Ravens Travel to Cincinnati For 2013 Regular Season Finale

The 8-7 Baltimore Ravens close out their 2013 regular season with a familiar trip to division rival Cincinnati to face the 10-5 Bengals, who’ve already locked up the AFC North title and a trip to the postseason.

After getting inexplicably pummeled by the Patriots in Baltimore last week, in a forgettable, sloppy, inept, and overall disappointing performance considering what they had to play for, the Ravens need a win this week and help in order to sneak into the playoffs as the 6^th seed.

Their best chance likely involves a win in Cincy, where the Bengals are 7-0 this year, along with a Jets victory over the Dolphins in Miami, with the hope being that Jets players are motivated to play spoiler over their division rival in order to send Rex Ryan, likely coaching his last game in New York, off into the sunset and back to the defensive coordinator ranks a proud victor.

If there was ever a time where Ravens fans could use a fourth quarter Ed Reed pick six while he’s wearing a uniform other than Baltimore’s this would be it.  Let’s go Ed!

Despite needing assistance from other disliked conference rivals, the Ravens also can’t afford to scoreboard watch or they’ll find themselves on the losing end against a physical Cincinnati team, and out of the playoff picture regardless of Rex’s tearjerker, 7-layer burrito bean dip inspired, Palestinian-Israeli uniting final pregame speech while donning so proudly his majestic Jets sweater vest.

Here are some keys to the game.

Joe hurt?

Although he finished last week’s game with a decent stat line, Joe Flacco was inaccurate in the first half, made several head scratching decisions on third downs, and didn’t look effective buying time in the pocket, scrambling for positive yardage, or fully trusting his left plant knee when stepping into throws.

Speculation abounded throughout the game as to whether Flacco has fully recovered from a sprained MCL he sustained after taking a brutal helmet to the knee the previous Monday night in Detroit.

Flacco has insisted he’s fine, but his performance may indicate otherwise.  This week, he’s not listed on the injury report and we will see if he’s able to bounce back from last game’s shaky performance.

Without an effective running game and plagued by poor center play, this offense will only go as far as Flacco can take it, and if he doesn’t trust his knee, that won’t be very far.

Needing D consistency

The Ravens unquestionably have a talented group on defense with depth and strength along the line backed by speed and athleticism in the line-backing corps and secondary.

Their biggest shortcoming this year, however, has been maintaining consistency over the course of a game, which combines coaching, concentration, and execution.

Terrell Suggs will hold the edge beautifully on one play, resulting in a run for a loss or no gain, but then on the next, will crash in so far that a runner’s cutback leads to a big gash complete with a futile Suggs dive and miss toward the sideline because he’s not where he’s supposed to be.

Matt Elam or James Ihedigbo will blow up a play in the backfield for a loss, only to miss a crossing assignment on the next play or arriving late to help a swing pass out of the backfield, which leads to a demoralizing play from the opposing offense (Vereen TD against Pats).

Defenses play their best when they have cohesion, aggressiveness, and trust, and we knew with this year’s turnover from the Super Bowl defense there would be chemistry adjustments and some growing pains.

We also probably took for granted the leadership of Ed Reed and Ray Lewis in holding teammates to a higher than average standard of accountability, which effectively masked NFL turnover for a long time.

Going forward, Baltimore’s defense will need to figure out who its leaders will be if they want to make winning, closing games, and leaning on each other their utmost priorities.  Talent alone is why every team can be 8-8.  Class-five leadership and accountability raise the bar.

Control what’s in front of you

In approaching the final game of the season, it’s important for players and coaches to quickly forget the Patriots debacle and put their full focus on beating the Bengals in Cincinnati to close out an up and down regular season on a positive note, regardless of whether or not they make the playoffs.

It will also be important for players to prevent their minds from straying toward vacation plans if they happen to fall behind early.  The Jets have a great shot of beating the Dolphins with the advantage of their defensive line and there’s no reason for Ravens players to believe they won’t be playing a playoff game for the sixth straight year next week.

There’s no sense in dwelling on the “coulda/shoulda” games from 2013 or thinking about offseason moves until there are no games left on this season’s schedule.

And right now there’s one.  In Cincinnati against Andy Dalton, A.J. Green and the playoff-bound Bengals. Let’s finish.