October 10, 2005

Ravens Play a Game of Flag Football: The Baltimore Ravens tied a 51-year-old NFL record with 21 penalties in a 35-17 loss to the Detroit Lions Sunday, including one ejection for fighting and another for roughing the referee. "He bumped me with malice in his heart and he was gone," official Mike Carey said of Terrell Suggs.

posted by rcade to football at 08:05 AM - 17 comments

Is there any chance we can look forward to Brian Billick's firing this year? I've loathed that guy ever since his unctious efforts to berate the media for asking Ray Lewis about the Atlanta murders during Super Bowl week before the Ravens/Giants game.

posted by rcade at 08:07 AM on October 10, 2005

I don't wanna say the Ravens are done, because sometimes games like this help a team pull its head out of its ass, but damn do they look bad. Every other team in their division is playing better. They could easily go 4-12 or 5-11 this year.

posted by chmurray at 08:49 AM on October 10, 2005

Wasn't billick supposed to be an offensive guru at 1 time? They consistantly have the worst offense in the league.

posted by scottyooooo at 08:58 AM on October 10, 2005

If the Ravens still have Jim Colletto on their coaching staff then know wonder they keep loosing. This guys a joke. Ask the people at Purdue and ND. He just found out that a football is not round.

posted by JIM W. at 09:27 AM on October 10, 2005

That was an ugly game to watch, even with a W for the home team... Now, can someone explain to me why Ronde Barber wasn't ejected from the Bucs/Jets game for punching an official? He knocked the guy on his ass, and only got 15 yards for it. Is the ejection supposed to be automatic, or is it the officials' discretion? I figured he'd get teh thumb just for throwing a punch...

posted by MeatSaber at 10:14 AM on October 10, 2005

Is there any chance we can look forward to Brian Billick's firing this year? I think the end is near for him. The firing of the coach is typically preceded by games like that one...a complete meltdown.

posted by chris2sy at 11:49 AM on October 10, 2005

Just think, when Dilfer was QB, it was a high powered offense compared to now.

posted by Turbo at 12:42 PM on October 10, 2005

As an embarassed Ravens fan, I dont think the offense is THAT bad. I mean it is bad, but it was bad when they won the Superbowl. The sad thing about this team is that the defense has been riding on reputation for a while now. They are now a very average defense.

posted by drjimmy11 at 12:53 PM on October 10, 2005

The only thing that ever made the Ravens offense look any good was Jamal Lewis. This year he is not even running the ball any good, couple that with the lack of a passing game and, no offense drjimmy, but it is that bad.

posted by jojomfd1 at 01:18 PM on October 10, 2005

yes the offense is very bad. But my point is, people expect the Ravens offense to be bad, and they used to win in spite of it. What's surprising is that the defense, generally regarded as one of the best, is now mediocre at best.

posted by drjimmy11 at 02:14 PM on October 10, 2005

Strangely enough, the official knocked down by Ronde Barber didn't kick him out of the game because he felt there was "no malicious intent involved." Just touching, or even bumping a referee isn't an automatic ejection. You have to make the official feel like you meant to hit him with malicious intent. That being said, Barber still should have been ejected; he hit the official by mistake because he took a swing at another player, which is generally an automatic ejection.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 03:03 PM on October 10, 2005

So negligent hitting of an official is cool? Then players should take the 10 year old strategy and randomly whirl their arms and legs, "and if an official happens to get in the way its his own fault"

posted by drjimmy11 at 03:30 PM on October 10, 2005

In this case, it was a judgement call by the official who was hit, and the other officials weren't going to overrule him. It was his call, and he let it slide.

posted by The_Black_Hand at 03:49 PM on October 10, 2005

Maybe not living in the Baltimore area, I may miss some of the talk that goes around. Also, I'm definitely NOT a Raven fan, but why is it Billick seems to be getting a free pass every year when his team continues to suck. With the exception of his defensive monster a few years back when he won the title, the team has been getting worse and worse. I used to think their defense had real attitude, but now they're just average. The team makes tons of mistakes, and Billick has never been able to field any type of offense (with the exception of Jamal Lewis' huge season a couple years ago). Getting humitiated by the Lions should have Billick (and the rest of his staff) on the verge of being canned.

posted by dyams at 04:25 PM on October 10, 2005

Officials are ruining the game. There is now an average of 15 accepted penalties a game compared to 9/game in 2000.

posted by catfish at 08:10 PM on October 10, 2005

Case in point. 11 minutes left in the 2nd Q tonight & already 8 accepted penalties.

posted by catfish at 08:59 PM on October 10, 2005

Some of it is the emphasis on clutching and grabbing, but there was a point in the New England/ Atlanta game where I finally said to the TV, "Why don't you fuckers (i.e., the refs) just play?" I didn't actually utter the "i.e." part.

posted by yerfatma at 06:11 AM on October 11, 2005

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