The Browns might have lost the game last night but they might have won the war as OLB Terrell Suggs and safety Haruki Nakamura were both seriously injured.  Terrell Suggs is out indefinitely and there are whispers that he could miss the rest of the year due to a sprained knee.  The injury occurred when Brady Quinn hit him low on a interception return by the Ravens.  Suggs has played in 9 games for the Ravens this season and he has made 42 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 3.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble and he has defensed 4 passes.  He will be very hard for the Ravens to replace.  The Ravens will no doubt be coming after Brady Quinn the next time he plays against them.  Nakamura will miss the rest of the year after he broke his right ankle on the opening kickoff of the game.  He played in 9 games for the Ravens this season and he made 4 tackles and forced 1 fumble.  Nakamura was just playing special teams so the Ravens should be able to replace him.

The Ravens played great on defense last night as the Browns never really threatened to score.  Ray Lewis led the way for the Ravens with 7 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack, 2 passes defensed and 1 QB hit last night.  Safety Dawan Landry also had a outstanding game last night finishing with 4 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 pass defensed and a interception that he returned 48 yards for a TD.  The Ravens held the Browns to a measly 160 total yards on offense (86 rushing, 74 passing) last night.

The offense did not play too good for the Ravens last night.  Joe Flacco completed 13 of 18 passes for 155 yards last night as he was little more than a game manager for the Ravens.  Ray Rice rushed for 89 yards on 20 carries (4.5 ypc) with 1 TD run and he also caught 3 passes for 15 yards (5.0 avg) last night.  Willis McGahee pitched in with 35 yards rushing on 13 carries (2.7 ypc) and Le’Ron McClain carried the ball 3 times for 10 yards (3.3 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 19 yards (6.3 avg).  Derrick Mason had a solid game for the Ravens last night with 3 catches for 78 yards (26.0 avg).  TE Todd Heap also had a solid game with 4 catches for 43 yards (10.8 avg) last night.  The Ravens are now 5-4 on the season.

The Ravens pounded the Browns 34-3 week #3 of the NFL season but they have been 1-4 since then.  The Ravens have a tough schedule the rest of the season so this game is a “must win” situation for them if they want to make a playoff run.  The good news here for the Ravens’ offense is that they should be able to do whatever they want against the Browns.  The Browns are allowing 170.5 yards rushing per game and 4.9 yards per carry.  Ray Rice will likely have a huge game against the Browns who have lost their top two inside linebackers to injury.  Willis McGahee will also likely get in on the fun late in this game for the Ravens.  Joe Flacco has slumped as of late but he will likely rebound against a Browns’ pass D that is allowing 238.6 yards per game through the air.

The Browns are turning back to Brady Quinn at QB in this game and that is a good thing.  If the Browns were smart they would come out throwing the ball on Monday Night against a Ravens’ D that is allowing 225.8 yards passing per game.  For that to work though the Browns’ receivers have to catch the football which they have not been doing to well this season to date.  Mohamed Massaquoi and Jerome Harrison will likely be the main weapons in the passing game for the Browns on Monday Night.  Also look for Josh Cribbs to run the Wildcat Formation a lot in this game for the Browns.  Jamal Lewis will be starting the last game of his career against his old team so he should be motivated to get into some high impact collisions with his old pal Ray Lewis of the Ravens.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 35, BROWNS 13

The Ravens need to get back to running the football which takes pressure off of Joe Flacco.  They have turned to 2nd year RB Ray Rice as the full time running back and despite his fine play the offense hasn’t been as good as it was early in the year.  The Ravens should get Willis McGahee back involved in the offense as he is the 2nd best playmaker on the offense behind Rice.  McGahee has carried the ball 47 times for 201 yards (4.3 ypc) with 5 TD runs and he has also caught 9 passes for 62 yards (6.9 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  But in the Ravens’ last four games McGahee has 10 carries for 0 yards (0.0 ypc) and he has only caught 2 passes for 8 yards (4.0 avg).  The Ravens need to get McGahee back into the offense or they are going to continue to have problems scoring points.

The Bengals rushed out to a 17-0 lead at the half and they made it stand up as they physically beat up the Ravens earlier today.  Joe Flacco was awful in this game as he completed 18 of 32 passes for 195 yards with 0 TD passes and 2 INTs.  Ray Rice carried the ball 12 times for 48 yards (4.0 ypc) with a TD run and he also caught 8 passes for 87 yards (10.9 avg).  It’s too bad that no one except Rice stepped up in offense in this game or the Ravens might have been able to win it.  The Ravens finished up with only 215 total yards on offense in this game (55 rushing, 160 passing) as they only had possession of the football for 20:00 in this game.

The allegedly “great” defense of the Ravens had a rough time today in the Jungle!  Safety Dawan Landry led the way for the Ravens on D in this game with 9 tackles.  DT Dwan Edwards (8 tackles, 2 QB hits) and LB Ray Lewis (8 tackles, 1 QB hit) also pitched in on defense for the Ravens in this game.  The Bengals finished up with 369 total yards on offense (146 rushing, 223 passing) in this game.  The Ravens are now a disappointing 4-4 on the year.

The Baltimore Ravens appear to have two keepers out of last April’s NFL Draft.  OT Michael Oher (1st round, #23 overall) has started all 7 games at tackle for the Ravens and he is playing well.  Oher has even caught a pass but he lost eight yards on it.  CB/KR Ladarius Webb (3rd round, #88) has also been outstanding this season for the Ravens.  He only has 3 tackles this season but he has returned 13 kickoffs for 394 yards (30.3 avg) with 1 TD return.  Webb will likely be the kick returner for a long time for the Ravens.  DE Paul Kruger (2nd round, #57 overall) has been very disappointing so far this season and he only has 1 tackle.  LB Jason Phillips (5th round, #137 overall) got injured in training camp and he has been placed on the Injured Reserve List.  TE Davon Drew (5th round, #149 overall) hasn’t done a thing for the Ravens yet.  RB Cedric Peerman (6th round, #185 overall) got cut before the season started.  Getting Oher and Webb was enough to make this a decent draft for the Ravens.

The Ravens will have their hands full as they travel to the Jungle to take on the much improved Cincinnati Bengals.  In the first game between these two teams (17-14 win for Cincy) the Bengals pushed them around especially in the running game with Cedric Benson.  That had to hurt the Ravens’ pride on defense as they are only allowing 87.6 yards rushing per game and 3.5 yards per carry so far this season.  Still, look for the Bengals to attack them with Cedric Benson (720 yards rushing, 4.4 ypc) to set up some play action passing.  The Ravens had better be blitzing often this week because if Carson Palmer has time to throw the ball they are in big trouble.  The Ravens are allowing 226.1 yards passing per game and they will have trouble containing Chad Ocho Cinco, Chris Henry, Andre Caldwell and Laveranues Coles. 

The Ravens will have to keep the offense balanced in this game to be effective.  They will be tempted to throw the ball more than usual against a Bengals’ D that is allowing 253.3 yards passing per game.  But, they also have to remember that Ray Rice is the best player on the offense.  The Bengals are only allowing 88.0 yards rushing per game and 3.9 yards per carry so Rice will have to get all of his yards the tough way.  Joe Flacco must be smart with the football as Johnathan Joseph, Leon Hall and Chris Crocker have 8 interceptions between them. 

PREDICTION:  BENGALS 20, RAVENS 17

Overall, Steve Hauschka has done a nice job of replacing Matt Stover as the kicker.  He has made 8 of 10 field goals this season and he is 25 for 25 on extra points.  While it is true that he missed a game winning field goal at Minnesota Hauschka is still kicking pretty well and he is a lot cheaper than Matt Stover would have been which is always important because of the salary cap.

 The Baltimore Ravens (4-3) came ready to play on Sunday and gave the Denver Broncos (6-1) their first loss of the season.  The defense did a great job in the first half keeping the Broncos off the scoreboard.  The Broncos defense was able to contain Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense to two Steve Hauschka field goals in the first half, taking a 6-0 lead going into the break.  Lardarius Webb had a huge momentum booster for the Ravens when he opened the second half with a 95-yard kick return to put the Ravens up 13-0.  The Broncos responded later in the quarter with a 84-yard touchdown drive, but it was the Ravens penalties that attributed most of the success on that Broncos drive.  Domonique Foxworth was called for a 39-yard pass interference call and Ed Reed jumped offsides on 4th and 1 that put the Broncos right on top of the endzone.  Denver’s Knownshon Moreno easily ran it in for a 1 yard touchdown and the Broncos only score of the game.

The Ravens got another field goal from Hauschka to put the Ravens up 16-7 going into the 4th quarter.  The Ravens offense had not done much heading into the final quarter, but Joe Flacco and the offense finally woke up in the 4th quarter.  Flacco hit Derrick Mason on a 20-yard touchdown pass early in the 4th and the Ravens got another touchdown late in the 4th on a 53 yard drive capped off by a 7-yard Ray Rice touchdown run.  Flacco had an accurate game, going 20/25 for 175 yards and a touchdown.  Rice had a solid game, getting the game sealing touchdown and 84 yards on 23 carries.