Right Off Russell

Zach, Weston, and Jeff Wolfson discuss Ravens, Ravens, and more Ravens. From their 23-20 loss to the Steelers, to the Pro Bowlers, and playoff picture. We hit it all this week on BOTW.

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What I love about 24×7 sports coverage is that you can have one of those days where there are the highs and lows of a crazy story.

So I get a text that the O’s made Holliday a 8 year- $130 million offer. I then head over to Camden Chat and see that Stacy has already picked up the story.

I’m thinking… Wow… that’s pretty sweet.

20 minutes ago I decide to catch up on Twitter only to find Daniel Moroz from Camden Crazies being thankful that the offer was only false rumor. Leave it to the numbers guy balking at getting Holliday!

So goes a fun day in the Orioles sports world.

We had a good idea that Le’Ron McClain, Ray Lewis, and Ed Reed were going to be voted into the Pro Bowler. What we weren’t sure about was the status of the other players, and it looks as if Haloti Ngata and Ray Rice were selected to be part of this all-star game.

I love to see players make it into the game, but I have a difficult time justifying Ed Reed. I guess popularity is popularity and good for him.

I think Ngata’s and Rice’s selections were well deserved. I hope there will be several more for these 2 guys in the future.

Also, it should be noted that Ben Grubbs was selected as a 1st alternate and will place in case of injury.

Were the any deserving Ravens that were not selected?

Thank God  for Twitter or how else would Troy Smith be making the news!

As many of you have already seen, Troy Smith’s Agent hopped on Twitter and posted this “Ravens QB Troy Smith, Ohio State alum, native + Heisman winner wants playing time. Ravens notified. Will seek trade after play offs, SB run.”

You gotta love it. Nice way to deal with it after a tough loss, but really who cares. Maybe this team needs a few distractions.

Troy is a restricted free agent after the season. I’m not sure why any team would trade for him when they could potentially sign him. I guess they would have to give some sort of compensatory pick which may be too much. I just think the concept of trading this guy is ludicrous. I can’t see there being a high demand for Troy as a starting QB especially when Mike Vick will likely be available next year. Read more »

For about 30 minutes, I was cursing the stars. Jim Caldwell decided to pull his starters and sacrifice a perfect season to the Jets. Around the same time, the Eagles decided to start letting the Broncos back into the game.

Fortunately enough for the Ravens, they live to play one more week. If they can beat Oakland, they are in the playoffs. The bad news is that now they are likely going in as the 6th seed and heading to play New England. That will not be pretty especially with Frank Walker allowed on the field. It is what it is.

I just don’t see a deep any playoff push from this team. I think we should feel fortunate if this team beats the Raiders. I’m still pissy about that game. Arrrrrghhhhh!

I can’t believe this. I can’t belive this.

How could this team lose this game like that?

Just an absolutely poorly played game. This team acted like a bunch of 5 year olds out there.

• Poor kick coverage
• Poor punting
• 100+ yards in penalties
• Crucial fumbles
• Horrendous blocking at the end of th game
• Dropped TD passes

Read more »

Two weeks ago the Steelers managed a mere six points on two field goals at Cleveland.  Five days ago they put up 37 points vs. a very solid Green Bay defense.  Ben Roethlisberger threw for 503 yards against a secondary that features possible defensive player of the year Charles Woodson.

Ed Reed just got back from Miami where his ailing hip was examined.  He was on the field at practice today although it’s not known how much work he actually did.  His status seems very much up in the air for Sunday.  Sadly, Lardarius Webb’s status is not in doubt.  Webb, whose play at CB was by far the best on the team, tore his ACL last week vs. Chicago and is out for the year.  Needless to say the secondary of the Ravens is going to play a major role in the outcome of the game at Heinz Field on Sunday.  On the flip side, the Steelers secondary, which has been torched as of late, will be the key if they are going to win as well. Read more »

The Ravens enter this weekends battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers coming off two relatively complete offensive performances.  Those performances, however, have come against teams with poor defenses who both laid down pretty quickly as the Ravens turned up their intensity.  Now, no one will compare the Steelers defense this season to the unit that was thebest in the NFL last  year, but they are a major step up over what the Ravens have faced against Detroit and Chicago.  The question is are the Ravens that much improved, or will the level of the Steelers defensive play knock the Ravens down a peg or two?

On the Ground:  In the Ravens first match-up with the Pittsburgh Steelers they began to establish an effective rushing attack bythe 2nd half.  Ray RIce and Le’Ron McClain were delivering their own version of thunder and lightening until McClain was knocked out with a rib injury.  The Ravens will need a similar or better rushing attack in order to keep pace with the Steelers on Sunday.  The middle of the Steelers defense is almost as vulnerable as they are strong on the edges.  I am certain the Steelers will look to make every effort to neutralize Ray Rice, like the Bears did.  If the Ravens interior line can stifle Casey Hampton there will be running lanes for the Ravens back to chew up yardage.  If S Troy Polumalu is also out, there will be little run support from the Steelers secondary.  Like many weeks when the Ravens have matched up against a top flight QB, their best defense has been a running game that eats up the clock and engineers long drives.  Not only will the Ravens need to eat clock, but they will need to use the run game to keep the Steelers pass rush from pinning their ears back and getting after Joe Flacco.  Read more »

This week Jeff and Zach talk the upcoming holiday, the big win vs the Bears, the injury to Webb, and some playoff scenarios. Of course, we have some hot stove baseball talk!

Check it out! And don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes!

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