The Ravens have released 35-year old DE Trevor Pryce who had not played in the Ravens first three games of the year.  Pryce played in 53 games in his time with the Ravens and he had 120 tackles, 4 passes defensed, 26 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.  The Ravens have enough deep to cover for this move so they won’t miss Pryce.

WR Anquan Boldin was supposed to give Joe Flacco a top target in the passing game this year and he’s been doing his part.  He has caught 20 passes for 287 yards (14.4 avg) with 3 TD grabs so far this year.  Boldin isn’t known for getting deep but it’s looking like he is more than capable of doing just that.  Flacco really seems to trust Boldin because of his toughness and great hands so I look for Boldin to keep putting up big time numbers the rest of this year as long as he can stay healthy.

The Ravens must have been caught looking ahead to next week’s game against the Steelers because the Browns were actually leading this game 17-14 with 14:54 left before the offense & defense woke up.  Joe Flacco played by far his best game of the year yesterday as he completed 22 of 31 passes for 262 yards with 3 TD passes and 0 INTs.  Ray Rice pitched in with 80 yards rushing on 15 carries (5.3 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 16 yards (4.0 avg).  Anquan Boldin was a one man wrecking crew in the passing game for the Ravens as he finished up with 8 grabs for 142 yards (17.8 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  The Ravens finished up with 109 yards rushing on 27 carries (4.0 ypc) and they also completed 23 of 32 passes for 256 yards.

Safety Dawan Landry (9 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 QB hit) and OLB Terrell Suggs (8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack and 1 QB hit) led the way for the D yesterday.  The Browns rushed for 173 yards on 29 carries (6.0 ypc) and they also completed 18 of 24 passes for 131 yards.  The Ravens are now 2-1 on the year.

The Ravens offense has been awful so far this season as they are only averaging 270.5 yards per game and 10 points per contest.  But this weekend will give the Ravens a chance to get things going back on the right track.  The Ravens swept the Browns by a combined score of 50-3 last year.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Ravens have the ball:  The Ravens will likely come out trying to establish a running game with Ray Rice against a Browns’ D that is allowing 129.5 yards rushing per game but only 3.8 yards per carry.  Then after establishing the running game the Ravens will turn to the air in an attempt to get Joe Flacco going in the right direction.  The Browns are a heavy blitzing team that has 4 sacks and 3 interceptions already this season so Flacco will have to be smart with the football.  Flacco did have a lot of success against the Browns last year as he completed 38 of 53 passes (71.7%) for 497 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs.  Look for the Ravens to try to spread the Browns out with Anquan Boldin, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Derrick Mason and Todd Heap to open up things in the passing game.

When the Browns have the ball:  The Browns offense has been turning the ball over a lot so look for the Ravens to be trying to strip the ball a lot.  Peyton Hillis and James Davis will probably take aim at the Ravens run defense which has allowed 105.0 yards per game and 4.0 ypc so far this year.  The Ravens have to be very aware of where Josh Cribbs is on every play as he is the lone real gamebreaker on the team.  Seneca Wallace will be starting at QB for the Browns and while he is mobile….he doesn’t scare anyone with his arm.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 21, BROWNS 13

The Ravens have released 29-year old safety Ken Hamlin.  He didn’t even get on the field with the Ravens.  The Ravens must feel comfortable with Dawan Landry, Tom Zbikowski and Haruki Nakamura at safety until Ed Reed is ready to come back.  Who am I to argue with their thinking with the way the Ravens are playing pass defense.

UPDATE:  (9/29/2010) – The Ravens have re-signed Ken Hamlin.

The Ravens added a lot of new weapons on offense around QB Joe Flacco thinking that would spark him to stardom.  That has not been the case by any stretch of the imagination so far this year.  Flacco has completed 37 of 77 passes (48.1%) for 402 yards with 1 TD pass and 5 INTs (41.2 QB Rating) so far this year.  He has also carried the ball 7 times for 11 yards (1.6 ypc) this year.  The Ravens have only scored 20 points this season so they are lucky to have a win.  All of the credit for the Ravens being 1-1 on the year should go to the defense which has been outstanding.  Flacco needs to step up soon so Coach Harbaugh never has to consider starting Marc Bulger over him.

The Ravens will be without backup linebacker Tavares Gooden for the next 4-6 weeks due to a dislocated shoulder.  Gooden has played in 2 games for the Ravens so far this year and he has 4 tackles.  In his first two years with the Ravens (2008+2009), Gooden played in 14 games in which he had 51 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  The Ravens will miss Gooden as he is a solid inside linebacker.

The offense cost the Ravens this game as the Bengals didn’t score any TDs in this game.  Joe Flacco was awful in this game as he completed 17 of 39 passes for 154 yards with 1 TD pass and 4 INTs.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 9 yards (3.0 ypc) in this game.  Ray Rice did his part for the Ravens as he rushed for 87 yards on 16 carries (5.4 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 30 yards (7.5 avg) in this game.  WR Anquan Boldin (5 rec, 35 yards), TE Todd Heap (4 rec, 35 yards) and WR Derrick Mason (1 rec, 31 yards, TD) led the way in the passing game for the Ravens.  The Ravens finished up with 109 yards rushing on 23 carries (4.7 ypc) and they also completed 17 of 39 passes for 150 yards.

The defense was solid as usual for the Ravens in this game.  Ray Lewis led the way for the D with 10 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack and 2 QB hits.  DT/DE Haloti Ngata (8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) and CB Chris Carr (7 tackles, 2 passes defensed) also pitched in for the D yesterday.  The Bengals finished up with 94 yards rushing on 31 carries (3.0 ypc) and they also completed 16 of 35 passes for 139 yards.  The Ravens are now 1-1 on the year.

This game amounts to a backyard fight between two bullies.  The Bengals swept the Ravens last season by a combined score of 34-21 in two ugly games for the Birdies.  The Ravens won on Monday Night against the Jets but it was a hard fought, hard hitting game and the Ravens have a quick turnaround in the Jungle.  Here is a look at the match-ups:

When the Ravens have the ball:  The Ravens threw the ball 38 times and they ran it 35 times last week as they had possession of the football for a stunning 38:32 on Monday Night against the Jets.  They will likely try to run a balanced offense again this week against the Bengals.  I think the Ravens will try to get Ray Rice going early in this game to take some pressure off of Joe Flacco.  But, make no mistake the Ravens are going to challenge the Bengals’ pass defense.  The Bengals have a great set of corners in Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall but they don’t have much of a pass rush as they had no sacks last week.  That means that Flacco should have time to survey the field before deciding to where to go with the football.  Look for him to spread the ball around to Anquan Boldin, Todd Heap, T.J. Houshmanzadeh, Derrick Mason and Ray Rice in the passing game.

When the Bengals have the ball:  The Bengals are likely going to throw the ball first to open up running lanes for Cedric Benson who rushed for 237 yards in the two games against the Ravens last season.  It will be up to Ray Lewis to handle him.  The Ravens will have to get after Carson Palmer this week because the secondary is a tad thin right now.  That could be bad news for the Ravens because they aren’t playing Mark Sanchez this week.  Chad Ocho Cinco and Terrell Owens will be a tough test down the field for the Ravens’ corners.  But, Palmer also likes to throw to rookies Jordan Shipley and Jermaine Gresham which is going to put a lot of pressure on the safeties and outside linebackers of the Ravens.

PREDICTION:  BENGALS 24, RAVENS 21

Ray Rice looked nothing like the back he was last season in last Monday Night’s game against the Jets.  He carried the ball 21 times for 43 yards (2.0 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 19 yards (9.5 avg).  In Rice’s defensed the Jets’ D was all over the running backs of the Ravens in that game.  The Ravens only rushed for 49 yards on 35 carries (1.4 ypc) with 1 TD run in that game.  The Ravens travel to the Jungle this week against a Bengals’ D that allowed the Patriots to rush for 118 yards on 23 carries (5.1 ypc) last week.  With all due respect to the Patriots RBs they have no one on the roster in Ray Rice’s class.  Rice carried the ball 26 times for 117 yards (4.5 ypc) with a TD run and he also caught 15 passes for 161 yards (10.7 avg) with 1 TD grab in two games against the Bengals last year.  I look for him to have to good game this Sunday.