Ravens Prove To Be Their Own Worst Enemies

With about 10 minutes to go as I start this entry, it's Indy Colts up 12-6 on Baltimore, with the only scoring either way being in the form of field goals. I guess when a high-powered offense meets a top-ranked defense, that's what we should expect. And it's not like the game has been boring, really. It just hasn't had much excitement.

There've been three plays (so far) in which the Ravens really hurt their own cause. Two of them were passes, thrown by Manning, that a Baltimore defender had all lined up to pick up a key interception on, when Ray Lewis reached out and tipped the ball, foiling the turnover attempt of his own teammate! Obviously he didn't know that, but he seemed to only be able to do that when it was a Raven waiting at the end of the ball's arc!

The other head-slapping Raven boo-boo I spotted was on a fumble early in the game, when one Raven reached out and grabbed the loose ball, at the same time as another Raven ripped it out of his grasp, such that a Colt could recover it! With friends like those, who needs an opponent?

Probably the most telling stat is Baltimore's failure on 3rd down conversions to this point in the game: something like 2-for-10. No wonder they've only managed 2 field goals, by way of scoring!

Now, with just under 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter, each team has only managed a single first down in the 2nd half! The other oddity is that Indy has now used all three of their 2nd half timeouts, and the Ravens only have one left as well - although they did lose one in a challenge that was upheld. Considering how close the score is right now, it's very strange to have only one timeout left between the two teams!

As the clock ticks down to the two minute warning, it's looking like Indy will pull off the road victory, continuing my streak of losing whenever I pick differently than Hinckley. I'd feel worse, except that the Rangers won today - ending their own losing streak at a mere two - and there's no team from any city with "pit" in its name playing in the NFL post-season, which automatically makes it a great football year!

Final score: Indy 15, Baltimore 6 (no touchdowns in the game)