Tonight on Charm City Beasts. A massive bottle is hit as Baltimore loses in humiliating fashion against a team that they wanted revenge so bad despite missing their 2 best run stoppers. John Harbaugh received criticism from the media about the defense’s inability to tackle Derrick Henry or AJ Brown. He said that we need to work on that in practice this week. The only concern is that they would only have 2 days on the field. Despite the humiliating losses in 3 of the past 4 weeks Greg Roman states that there is no panic on the offensive side of the ball. He claims that they are trying everything they can to win yet penalties and bad offensive line play and injuries lead to the problem not the QB. This week would be a difficult one especially after (20 COVID cases) OH MY MERCIFUL GOD! PAUSE!
Everything that could go wrong for my teams this year has gone wrong. Not only are the Ravens on the outside looking into the playoffs right now they suffered perhaps the biggest COVID crisis in the league this year. Look at the list!
Lamar Jackson, Mark Ingram, JK Dobbins, Willie Snead, Mark Andrews, Matt Skura, Patrick Ricard, Patrick Mekari, Calais Campbell, Brandon Williams, Justin Madibuike, Broderick Washington, Justin Ellis, Matt Judon, and Morgan Cox. I didn’t want to say this but I have to. STEVE SAUNDERS THE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING GUY NEEDS TO BE FIRED AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN AFTER 2015! The fact that he hasn’t worn a mask inside the Under Armour Performance Center this season is a testimony against this roster. He has been sick ever since the Halloween Weekend game against the Steelers. First he had a serious cough, next he had the flu. Yet Harbaugh, DeCosta, or Bisciotti did nothing about it. Can we stop with this now? Yes we can salty Marylander.
Despite these cases the main focus for those that are playing this week is revenge. They are playing the Steelers again but this time it is in Pittsburgh. The salt from that Week 8 game is on the minds of every Ravens fan that was at M&T that Sunday. A victory grabbed from Purple and Black thanks to unfair officiating, 4 turnovers, and no one knowing how to reset a game clock. Twisting the knife the NFL did make that mistake on doing so but they didn’t want to admit it at first because the officials at that game wanted the Steelers to rule the football world. Except this time the NFL wants payback for rigging that game in favor of Pittsburgh. This week’s game was supposed to be played in front of a Thanksgiving Night audience but several positive tests from both teams over the weekend caused the game to be moved to Sunday, then Tuesday Night, then Wednesday Evening. Look I understand that they moved it to Wednesday to allow some of the Ravens players back on the field. But why did you choose the the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting as the primetime event that night more than the best rivalry in America’s #1 Sport? Yes it is a once in a year event but you could have done it on Tuesday Night instead. Anyways all we need to do is to run the ball and play great defense even if Lamar and Mark Andrews aren’t playing. The good news for Baltimore is that James Connor and a few of the Steelers offensive lineman are inactive, not the big 3 of DeCastro, Pouncey, and Villanueva though. Scratch that Pouncey is out too. Either way the Ravens have a soft schedule down the stretch following this game and even if they lose they can still win out and get the 5 seed.
As for the beginning of this game it was sloppy on both sides for both teams. The Ravens with RG3 as the starter early on were out of sync, their first 4 drives resulted in no 1st Downs, a fumble, and a Pick 6 by Joe Haden. Not the start we were looking for on offense but something interesting happened. The Ravens defense despite being without most of their run stoppers held Pittsburgh in check by means of a goal line stand, muffed punt leading to a touchdown, and several Red zone stops. With the Steelers leading 12-7 at the end of the first half, Baltimore had the chance to was once unthinkable, a lead at halftime against the unbeaten Steelers. They got down to the Pittsburgh 1 as (Ravens run out of time thanks to failed delay of game penalty on Steelers D) I mean come on officials! The exact same thing happened at the end of the Week 8 game at M&T when Cam Hayward was faking an injury, How do you not stop the clock because of a defensive delay of game or injury, IT’S A SIMPLE TASK FOR CRYING OUT! Just like I said at the previous matchup the NFL wants the narrative of the Steelers going 19-0 and becoming the greatest team of all time despite obvious REFBALL that has been destroying the fan bases of everyone that they have played! PAUSE.
Despite this questionable call the Ravens defense again stood up to the challenge and held The Leader of Men and his 5 wide set out of a potential late game dagger for the moment. RG3 I know you have struggled against BlitzBurg 2.0 all night but give us a sign of victory! CRACK! Oh No, Oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NO! Please don’t tell me we have injuries to our QBs besides COVID! He was trying to outrun the defense but pulled his hamstring and must come out of the game. The good news for us is that Big Ben until an early 4th quarter touchdown pass to JuJu was shut down. The Ravens QB at the moment is (let me look this up) Trace McSorley, a third string QB that was a 6th Round Pick that was a key player for that Penn State team that was robbed of the College Football Playoff in 2016 because of media ratings, and he is one of the most famous people on TikTok. Despite his slow start on his first drive, The internet sensation showed his flashes from his Nittany Lion vintage by throwing a 70 yard touchdown, thank Hollywood Brown for his world class speed on that play! All we need to do is stop the Steelers again and a comeback will be ours. OK REFS THE GUY WAS CLEARLY SHORT OF A FIRST DOWN THAT LED TO PITTSBURGH RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK! THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO THE RAVENS EARLIER IN THE SEASON AGAINST THE PATRIOTS, JUST STOP!
Even though they lost you have to give the Ravens a whole lot of credit for nearly knocking off an undefeated team with their backups. In my opinion once everyone comes back this should be the beginning of another deep playoff run. Normally I would be angry after a loss to the Steelers, but considering how well the defense played, Trace McSorley and Hollywood Brown stepped up in Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews absence who knows what this team can do. Thank goodness we have a cakewalk schedule to get us back in playoff mode. If we don’t make the playoffs I have to say it. EVERYONE IS FIRED! That includes Lamar and Wink Martindale. How will the Marylanders have renewed optimism for the holiday season and a playoff run tune in next week to find out on Charm City Beasts! Thank goodness we have everyone back soon and we always play well in December.
Bragging Rights Sports 