Chris Carr will now get back all of his jobs that he had before the injured Lardarius Webb took them from him earlier this year.  Carr has played in 14 games for the Ravens this season and he has 29 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 2 sack, 2 passes defensed an 2 interceptions.  He will move back into the starting line-up just in time to deal with the Steelers and their flock of talented WRs.  Carr will also get back his job as the kickoff returner for the Ravens.  He has returned 13 kickoffs for 315 yards (24.2 avg) and 28 punts for 205 yards (7.3 avg) this season.  The Ravens need Carr to step up because it’s do or die time as far as the playoffs go.

The Baltimore Ravens are in a good position to make a run at the playoffs in the AFC but they need to pick up their play to get there.  The Ravens got the Lions and Bears at home the next two weeks and they don’t have any excuses to lose either of those games as they are way better than both of those teams.  December 27th they will travel to Pittsburgh who lost to the Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs in the last five weeks.  They might be raising the white flag by then.  The final game of the season is a trip to the Black Hole in Oakland to play the Raiders.  The Raiders might be a improved them as of late but the Ravens have no reason to lose that football game.  It all starts this Sunday against the Lions as the Ravens make a final push for the playoffs.

Last season 24-year old fullback Le’Ron McClain got a lot of action running the football but he’s back to his old blocking duties this year with Ray Rice and Willis McGahee getting almost all of the carries.  Last year, McClain played in all 16 games for the Ravens and he carried the ball 232 times for 902 yards (3.9 ypc) with 10 TD runs.  He also added 19 catches for 123 yards (6.5 avg) with a TD grab.  This season though has been different for McClain and it probably bothers him some.  He has played in 10 games for the Ravens this season and he has carried the ball 26 times for 92 yards (3.5 ypc) with 1 TD run and he has caught 18 passes for 124 yards (6.9 avg).  Only a injury to Rice or McGahee would likely lead to McClain getting the ball more this year.

The Ravens are still waiting for 27-year old WR Mark Clayton to step up.  He has played in all 9 games for the Ravens this season and he has caught 24 passes for 318 yards (13.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Clayton has also carried the ball 4 times for 28 yards (7.0 ypc) so far this year.  The Ravens expected so much more out of Clayton when they drafted him in the first round 5 of the NFL Draft five years ago.  Clayton has played in 71 games in his NFL career and he has caught 224 passes for 2,954 yards (13.2 avg) with 12 TD grabs.  He has also carried the ball 25 times for 112 yards (4.5 ypc) with 2 TD runs in his career.  The Ravens need Clayton to step up the rest of the year if they are going to make the playoffs.

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.