The Ravens defense was outstanding and the offense was ball hogging as the Ravens had possession of the football for 38:00 in this football game.  Steve McNair kept everything short as he completed 29 of 43 passes for 214 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs.  Willis McGahee was really busy as he carried the football 22 times for 88 yards (4.0 ypc) and he also caught 7 passes for 48 yards (6.9 avg).  Derrick Mason was the main man in the passing game as he caught 11 passes for 85 yards (7.7 avg).  The Ravens finished up with 101 yards rushing on 33 carries (3.1 ypc) and they also completed 29 of 43 passes for 214 yards.

The Ravens were led on defense by nose tackle Kelly Gregg who had 6 tackles and a sack.  The defense was awesome the whole game as they were blasting away on the Niners offense.  The 49ers could only muster 49 yards rushing on 19 carries (2.6 ypc) and they completed 12 of 19 passes for 114 yards.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=271007025

Yamon Figurs was drafted to return kicks and he’s doing a fine job.  He has returned 6 punts for 103 yards (17.2 avg) with a TD return so far this season.  He also has returned 8 kickoffs for 247 yards (30.9 avg) this season.  The only issue with him is ball security as the Browns caused him to lose a fumble that led to a TD last weekend.

Both of these teams are 2-2 on the season.  The Ravens are 2-0 outside of the AFC North outscoring their opponents 46-36.  The 49ers started this season 2-0 but they’ve been punished in the last two games by a combined score of 60-19!

The Ravens want to run the football with Willis McGahee (376 yards rushing, 4.7 ypc) against a suspect run defense of the 49ers which is allowing 130.0 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per carry.  For the Ravens to have success throwing the ball the O-Line must give QB Steve McNair solid protection.  If McNair has time to throw look for him to look for his TEs Quinn Sypniewski and Todd Heap.  He also will likely want to challenge Walt Harris and Nate Clements but he better be careful because those guys are good.  Watch out for the Ravens secret weapon in this game which will be #3 WR Demetrius Williams who’s really fast.

The 49ers have the worst offense in the NFL as they are only averaging 213.3 yards of total offense per game.  Look for the Ravens to focus the whole defense on stopping Frank Gore (254 yards rushing, 79 yards receiving) from beating them.  That will make things tough on veteran QB Trent Dilfer as he doesn’t have many weapons in the passing game.  Darrell Jackson needs to find a heart as he seems to be just going through the motions and he will likely alligator arm a few passes against the physical Ravens defense.

PREDICTION:  Look for the Ravens defense to completely shut down the 49ers.  And when the 49ers defense gets tired the Ravens will pull ahead for a semi-easy victory.

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