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Cornerback Corey Ivey seriously injured his kidney in the Monday night game against the Denver Broncos. Ivey has been ruled out for week #6 against the Panthers. Undrafted rookie Ronnie Prude will be the nickel back against the Panthers and could be picked on by Jake Delhomme on Sunday.
The Ravens special teams has been very good at executing kicks and returning them, but covering them has been a problem for the team so far. Opponents are averaging 10.7 yards per punt return and 26.1 yards per kick-off return, and those numbers need to improve or it will start hurting the team. The Ravens need to win the field position battle, because their offense is not playing well at all.
Matt Stover has been great so far as he has hit all 10 of his field goal attempts and all 7 extra points. Punter Sam Koch is averaging 44.0 yards per punt, 36.7 net yards per punt and is placing 28.1% of his punts inside the oppositions 20 yard line. So the Ravens kickers have been doing their part.
BJ Sams is the main kick returner for the Ravens. Sams is averaging 11.1 yards per punt return and that is pretty good. Sams is averaging 27.8 yards per kick-off return and that is outstanding.
Overall the Ravens special teams have been pretty good. The same guys that block so well for Sams, need to start covering the kicks a little better.
The Ravens got pushed around by the Denver Broncos a little bit on Monday Night. Steve McNair had a real bad game, completing 20 of 34 passes for 164 yards with 3 INT! Jamal Lewis had a rough time, carrying the ball 15 times for 43 yards (2.9 ypc). Mike Anderson carried the ball 5 times for 31 yards (6.2 ypc).  RB Musa Smith caught 6 passes for 53 yards. WR Derrick Mason caught 3 passes for 45 yards. Mark Clayton caught 6 passes for 36 yards.
The defense played pretty well allowing the Broncos to run for 116 yards on 28 carries (4.1 ypc). The Ravens only allowed the Broncos to complete 13 of 24 passes for 106 net yards passing.Â
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This should be a slobber knocker on Monday Night Football.
The Ravens will try to come out running against the Broncos with Jamal Lewis (268 yards rushing), Mike Anderson and Musa Smith. As soon as the running game is established look for Steve McNair to run some play action passes and attack the Broncos short with Todd Heap (19 rec, 159 yards) and Mark Clayton (15 rec, 159 yards). Expect McNair to frequently throw to old buddy Derrick Mason (20 rec, 265 yards) when he decides to stretch the field.
The Broncos will run Tatum Bell right into the teeth of the Ravens defense. The Ravens have been stingy against the run, allowing only 63.3 yards rushing per game and 2.6 yards per carry. The Broncos will have to throw some on early downs to loosen up the run defense. That will be easier said than done as the Ravens already have 17 sacks and 8 interceptions this season.
I have to go with the Ravens in this game as much as I hate to. Their defense will be too much for the Broncos.
Starting guard Edwin Mulitalo will miss the remainder of the football season due to a triceps injury. James Brown will start in his spot, but this is a blow to the Ravens running game as Mulitalo is a great run blocker.
