Week 13 - Dec 2 @ Baltimore

[aj_law]

Compared to last week's poor gameplan, Haley did an excellent job at putting Batch in position to succeed against the Ratties.  3rd and longs were nowhere near as common; throwing on 1st; etc.  Batch did still make some poor throws, but man, he stepped up when the game was on the line.  Charlie can still ball.  Didn't hurt that he got a playmaker back in #84 because they were a little lacking in that area.  #17 is tits on a bull.  Offensive line seemed to kick it up a few notches too.

Seeing The Wig back on the defensive side was nice.  Don't think he's 100% or was incredibly effective, but that dude is in Flacco's head.  Anytime he's around the LOS presnap, Fucko turns into a bobblehead.  The secondary did a good job of defending the Ravens' "chuck it deep and hope for a PI call" offensive gameplan.  Lewis et al showed some good, ah...ball awareness.  Did Rice even touch the ball again after his TD run?  Stellar stuff by Harbaugh and Cameron.

Well played, boys.  After giving some away, they stole one where no one expected them to even be competitive.  They just need to keep getting healthy and finding ways to win.  IDGAF what their record is, if they're relatively healthy by the time the tournament starts, NOBODY wants to play them.

I hate the 'defenseless receiver' rule, but why didn't that hit on Sanders? qualify?

And no flag on the head shot to Charlie which was twice as bad as the one they called a little later.

It's really maddening.  They might as well just have a Wheel of Officiating, and make it completely random.  Couldn't be any worse.

I know, right?  Wish they'd just end this labor dispute already...

[Manimal]

Don't know why everyone is giving the Ravens this division, btw. Their last four games are against competitive teams, and nothing they've done the last few weeks looks impressive to me. Their defense is terrible, Flacco is clearly just an average QB, and they got to 9-3 by beating bad teams.

A Steelers team with a healthy Ben would have beaten them comfortably twice. In between that, the Ravens should have lost to San Diego but got a generous spot on a 4th-and-26 conversion. They play Washington, the Giants, Denver, and Cincy during the last four weeks. They could easily go 2-2 or 1-3, and I think 0-4 is not out of the question.

Now, no way do i think the Steelers are consistent enough to finish 11-5, but I think it's more likely the Steelers finish 11-5 than the Ravens do.

[aj_law]

Don't know why everyone is giving the Ravens this division, btw. Their last four games are against competitive teams, and nothing they've done the last few weeks looks impressive to me. Their defense is terrible, Flacco is clearly just an average QB, and they got to 9-3 by beating bad teams.

A Steelers team with a healthy Ben would have beaten them comfortably twice. In between that, the Ravens should have lost to San Diego but got a generous spot on a 4th-and-26 conversion. They play Washington, the Giants, Denver, and Cincy during the last four weeks. They could easily go 2-2 or 1-3, and I think 0-4 is not out of the question.

Now, no way do i think the Steelers are consistent enough to finish 11-5, but I think it's more likely the Steelers finish 11-5 than the Ravens do.

I'm with ya brother!

Meh, still think he's gonna pull a Willis Reed at the last minute.  Steeler fans in attendance go nuts.  He leads them to victory.  Ravens are devastated.  It begins Baltimore's slide and they end up losing out to finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs.  Harbaugh's head asplodes in disbelief.

Then again, I've been claiming Baltimore isn't that good all year and they've somehow managed to get to 9-3.

9-3 is...9-3.

[Big Virgil]

Don't know why everyone is giving the Ravens this division, btw. Their last four games are against competitive teams, and nothing they've done the last few weeks looks impressive to me. Their defense is terrible, Flacco is clearly just an average QB, and they got to 9-3 by beating bad teams.

A Steelers team with a healthy Ben would have beaten them comfortably twice. In between that, the Ravens should have lost to San Diego but got a generous spot on a 4th-and-26 conversion. They play Washington, the Giants, Denver, and Cincy during the last four weeks. They could easily go 2-2 or 1-3, and I think 0-4 is not out of the question.

Now, no way do i think the Steelers are consistent enough to finish 11-5, but I think it's more likely the Steelers finish 11-5 than the Ravens do.

I agree about Balty not being that good, but they haven't lost to all the crap teams the Steelers lose to.  I think there is a tendency to think Steelers would win just because of Ben, but Steelers were tied with KC, in the 2nd half, when Ben got hurt.