Baltimore Ravens: In the Bleak December

Christmas is over.  A new year is beginning.  The Baltimore Ravens are home with their families and are going to try really hard to forget this season.  I hope Joe Flacco remembers very well what its like to not make the playoffs.

The Ravens best players came up more than short… They came up empty like my kids stockings after Christmas.  From Sunday’s game, Flacco ended up with a 49.8 rating, and his longest pass was 14 yards. Ray Rice had nothing except his two-point conversion.  Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil combined for one whole tackle.  The defensive line was almost as bad as the offensive line.  Only the special teams performed well, but allowed a 28-yard kickoff return.

This season was ugly.  Google, within .31 seconds, came up with this list of synonyms: unattractive, unappealing, unpleasant, hideous, unlovely, unprepossessing, unsightly, horrible, frightful, awful, ghastly, vile, revolting, repellent, repulsive, repugnant.  Yep…that about does it justice.

There were some bright spots this year, but without a running game the Ravens had as much chance of going to the playoffs as a middle schooler going to the senior prom.  And they almost made it!  I guess that girl found someone her own age to go with just before the dance…and Tucker is left wondering what happened after he played so well.

This offseason should be interesting to watch.  The front line needs overhauling.  Oher is definitely gone.  Gradkowski should be gone as well with the lowest-ranked center in the league.  Ozzie did a great job last year…and I think he’ll come through again.  The yellow brick road is full of great opportunities and the great Oz sure knows how to sort through the monkeys and find the players that can make a difference.