting upset probably have made more harsh criticisms of Joe Flacco in the past. Yeah, the timing of these comments may have been bad but it is what it is. Joe Flacco has very tough skin so maybe he’ll use this as motivation to have a great game against the Patriots. Like I said in a previous article, all Joe Flacco has to do is win a Superbowl and he’ll silence the critics.
I personally had no problem with the way Joe Flacco played against the Houston Texans. He threw 2 touchdown passes against a top rated defense and had no interceptions. If anything, I was embarrassed by the fact we couldn’t convert in short yardage situations. The offensive line was horrible. They gave up 5 sacks. Joe Flacco is probably the most durable quarterback in the NFL and it is a wonder that he never gets hurt. He is the best quarterback that the Ravens have had even though that isn’t saying much considering who we’ve had.
Here is a clip of ESPN analysts discussing Ed Reed’s comments: