On Monday afternoon, Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens dove headfirst into football operations upon the new CBA being agreed upon by the owners and the players. As we all know by now, the Ravens decided to part ways with Willis McGahee (which was expected), Kelly Gregg (we knew he was a candidate to get cut), Derrick Mason (didn’t see that coming), and Todd Heap (really didn’t see that coming). The Ravens appear to be open to the idea of bringing back Mason and/or Heap for a lesser cap number. But for the time being, the Ravens save nearly $19 million off the 2011 salary cap by cutting those four players.

The initial implication is obvious: It frees up cap space for the Ravens to make offers to their own free agents and other free agents around in the league. The No. 1 priority headed into this weird and compact off-season for the Ravens was always going to be to re-sign Marshal Yanda, and it looks like the Ravens have freed up enough space to make Yanda a competitive offer in comparison to what he could make on the open market. Yanda is a physical player that can play right guard and right tackle, and play them well.

If the Ravens don’t find a way to re-sign Yanda – and there’s a chance that a team such as Washington could be willing to make him among the most handsomely compensated guards ever – the Ravens would be pushed into scramble mode in terms of their offensive line. An offensive line without Yanda means two positions — right guard and right tackle — need to be filled. An offensive line with Yanda means four of five starters along the line are penciled in for Week 1 assuming everyone stays healthy. It might not sound like much, but that’s a massive difference.

Per Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun, on Yanda:

“We’re talking about a good, hard-nosed player who never complains and plays well in a box for short-yardage situations and blocking straight ahead.

Yanda doesn’t pull extremely well, and isn’t that effective in the open field on tosses and screens. He lacks the size to be a power tackle, and those short arms limit him in going against speed rushers.

But you can’t deny his strong work ethic and loyalty. Besides, the Ravens, like every team in the NFL, are working on a reduced time schedule. Yanda knows the system and continuity is a key.”

Sure, Yanda has his faults, but it’s not as if the Ravens are going to find the perfect guard or perfect tackle on the free agent market at a nice cap number. Yanda is solidly above-average on the right side of the line, provides flexibility, and we’ll never hear a peep about his work ethic and motor. This is a long-term deal that the Ravens have to get done, and their clearing of cap space seems to indicate that the Ravens feel the same way. Yanda’s ability to play guard and tackle would give John Harbaugh roster flexibility, especially on game day when injuries along the line unfortunately pop up nearly every week.

Other areas of indecisiveness on the roster include the end opposite Terrell Suggs, but I don’t see the Ravens shelling out for sack numbers on the open market. Performances from end rushers tend to be pretty volatile; the Ravens are probably best served to see if they can get a breakout year from a player such as Paul Kruger on the cheap. The Ravens will have to find a cheap backup quarterback because I don’t see them entrusting Tyrod Taylor, and they’ll need to find a fullback on the cheap to replace Le’Ron McClain. Some would say strong safety is an issue, but the Ravens should let Tom Zbikowski play alongside Ed Reed for a full season.

They should (and will) also look into re-signing either Chris Carr or Josh Wilson. (I think the latter is the more realistic bet because he’ll probably command a cheaper price tag.) Both cornerbacks were quietly very good for the Ravens last year, which was especially welcome since so many were fretting about the Ravens’ options at corner once Domonique Foxworth went down with a torn ACL. Foxworth is a potential candidate to be cut, but I can’t see that happening since the Ravens aren’t exactly deep at cornerback. My guess is that the Ravens will enter the season with Foxworth, Wilson, Jimmy Smith and Lardarius Webb as the corners, with the latter two having to earn their way into the starting lineup for John Harbaugh.

Along with cap space, the Ravens’ cuts on Monday could signal a change in philosophy on offense. Last season, NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi repeatedly said that the Ravens were hamstrung by an offense that was too old and too slow. Lombardi often said that the Ravens’ most explosive play in 2010 was a dump-off to Ray Rice. He’s right on both counts. (In fact, I tweeted about this Monday and Lombardi responded to me, saying that the Ravens are not yet done with cuts.) Mason and Heap were two culprits of the “old and slow” offense, which is weird to type because those two pass catchers were also the two main targets for Joe Flacco during his time in Baltimore thus far.

But Mason’s ability – for all the footballs that he’s caught – didn’t extend much past comeback routes along the sideline by the time he reached his mid-30’s. Heap, for all the passes he’s also caught, was slowing down with each passing year. Anquan Boldin is another receiver that’s not particularly fast, and certainly can’t blow by defenders. And Flacco isn’t going to make anyone miss in the open field as he tries to run for first downs.

The Ravens see how the Steelers trot out young receivers year after year who happen to be very, very fast. My guess is that Newsome is tired of paying big for possession receivers and wants difference makers who actually make plays down the field that change the complexion of games.

So, exit Mason and Heap. Enter Torrey Smith and Ed Dickson. The Ravens get younger and faster (and cheaper) on offense with those exchanges alone, and may get even faster depending on who they acquire in free agency to catch passes from Flacco. Smith is ready to be a third receiver and a deep threat right now, but it’s probably a bit ambitious to think he’s ready to be the second option for Flacco with so little time to digest the offense this summer. I like Dickson a lot from the few snaps we saw of him last year, and I’d like to see him get an extended look this year.

A receiver on the free agent market that the Ravens need to give a hard look at is Sidney Rice, which would give them two young, speedy options on the outside with Boldin underneath. It’d give the Ravens’ passing game more than the one dimension they had last year – short routes towards the sidelines with older and/or slow receivers in Boldin, Mason and TJ Houshmandzadeh. It’d also presumably open up the flat for Ray Rice, who would still remain the Ravens’ best offensive player.

Sidney Rice would take a lot of money to sign, though, and would require that the Ravens are able to fill their needs at cornerback (Wilson), backup quarterback and fullback rather cheaply, since they’re probably going to hand Yanda a good bit of money.

Of course, the Ravens could simply re-sign Mason and/or Heap to team-friendly cap numbers and go with pretty much the same look as last year, but that would be a mistake. The offense needs to get younger and faster. The Ravens have two players ready to contribute right now that fit that mold in Smith and Dickson (both of whom would also be cheaper), and now have the cap space to get a true difference maker on the perimeter like Sidney Rice. This would also force Flacco to grow as a quarterback since he won’t have his security blankets anymore and he’d have to learn to adapt. While some look at losing Mason and Heap to be a potential negative for Flacco, I look at it as a potential positive.

The first priority for the Ravens is to lock up Yanda, but don’t sleep on a potential philosophy shift to go from old and slow to young and fast.

Because old and slow sure isn’t beating the Steelers.

I think I’ve officially settled down from the debacle that was the Ravens playoff game at Pittsburgh. It might have taken all week, but I’m officially back. If you’re a Patriots or Falcons fan, it probably sucks that you saw your once-promising seasons with No. 1 seeds go down the toilet, but your teams just got flat-out beaten. The Jets and Packers were just better than your teams on the day of the game. Those kinds of losses are much, much easier to take than a loss like the Ravens pulled off. The Ravens gave a playoff game away. The Ravens may very well have been a better team than the Steelers, but they handed the Steelers the game. And like a good playoff team, the Steelers took it. You know it’s bad when you hear people saying, “If I were a Ravens fan, I’d be sick.” Yes, you absolutely would be.

Everyone knows why the game fell apart – every part of the offense that had the potential to fall apart did fall apart. It wasn’t all that surprising that the offense gave the game away because everything that went wrong has gone wrong at various times this season – just not all at once. How do the Ravens fix what ails its offense? Every team will have holes in its offense, especially in this age of the NFL (the Steelers’ offensive line, for instance). But the Ravens have to fix certain things before the season starts (assuming there is a season, of course). Some of them are tweaks and some of them are major fundamental changes.

1. Cam Cameron needs to simplify the offense, especially come playoff time.

Before I get started, Cameron is definitely staying put as offensive coordinator. This is a great blog post by Kevin Van Valkenburg of the Baltimore Sun on why the labor situation could be part of the reason why Cameron is staying. Definitely check out all of Van Valkenburg’s stuff — he’s the best sports writer the Sun has.

Anyhow, Michael Lombardi of NFL Network, a former front office executive in the NFL, is a frequent guest on the “B.S. Report” with Bill Simmons of ESPN.com. Lombardi in the past has used an analogy to define Cameron’s offense and quarterback Joe Flacco’s role in it. Lombardi says that Flacco is the chef at a restaurant, and the Ravens are giving him a menu that’s much too long and complicated. Cameron’s giving Flacco too much to cook. To this analogy, all Ravens fans shake their heads up and down in a violent fashion. The Jets, Lombardi says, do a good job of simplifying things for Mark Sanchez when the playoffs roll around. They slim down the playbook and ask Sanchez to perform just a few things he does very well. And for the most part, while Sanchez hasn’t been sensational in any playoff games, he doesn’t screw it up. To simplify the playbook for Flacco, the key, for me, is to quicken his decision-making process, especially given the current personnel surrounding him.

Unfortunately, as my friend says, Cameron is determined to try to turn the Ravens into the Indianapolis Colts. Cameron, during the regular season and playoffs, seemed to be so blindly determined to turn Flacco and the offense into a high-powered juggernaut that it looked like he’s ignored what his personnel is realistically able to accomplish. Flacco isn’t an elite quarterback. The receivers don’t have big-time speed. The offensive line as presently constructed can’t support consistent seven-step drops. Stop trying to plug a square peg into a round hole. Simplify the offense by coaching to your personnel. Experimenting with your offense during the regular season is fine, but when the playoffs come, Cameron needs to stick with what the offense can do best.

One of Flacco’s obvious strengths is the no-huddle because Flacco, by nature, is a slow-footed quarterback. He’s not overly quick and never will be. But the no-huddle quickens his pace and he gets in a much smoother rhythm than when the Ravens take the play clock down to one second on every snap. The offense tends to get very stagnant when the Ravens are a passing-oriented team using the entire play clock. It’s also fairly obvious that Flacco is significantly better out of the shotgun than from under center. It’s not particularly surprising – Flacco operated out of the shotgun on the large majority of his snaps at Delaware. Flacco just looks so much more comfortable out of the shotgun, as he seems to see his receivers better and get the ball out of his hands quicker. And because Flacco isn’t great at throwing the ball away when the play breaks down (he takes too many sacks), getting the ball out of his hands quickly is vital.

I’d then go to something of a hybrid west coast offense, which would have been especially true this past year because receivers struggled to get open down the field and the offensive line struggled to protect Flacco on a seven-step drop. I’d go to a lot of quick reads – more crossing patterns, pick plays, tight end screens, wide receiver screens and quick out patterns. Get the ball out of Flacco’s hands. This, of course, sets up opportunities for one-on-one matchups down the field once the defense gets sucked in tight, which, of course, is dependent on…

2. Get a young wide receiver or two with speed.

One of the concerns that were voiced when the Ravens picked up Anquan Boldin via trade was, “Yeah, this is great and all, but the Ravens still don’t have any speed to stretch the defense.” Most brushed aside that concern, but it turned out to be a very real concern. Since Donte Stallworth never got involved in the offense aside from an end-around once every two games, the offense lacked speed that creates separation down the field. Derrick Mason, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Boldin all have average speed, at best (and that’s probably generous). Meanwhile, the Steelers burned the Ravens with speedy young receivers like Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown. Yeah, I don’t really know who Sanders and Brown are, either, but I do know Brown was the one who got behind the defense on the backbreaking conversion 3^rd and 19.

The Ravens’ receivers aren’t as big-time as their names suggest. They struggled to get open the entire game against the Steelers, especially down the field. The Ravens’ biggest pass plays were pass interference penalties. Given the receivers’ struggles in getting open down the field against good defenses all season and the offensive line’s problems protecting Flacco, Lombardi also pointed out that the Ravens’ best offensive play was a dump-off to Ray Rice, the only explosive player the Ravens have on offense. Lombardi says the Ravens offense lacks explosive players and has said before on the B.S. Report that the Ravens offense is very slow.

Young, no-name receivers who can get behind the defense will soon be trendy in the NFL. More teams will try to find the next Wallace (a third rounder in 2009) in the middle rounds of the draft. The Ravens might be no exception. And hey, maybe David Reed is already one of the young guys with speed.

3. Retool the offensive line.

As has been mentioned by many before, the loss of Jared Gaither hurt more than anyone could’ve imagined. Some people, like me, thought that Michael Oher was the next big thing at left tackle. Oher can be a Pro Bowl right tackle, but he’s an average left tackle because he struggles with elite pass rushers off the edge. Marshal Yanda did a fine job filling in at right tackle, but he lacks the prototypical size you want over at the right tackle position. Matt Birk looks like he’s falling apart. Chris Chester shouldn’t be starting on the offensive line for a playoff team. The offensive line as a whole lacked the kind of physicality necessary to blow defenders off the ball in running situations (the Ravens struggled all year on short yardage situations) and struggled with good pass rushes.

If Gaither came back fully healthy next year with his brain on straight, that would be awesome. The Ravens could shift Oher back to right tackle, where his physicality would be welcome, and the Ravens could put Gaither back at left tackle, where his size and finesse would be a better fit than Oher. Then the Ravens could shift Yanda back to his natural position at right guard. From what I’ve seen, I also feel like Birk needs to be flat-out replaced. He looks overmatched, at least to my untrained eye. I would love for the Ravens to grab a young center in the draft like the Steelers did with Maurkice Pouncey.  All of this could make the Ravens more physical at the point of attack against the run and keep Flacco upright more often.

If Gaither doesn’t come back, then the Ravens either need to be find a left tackle in the draft or hope Oher grows into the position, both of which are probably less attractive options than a fully healthy Gaither.

Ever since the Ravens won the Super Bowl on Jan. 28, 2001, there has been one nagging aspect of this team that has come to bite them most times they have a big game, both in the regular season and in the playoffs, especially the latter. It’s something that has been plagued them through two head coaches and plenty of different personnel.

The Ravens just aren’t a smart football team, both from a personnel and coaching standpoint.

Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports had an interesting tweet during last Sunday’s Ravens wild card game against the Kansas City Chiefs after Haruki Nakamura’s inexplicable lateral attempt towards Ed Reed after Nakamura picked off Matt Cassel:

“That’s the difference between the Patriots and the Ravens. #thelateral”

What Whitlock was trying to get across was clear: The Ravens have just as much talent across an entire roster over the span of a decade than the preeminent organization in football. What separates teams like the Patriots and Steelers from the Ravens, though, is not talent. It’s football smarts.

That, and the ability to for your skill position players to make huge plays in crunch time. But we’ll focus on the mental errors from players and coaches – and more specifically, Cam Cameron – during this game more so than physical errors because the same damn things that the Ravens did wrong in Week 1, they also did wrong against the Steelers.

For that reason, I’m guessing I’m not the only one who wasn’t the least bit surprised when the game fell apart right on our television screens in the third quarter. Anyone who has followed Cameron’s offense knew this kind of collapse was possible. Anyone who has followed the Ravens for the past decade knew this kind of collapse was possible. We’ve seen coaches and players fail to step up in big-time games against big-time teams for a long time now, which to me stems from the stench of a team-wide mentality that also produces vital dropped touchdown passes and inept in-game coaching, as well as, yes, the lateral. It’s the mentality of team wide self-destruction in big-time games (dropped passes are, of course, partly physical errors, as well).

So we’ll begin when it’s a 21-7 game going into the second half after Pittsburgh failed to convert a late first half drive into points due to a missed field goal from Shaun Suisham. The Steelers got the ball to start the second half, and the Ravens force a punt. Everything is right where you want if you’re a Ravens fan, but one of the dangers of playing on the road is that, even when the road team appears to have everything under control, one little misstep and the home crowd is at full roar once more and that momentum – even though the home team is down by multiple touchdowns – is quickly shifted.

That one little misstep came when Ray Rice coughed up what was supposed to be a safe dump-off route on third down to set up Sam Koch for a punt. After the score became 21-14, another misstep occurred when Joe Flacco lofted up a perfect pass for Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark. A few plays later, it’s 21-21. Heinz Field, I’d imagine, was a total madhouse at this point. Then, Flacco and center Matt Birk mishandled a snap. A few plays later, it’s 24-21 Pittsburgh.

But there was something amiss about this disastrous sequence of events (besides the turnovers). Cam Cameron had completely lost control of the game. Now, to be fair, we’ve all criticized Cameron for being too conservative with a lead in previous games, namely the loss in New England in October, and this time, he’ll be berated for trying to do too much.

But this much is clear: Cameron cannot call a game to save his life when he’s up multiple scores. It seems like he loses his feel for the game. It looks like he loses rhythm. It looks like he has no idea what plays to call. And it’s been happening all year long.

Down two touchdowns with their offense struggling to string together positive plays against the Ravens defense, Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau was going to do one thing – attack Flacco, try to create as many mistakes as possible, get Heinz Field revved up and inject some life into the Steelers. What’s the Ravens offensive line’s primary weakness? Protecting Flacco when blitzes are being dialed up. What’s Flacco’s biggest weakness? His pocket presence when the pocket is collapsing due to a heavy rush.

By repeatedly dropping Flacco back on first down, Cameron played to Pittsburgh’s strength and Baltimore’s two biggest weaknesses on offense. The Ravens’ offensive line was getting run over play after play after play, but Cameron was still pass-happy. It’s baffling the amount of times Cameron tried to put a square peg into a round hole in the second half. In the situation the Ravens were in, running up the gut for two yards on first down is not a bad thing at all. As Whitlock says in another tweet here:

“2^nd and 8 is the most underrated thing [in] football [...]“

Still, with all the gaffes by Cameron in this game, if Anquan Boldin just holds onto a perfect pass in the end zone, the Ravens are up 28-24 with about four minutes left in the game and maybe we’re all singing a lovely tune about the Ravens right now. Hell, if Marcus Smith doesn’t quite grab a fistful of jersey on Lardarius Webb’s big punt return late, maybe we’re singing a different tune. And maybe If TJ Houshmandzadeh holds onto a perfect pass on 4^th and 19, maybe the Ravens make a late run at the end zone.

So, as far as putting points on the board, it’s not all on Cameron. Hell, Flacco looked dazed and confused for the entire third quarter. The skill position players failed to show up on offense, for the most part. On the Patriots and Steelers, offensive coordinators don’t make massive gaffes like Cameron did today, and nor do the supposed offensive weapons on those teams fail to show up.

And just maybe – just maybe – if Greg Mattison rushes five guys on the killer 3^rd and 19 play that resulted in Ben Roethlisberger hitting some unknown receiver down the sideline to set up the game-winning score, the Steelers punt back to the Ravens. And maybe the Ravens have a shot to drive down the field for a winning score at the end of the game. But Mattison didn’t rush five. Mattison, for God knows what reason, went with the horrid three-man rush. Mattison was killing the Steelers offensive line and Roethlisberger all day with blitz packages, so on the biggest third down Mattison’s ever called, he reverts to a three-man rush? Are you kidding me?

Against Roethlisberger, I don’t care if it’s 3^rd and 40, you have to rush at least five guys.

This game was a microcosm of what the Ravens have to correct. The Ravens’ playmakers on offense that are, you know, paid to make plays, didn’t. The Ravens’ coaches let them down once again this season.

Make no mistake – it wasn’t Roethlisberger who beat the Ravens this time around. It was the Ravens that beat the Ravens, and the two organizations that have been the class of the league for the past decade – the Patriots and Steelers – don’t beat themselves, especially not in big playoff games.

Now, did the Ravens have any maneuver like an ill-advised lateral to cost them this game? No, they didn’t. But it’s that lateral mentality across the coaching and personnel ranks that are holding this team back from its potential.

A team can’t find new and imaginative ways to beat the opposition if it’s busy finding new and imaginative ways to continually beat itself.

Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco, shown here during a training camp practice on Aug. 3, was horrific against the Cincinnati Bengals, throwing four interceptions. Flacco completed just 17 of 39 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown.

Here’s part of what I wrote right before training camp opened in Westminster, Md. in regards to the new weapons the Baltimore Ravens had acquired in the offseason:

“Cameron now has what appears to be an above-average receiving corps with the additions of [Anquan] Boldin and [Donte'] Stallworth, the re-signing of Derrick Mason, and the drafting of receiving tight ends Ed Dickson (third rounder out of Oregon) and Dennis Pitta (fourth rounder out of BYU.) So, can Cameron maintain a 50/50 split on offense? Or will a quarterback that appears that he may be ready to become a star, along with Cameron’s new toys on the perimeter, be too much for Cameron to resist throwing the ball all over the stadium? The fact remains, though, that Rice, a top-five running back in the league, needs 25 touches a game. McGahee needs his touches. McClain needs to be a force on short-yardage situations.”

The nightmares of every knowledgeable Ravens fan came true on Sunday in Cincinnati: Cam Cameron wouldn’t stop throwing the ball. Against all evidence that Cameron should pound away at the Bengals, Cameron had quarterback Joe Flacco drop back time and time again. Flacco was having the worst game of his career and the receivers struggled to separate from the Bengals’ quality defensive backs, while Flacco was unable to do anything to break apart the Bengals’ Cover-2 defense. And it was a close game throughout — no need to panic and throw every down.

But it felt like that’s what Cameron did — panic. After a 30-yard rush early in the fourth quarter by Ray Rice, we saw none of the Ravens’ best offensive player again, effectively doing the Bengals a huge favor. Rice carried the ball 16 times for 87 yards, good for a 5.4-yard average. In what turned out to be a five-point game, one of the top running backs in football carried the ball just 16 times. The offensive line was getting a much better push than what they got a week ago in New York, and Rice looked quite good with the ball in his hands. Rice and the Ravens’ offensive line could have run the Bengals right out of their own stadium.

Make no mistake — this does not excuse Flacco of his horrid performance (four interceptions.) Flacco had the worst game of his career, as he hardly ever stepped up into the pocket on his throws, but rather, threw off his back foot a ton. Flacco refused to go over the middle of the field when the Bengals’ cover-2 defense took away his receivers on the sidelines. He looked even more timid than he looked in New York, as he had happy feet in the pocket even when he had good proection. Flacco eminates zero confidence at this point. To be fair, though, his receivers were blanketed by the quality cornerbacks that the Bengals have.

As I wrote in my preview of the NFL season, it’s time for Flacco to stop being the shy kid from Delaware and become the leader of a Super Bowl contender. Flacco still looks a lot like the former, and nothing like the latter.

The bizarre lack of Rice, Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain could be because Cameron is viewing this from a long-term perspective, knowing that the only way the Ravens are going to get to where they want to go in the 2010 version of the NFL is with an elite passing game. Thus, Cameron feels he has to turn Flacco loose and let him continue to grow, even if it has negative short-term effects. I have no idea if this has any validity, but the reasons have to be very few that Rice would have only 16 carries.

This comes one week after Cameron needed to be commended for pounding away at a New York Jets’ front-seven that’s among the best in football. In that game, the Ravens rushed 35 times — 21 by Rice. The Ravens didn’t gain much on the ground (49 yards) and they could hardly move the Jets’ defensive front. But it was good that Cameron showed he was willing to run the ball, and it kept the Jets from dropping more defenders back into coverage to help Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson, both of whom struggled in that game.

Meanwhile, the Ravens’ defense was great, holding the Bengals to five field goals. On two occasions, turnovers put the defense in a really tough spot in or near the red zone, and a big kickoff return did the same. Those three times, the Ravens’ defense stood up to the challenge and held the Bengals to field goals. Cedric Benson had some room to operate, but Benson is a beast and is always going to get his yards.

(By the way, about that big kickoff return: that was right after the Ravens had taken a 10-9 lead in the fourth quarter. I wanted another booming kickoff from Billy Cundiff and a touchback, but at a minimum, I wanted good kick coverage. A big return late in a close game is a killer. The Bengals would take a 12-10 lead on that drive.)

For Cincinnati, Carson Palmer wasn’t very good, but the Ravens’ secondary deserves credit for containing the Bengals’ quality set of receivers (Chad Ochocinco, Terrell Owens, Jordan Shipley and tight end Jermaine Gresham.) The secondary did drop two picks, though, which could have been momentum-turning and/or points-saving plays.

Terrell Suggs was given a ridiculously awful roughing the passer penalty, but good teams find a way around those penalties. Penalties don’t matter if the Ravens run the Bengals out of the stadium, as the Bengals should’ve been.

The bottom line is that it’s not really time to panic. After all, what if someone told you that the Ravens would come out of their first two games (both on the road against teams that made the playoffs last year, one of which swept the AFC North last year) with a record of 1-1 despite a turnover margin of negative-seven negative-six? Oh, you take that 1-1 record.

But the Ravens have much work to do — mostly on offense. Flacco and Cameron both sucked. The receivers failed to get separation. The team looked like the same old Ravens, rather than a new and improved version. The massive problem with the same old Ravens is that in this era of the NFL, the same old Ravens have a ceiling every year of about nine wins, no matter how good the defense is.

Anquan Boldin caught seven passes for 110 yards in the Baltimore Ravens’ season opener against the New York Jets. What will Boldin do for an encore against the Cincinnati Bengals?

First of all, I’ve heard a lot of talk about how the Baltimore Ravens’ game on Sunday afternoon in Cincinnati is a “trap game.” A trap game isn’t a game against a team that went 10-6 last year and swept the AFC North — a trap game is a game against a poor team either before or after a big-time game. Given the Bengals’ success last year, this in no way qualifies as a trap game.

If someone wants to tell me that the Ravens are unlikely to win because they’re playing a divisional road game right after an extremely physical Monday nighter that was also on the road, then that makes a lot more sense. But don’t tell me this is a trap game.

Anyway, like I’m sure most Ravens fans are, I’m interested to see how the Ravens’ pass defense performs against a quarterback that has owned the Ravens throughout his career. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that Carson Palmer now has two very accomplished receivers at his disposal in Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, both of whom will be a big test for the Ravens’ cornerbacks. The Ravens didn’t really face a quarterback last week, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Ravens’ pass defense fares against a quarterback this week. If he plays, I’ll be very excited to see Lardarius Webb back on the field — and find out how effective he can be after such a short recovery time for such a serious knee injury (before the injury, Webb a very aggressive corner in attacking the line of scrimmage on short pass plays or running plays.)

I’ll never know why in the world Webb was on kick coverage against the Chicago Bears late last year (which is how he blew out his knee.) Sometimes, NFL teams just lose the forest for the trees, thereby overlooking obvious aspects of the game – like using your best cornerback in kick coverage and risking a serious injury on special teams. Smart!

In watching a little bit of the Bengals’ loss to the New England Patriots last week, the Bengals didn’t look anything like the team that out-physicaled (is that a word?) the Ravens in their two meetings last year. Tom Brady had all day to find his receivers, the Bengals’ offense was non-existent until garbage time, and quite frankly, the Bengals looked horrific. It appeared as if the Bengals were unaware the season had started. I’ll chalk it up to it being a fluky Week 1 performance by the Bengals because I don’t think the team I saw last year could have gotten that bad so quickly (then again, the Bengals faded terribly down the stretch last year, so who knows.)

I think T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Todd Heap will play big roles in this game. The Bengals have two quality corners in Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall that could neutralize Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason, but not the depth to match up with Houshmandzadeh and Heap (very few opponents will have the depth to do such this year.) I’ll say seven catches for 75 yards for Houshmandzadeh and 115 total yards and a touchdown for running back Ray Rice.

The Ravens are a 2.5-point favorite in this one. Give me the Bengals to beat the spread, but the Ravens to win, 19-17, with a late field goal winning it for the Ravens.

Now, here is my (very) belated recap of the Ravens and Jets game that took place on Monday night:

Yes, I realize that the Ravens and New York Jets played on Monday night and it’s Friday, and I’m about to write my thoughts on Monday’s game. But you know what? I’ve been swamped all week, so I haven’t gotten a chance to really sit down and write anything until now. But here it goes:

-Before the game, I asked my dad what he thought of the upcoming matchup, and he said, “Neither team is as good as it thinks it is.” He was right. Boy, was that an ugly game.

-With a competent quarterback, the Jets would have been up going into halftime by at least 10 points. The Ravens gift-wrapped three turnovers and great field position in the first half, but Mark Sanchez either, a) is unable to throw the ball more than eight yards downfield, b) the Jets’ offensive coaching staff has virtually zero confidence in Sanchez, or c) both. I’m going to go with both, because even though the Jets had a very conservative game-plan, when the Jets did send receivers down the field, Sanchez refused to challenge the likes of Chris Carr. Because of the inability to throw the ball, the Jets settled for field goals, and the Ravens were able to escape the first half with a one-point lead. Yes, I’m aware the Ravens have a great defense – but a competent quarterback gets his team into the end zone at least once in the three gift-wrapped turnovers in which the Jets’ offense took over the ball either in or near the red zone.

-If you’re the Ravens’ defense, how do you judge your performance from Monday night when Sanchez is the opposing quarterback? Sanchez, right down there with Trent Edwards and Derek Anderson as far as starting quarterbacks, looked completely lost and confused. He was awful. In fact, the only offensive skill-position player that looked alive at all for the Jets was LaDainian Tomlinson. What I will say, though, is that the Ravens’ front seven faced probably the best offensive line they’ll see all year and contained the Jets’ running game and broke through to sack Sanchez a couple times. That’s big.

-Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco was no great shakes on Monday, but next to Sanchez, he looked like the second coming of Joe Montana. Flacco’s best quality on Monday was that he was willing to attack downfield, while at the same time, staying away from Darrelle Revis (I counted one time where Flacco threw in the direction of Revis.) Flacco picked on Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson, and it paid off. Cromartie and Wilson couldn’t keep their hands off the Ravens’ receivers, and Walt Anderson’s referee crew – a crew known for calling penalties on the secondary very tight — wouldn’t let Cromartie and Wilson get away with it, resulting in a bunch of key penalties to keep drives going (the Jets’ offense would have gotten similar calls in their favor if they had actually attacked downfield.) Other times, Ravens’ receivers would just out-muscle Cromartie and Wilson, keeping drives alive that way. Anquan Boldin caught seven passes for 110 yards in his Ravens’ debut, and I still can’t figure out why Revis wasn’t on Boldin for the entire game.

-For the bad side of Flacco on Monday, he looked extremely uncomfortable against the Jets’ pressure defense, as he struggled to step up into the pocket. He held on to the ball too long on the Ravens’ first play from scrimmage (he has to be able to feel the pressure coming), and still struggles to zip passes across the middle of the field. He was pretty bad in the first half, but he settled down to have a decent performance against perhaps the best defense he’ll see all year.

-The Jets had insanely good field position the entire game. No matter how bad Sanchez is, the Ravens’ defense deserves proper credit for holding the Jets to three field goals.

-The Jets’ run defense stuffed the Ravens’ rush attack and looked like the best run defense in the league — even without Kris Jenkins.

-Tom Zbikowski, Ravens’ fans really like you. We think you’ll be fine in the place of Ed Reed. But if you’re returning punts, please, for the love of God, do not go sideways around the goal line. But, given that he’s such a key piece of the defense right now, should he even be returning punts in the first place? I discussed previously how Webb’s injury stemmed from special teams — surely, there’s a lower-tier player that is a capable punt returner, right? Prince Miller, perhaps?

Zbikowski, shown here during training camp on Aug. 3, needs to run straight ahead on punt returns. But should such a key defensive player even be returning punts in the first place?

-Ideally, the Ravens would be getting Jared Gaither back soon and could insert him at right tackle, but that seems unrealistic given his back injury. The best thing the Ravens can do is to stay with Chris Chester at right guard and Marshal Yanda at right tackle. I loved how the Ravens sneakily moved Yanda to right tackle before the game rather than going with Oneil Cousins.

-The Ravens’ receiving corps is going to be a problem for any team to cover. Even if you neutralize Boldin with your No. 1 corner, I’d imagine, like I mentioned before, that very few opposing teams have the kind of depth necessary to neutralize Derrick Mason, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and a healthy Todd Heap. I’m excited as hell to see this group develop as the season goes along.

-Heap looked as good as he’s looked in a handful of years. Heap was going across the middle, he was attacking the ball, fighting off defenders, and that one out-stretched dive of a catch towards the end of the game was incredible:

-Ray Lewis’ big hit on Dustin Keller was so many kinds of awesome. I’m speechless:

-I think it might have left Keller a little concussed after the fact. When he trotted out of bounds a foot short of the first down marker two plays later, he looked totally dazed and confused.

Will the Baltimore Ravens, shown here in training camp on Aug. 3, validate Super Bowl expectations?

Here are my predictions for the 2010 NFL season, and I’m sure most will be wrong. We’ll look back on these in five months. Predicted record and, if applicable, playoff seed in perentheses.

AFC North

1. Baltimore Ravens (11-5, No. 3 seed.) Yes, I’m a homer and writing that the Ravens will finish in first place in the division is a biased opinion. But for the Ravens to come in first in this division — one of the tougher divisions in the league — this is the year in which quarterback Joe Flacco must take the step from being the shy kid from Delaware to being the elite quarterback for a Super Bowl contender. Flacco took a big step in his progression last year, and he’ll have to take another step forward for the Ravens to get where they have to be. Everything else is in place for the Ravens — they have an elite running game, a vast array of weapons to choose from on the outside for Flacco, and a defense that should be better than it was last year. The holes in the team are minimal, but the biggest concern is not the cornerbacks (the Josh Wilson acquisition was big), but the right tackle situation. When will Jared Gaither be ready to go? No one knows. And don’t worry about the loss of Ed Reed to the PUP list — Tom Zbikowski will be quite good in his shoes.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6, wild card, No. 5 seed.) Dennis Dixon will hand a 3-1 or 2-2 team to Ben Roethlisberger. The defense in Pittsburgh is back healthy and will be the primary reason that the Steelers will make the playoffs as a wild card. Circle your calendars for the Steelers’ matchup in Baltimore on Dec. 5. That’ll be a huge game.

3. Cincinnati Bengals (9-7.) This team won’t be as good as they were for much as last year (the Bengals swept the division), but they won’t be as bad as they were down the stretch. Carson Palmer will have a nice year, but the Bengals need to stick with their bread and butter: Cedric Benson. There could be three playoff teams coming out of this division, but I’ll stay safe and just go with two teams.

4. Cleveland Browns (6-10.) Mike Holmgren will make the Browns competitive again in the not-so-distant future. But as for now, Cleveland fans will have to sit through a season of Jake Delhomme.

AFC East

1. New York Jets (10-6.) With all the hype this team has created by opening their mouths, the 2010 Jets could be the most unlikeable football team in recent memory. They will not come anywhere close to the hype, but they’ll still be a fine squad. Rex Ryan’s defense will play like a Rex Ryan defense usually does — which is to mean, it’ll play excellently. Notoriously overrated Mark Sanchez will take a few small steps forward, but won’t be nearly good enough to turn the Jets into the 13-3, Super Bowl winning team that the Jets think they’ll be. It’ll be the same formula for the Jets as it was last year — great defense and an offensive line that wears down opposing defenses. The quarterback isn’t good enough, though, to get this team over the hump.

2. New England Patriots (9-7.) Tom Brady will light it up this year. The defense will not.

3. Miami Dolphins (8-8.) If I had any guts, I’d take this team to win the division, but since I don’t have any guts, I’ll stay safe and go with an 8-8 record. I like Chad Henne. Brandon Marshall is awesome. Ronnie Brown is great when he’s healthy. They have a really good offensive line. The defense is getting better. You know what? I found my guts. Let’s re-do these AFC East standings:

1. Miami Dolphins (10-6, No. 4 seed.) This will come back to haunt me.

2. New York Jets (9-7.) The Jets were actually pretty average last year. And since my two buddies on my radio show are Jets fans, this second-place prediction will make them angry, so I have to do it, right?

3. New England Patriots (9-7.) Now that I’ve picked the Patriots to finish so low, Brady will go for 5,000+ yards this year.

4. Toronto Jake Lockers Buffalo Bills (1-15.) This team is awful. Worst team in the league. But maybe they’ll beat the Jets again, just like last year.

AFC South

1. Indianapolis Colts (12-4, No. 1 seed) They’ll be resting their starters in Week 17 once again. Bob Sanders needs to stay healthy for this team to perform to its fullest capabilities, but there’s no one in this division that will challenge them. Look out for Pierre Garcon to have a breakout year.

2. Tennessee Titans (10-6, wild card, No. 6 seed.) I like this team a lot and have them going to the playoffs as a wild card. I think Vince Young will have the best year of his career to date, I think Chris Johnson is the most dynamic offensive player in the league (no shock there), and I think Jeff Fisher is one of the best coaches in the league. If Johnson stays healthy, I’m convinced the Titans are a playoff team. I don’t know if they’re as good as they were down the stretch last season, but they’re still going to be a damn good team.

3. Houston Texans (8-8.) I’m not entering that bandwagon again. Like most, I love Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson, but I’m sick of every year being the year for the Texans to make the playoffs — and then it not happening.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-12.) I don’t even know what to say about this team. I need help. I don’t even know why I think they’ll go 4-12 and finish last in the division.

AFC West

1. San Diego Chargers (12-4, No. 2 seed.) This division should be a cake-walk for the Chargers, but I fully expect them to flame out in the divisional round of the playoffs once they come off of their first-round bye. Why? Because the San Diego is soft as a pillow. The Jets wore down the Chargers by the third quarter in San Diego’s lone playoff game, and it was a fairly accurate representation of the Chargers. Look, Philip Rivers can sling it around with the best of them. But when push comes to shove in the playoffs and opposing teams in the playoffs are willing to play smash mouth football, the Chargers come up soft.

2. Kansas City Chiefs (7-9.) So the Notre Dame thing didn’t quite work out for Charlie Weis, but at least he’ll be getting compensated for the rest of his life by the school (or so it seems.) I love Weis in the NFL as an offensive coordinator, though – there’s not a whole lot of coaches in the NFL that can put together the kind of quality gameplans that Weis can. Weis will maximize the abilities of a backfield that incudes Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones, and will get every ounce of talent out of Matt Cassel. I sense a decent year for the Chiefs and something to build on for next year.

3. Oakland Raiders (7-9.) Jason Campbell’s sense of normalcy comes about in…Oakland? Really? But there’s no player that could benefit more from a change of scenery than Campbell, who has the ability to be a decent quarterback but never got a fair shot in the District due to a variety of factors, but the fact that he was in a new offense every year was probably the biggest factor. And for the first time in a long time, the Raiders had a good draft. Oakland’s on the upswing like Kansas City is — watch out for this division as early as next season.

4. Denver Broncos (6-10.) TIM TEBOW!!!!!!!

NFC North

1. Green Bay Packers (13-3, No. 1 seed.) Ok, the Packers’ defense doesn’t look that good. But it won’t matter in the regular season, where Aaron Rodgers will put up insane numbers and the Packers’ offense will produce the most points of any team in the league. I love everything about this offense — Rodgers is a MVP-in-waiting, Jermichael Finley is ready to become the league’s best tight end, Greg Jennings will be a beast, and Donald Driver is a perfect safety valve for Rodgers. The Packers will roll to the No. 1 seed in the NFC by out-gunning everyone. We’ll see how their defense shapes up come playoff time.

2. Minnesota Vikings (8-8.) Yes, I think the drop-off between the Packers and the second-place Vikings is five games. The defense will be very good for the Vikings (as will Adrian Peterson), but I feel like this edition of Brett Favre isn’t going to end well. Just a hunch. I think Minnesota fans need to be geared up for a lot of frustrating games similar to the one seen on Thursday night against the Saints. And Brad Childress graduating from the Andy Reid School of Game Management will cost the Vikings a game or two.

3. Detroit Lions (7-9.) I like this team going forward. I like their coach, Jim Schwartz, and their quarterback, Matthew Stafford — and it all starts with the head coach and quarterback for any team that wants to be competitive year in and year out. And any Detroit fan should looking forward to opposing quarterbacks running for their collective lives in the presence of Ndamukong Suh. He’s going to be a beast from Week 1 on.

4. Chicago Bears (5-11.) I liked this team as my sleeper as little as two weeks ago…but now I don’t.

NFC East

1. New York Giants (11-5, No. 3 seed.) This seems like the classic kind-of-sneaking-up-on-everyone-but-not-really team. Look, everyone knows who the Giants are — they won the Super Bowl a few years ago and have Eli Manning under center. But in terms of football in New York, everyone’s talking about Rex Ryan and the Jets. And in terms of the NFC East, I’ve head a whole lot of Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins talk with some Kevin Kolb talk sprinkled in, but no New York Giants talk. I like the Giants to have a huge bounce-back year after a disappointing campaign last season. The Giants should be able to have a very balanced offensive attack, and I love their front seven. The Giants’ secondary did look dreadful against Baltimore in the third preseason game…but the preseason doesn’t matter, right?

2. Dallas Cowboys (10-6, wild card, No. 5 seed.) Tony Romo will put up some gaudy fantasy numbers this year (or so I hope — I have him in the fantasy league that I pay the most attention to), as will all of the Cowboys’ skill players on offense. And DeMarcus Ware may be the best defensive end in the game. But I expect Dallas to get smashed in Green Bay in the divisional round of the playoffs — it’ll their Minnesota experience last January all over again.

3. Philadelphia Eagles (9-7.) I like the Eagles more than most, and I like Kevin Kolb a lot more than most. Kolb wasn’t ready to be a quality NFL quarterback last year, but I think he’ll fill in for Donovan McNabb just fine this year. I do think that DeSean Jackson will become less of a deep threat for the Eagles — Kolb doesn’t have the kind of arm McNabb has — but Jeremy Maclin will become a quality possession receiver for the Kolb, as will tight end Brent Celek. Kolb’s ready for this job now. As for the coach, Andy Reid, his players will always absolutely play hard for him. But Reid is one of the worst game managers in the entire league, which drives the Philadelphia fan base crazy and usually costs the Eagles dearly in a big game (Reid’s time management skills and the lack of balance on offense are both alarming.)

4. Washington Redskins (8-8.) Like Andy Reid’s players, Mike Shanahan’s players will definitely play hard for him, which was a quality that was missing from the Redskins last season. Shanahan’s presence — as well as new general manager Bruce Allen’s — adds respectability and an identity to a franchise that lacked any last year. Donovan McNabb is a significant upgrade over Jason Campbell, and I like Clinton Portis in Shanahan’s offense. The defense should be solid. But there’s not enough firepower on the perimeter for the Redskins – on top of their leaky offensive line – for me to predict anything more than an 8-8 season.

NFC South

1. New Orleans Saints (11-5, No. 2 seed.) The Super Bowl champs will have a target on their backs all season, but there’s no reason why the Saints won’t win this division. They’re ready for another run at a Super Bowl.

2. Carolina Panthers (9-7, wild card, No. 6 seed.) Jimmy Clausen isn’t the starting quarterback, but I really like this kid. I watched a lot of Notre Dame games last year because my roommate from my freshman year of college loves Notre Dame and would watch them every Saturday. Let me tell you — nothing came easy for Clausen on the field during his days at Notre Dame. Charlie Weis’ play-calling abilities never translated over to the college level and Clausen’s offensive lines sucked. Clausen was always running for dear life and chucking the ball downfield to Golden Tate (because that was the extent of the Notre Dame offense.) I always liked how Clausen competed in college, he’s an accurate passer, he has a strong arm and is in a great situation in Carolina relative to the situations many rookie quarterbacks find themselves in. But that’s for next year. As for this year, I have no idea why Carolina is my wild card. Just a gut feeling.

3. Atlanta Falcons (7-9.) I know nothing about this team.

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-14.) I have no clue what to write.

NFC West

1. San Francisco 49ers (10-6, No. 4 seed.) Winner by default. Could sweep the division. This division is horrid.

2. Arizona Cardinals (6-10.) Derek Anderson is horrible, but Matt Leinart was worse.

3. Seattle Seahawks (5-11.) Pete Carroll may one day become a successful NFL coach, but not right now.

4. St. Louis Rams (4-12.) Bradford hands off to Jackson…Bradford hands off to Jackson…

MVP: Chris Johnson…Offensive Player of the Year: Aaron Rodgers…Defensive Player of the Year: Patrick Willis…Coach of the Year: Jeff Fisher…Comeback Player of the Year: Jason Campbell.

Playoffs: Wild Card Round

Baltimore over Tennessee. Chris Johnson nearly carries the Titans to the divisional round all by himself.

Pittsburgh over Miami. The Dolphins can’t stop Ben Roethlisberger in a game that the Steelers take full control of by the third quarter.

New York Giants over Carolina. The Giants’ front seven stuffs the Panthers’ rushing attack of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.

Dallas over San Francisco. I can’t trust Alex Smith.

Divisional Round

Indianapolis over Baltimore. It’s the same old, same old song and dance…Peyton Manning beats the Ravens.

Pittsburgh over San Diego. Remember when I wrote that the Chargers are as soft as a pillow? Yeah, that.

Green Bay over Dallas. Remember when I wrote that the Cowboys would get smashed in Green Bay in the divisional round? Yeah, that.

New Orleans over New York Giants. Drew Brees out-guns Eli Manning in an entertaining game that includes plenty of passing yards.

Championship Sunday

Green Bay over New Orleans. I want 90+ points in this game. In the freezing cold in Green Bay.

Indianapolis over Pittsburgh. The Colts’ defense gives Peyton Manning enough time to figure out the Steelers’ defense, and then it’s all over once he does.

Super Bowl

Indianapolis over Green Bay. In an incredibly entertaining Super Bowl, Peyton Manning doesn’t make the crucial mistake this time. Instead, he gets his second ring. Super Bowl MVP: Peyton Manning. Duh.

Quarterback Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens connected with wide receiver Anquan Boldin for a nine-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter against the New York Giants on Saturday night. The Ravens defeated the Giants, 24-10. Flacco and Boldin are pictured above in a training camp practice in Westminster, Md. on August 3.

I’ll be honest with you right from the outset here — I didn’t watch the second half of the Baltimore Ravens’ 24-10 victory over the New York Giants. Once the second stringers come in, preseason football becomes brutal. As much as I would have loved to see the Ravens and Giants’ second and third stringers play sloppy football and trade punts for an hour and a half, I decided to watch the Baltimore Orioles’ game. But here are my thoughts on the Ravens’ first stringers:

-Joe Flacco (21-for-34, 229 yards, two touchdowns and one interception) looked great. The first offensive series was brutal, but after that, Flacco was clicking on all cylinders. Ravens’ offensive coordinator Cam Cameron adjusted to the Giants’ pressure and the offensive line’s initial struggles by switching to a no-huddle offense and calling for quick passes. It worked. Flacco got on a roll by making a lot of quick reads and hitting his receivers in stride. And when the Giants did get to him with pressure, Flacco stepped up into the pocket very well in evading the pressure.

-The receivers got open and made some really nice catches to help out their quarterback. This doesn’t seem like much, but to Ravens fans, having receivers getting open and making tough grabs is nothing to take for granted. The receivers basically got open at will, and I’m not sure if was because of the receivers or the Giants’ secondary — the Giants’ passing defense looked awful.

-I could definitely get used to Flacco-to-Anquan Boldin touchdown connections.

-Tight end Todd Heap looked fantastic. He was making acrobatic catches for the first time in a few years, and as far as I could tell, there wasn’t a trainer in sight alongside Heap. Remaining healthy has been a huge obstacle for Heap in the past.

-One receiver that couldn’t avoid a trainer was Donte’ Stallworth, who will unfortunately be out until at least mid-season with a broken foot. This is a huge downer for the Ravens’ offense, which was counting on Stallworth to be the big deep threat. How good Stallworth looked in camp and the preseason makes this even worse. Stallworth has been injury-riddled in the past, but it’s been due to hamstring problems. My guess is that this injury means Demetrius Williams probably will make the squad.

-I liked the fact that Ray Rice wasn’t put in the line of fire much. The Ravens absolutely cannot afford to lose him — he’s the centerpiece of their offense. That’s part of the reason why I thought the first-team offense didn’t run much — 1) Rice doesn’t need to be getting battered by linebackers in the preseason, and 2) Cameron knows what the running game can do, so he wants to work exclusively on the passing game.

-While it’s fine that Cameron is pass-happy in the preseason, he needs to return to a balanced attack in the regular season. Rice will need 25 touches, and Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain will need their fair share of carries, too. The Ravens’ offensive line is still much more suited to go straight ahead than to drop back, and the Ravens’ strength is still running the ball despite Flacco’s maturation and the presence of Boldin.

-Ravens’ left tackle Michael Oher got flagged for a false start that I didn’t think was a false start — I just thought he got off the line so quickly that the referee just assumed it was a false start. This happened a good amount of times last season, where referees were fooled by Oher’s freakish quickness.

-How many times were Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata held on Saturday? A lot — but it was never flagged.

-The Ravens’ first team secondary — yes, the secondary — looked great, in part because the Ravens could get pressure from the front four. It was good to see the corners not giving up much to the Giants’ receivers. I love the Ravens’ depth at safety with Tom Zbikowski and Haruki Nakamura. There’s no reason for Ed Reed to rush back.

-The broadcasters on television were getting on the Ravens’ defense for the phantom tackles they applied to Brandon Jacobs, which would be valid complaints — in the regular season. There’s no reason for the first-team defense to get in front of that mountain of a man in the open field in a meaningless preseason game. That’s an injury waiting to happen.

Joe Flacco, pictured above in practice on August 3, went 8-for-12 with 120 yards passing and a touchdown in limited action against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night.

In my post on Thursday afternoon, I wrote that I was going to be excited to see the Baltimore Ravens back in game action for the first time since January. Well, I forgot that preseason football is about as boring as my day at work — which is to say, it’s very boring. What’s incredible is that preseason football manages to be that way despite its regular season being by far the most exciting season in American sports.

Which brings us to one of the biggest scams that a professional sports league can impress upon its fans — full-price admission for a preseason game. I would like anyone to tell me with a straight face, as the fourth stringers for both the Ravens and Carolina Panthers go at it in a rainstorm in the fourth quarter, that preseason prices should be the same as regular season prices.

(With that being said, the NFL would rectify this situation — if the league came under enough heat for it — by raising regular season ticket prices considerably and leaving the preseason prices as is.)

Anyway, here are some things I saw out on the field as I was flipping back and forth between the Ravens and the Orioles, and later on, the Ravens and Jersey Shore:

-No player was injured, meaning the primary task of a preseason game was complete. Anything else accomplished in a preseason game — such as an undrafted rookie emerging as a keeper – is just gravy.

-I really like free safety Tom Zbikowski — and he did look very good on Thursday night – and two of the things he did well were return a punt for 28 yards and force Carolina starting quarterback Matt Moore into a fumble. I understand that Zbikowski is a talented punt returner and the Ravens want to see what they have in terms of the kick and punt return game. But, to me, Zbikowski is too valuable to the Ravens at this point with Ed Reed sidelined to risk an injury in a situation like a punt return, where injuries are commonplace. The Ravens are in a fine situation with Zbikowski filling in with Reed at free safety, so don’t screw it up with a dumb injury on a punt return.

-Speaking of the return game, I really like Jalen Parmele on kick returns. He’s a big, quick player that goes straight ahead and isn’t afraid to hit the hole and take a defensive player head-on. After multiple years of watching Yamon Figurs tentatively return kicks, Parmele’s ability to hit the hole hard should not be taken for granted. I’d imagine that running straight ahead on a kick return and not angling towards the sidelines is one of the most frightening tasks in football, and once you find someone good at it, let him keep returning kicks.

-I liked seeing Le’Ron McClain get a lot of carries in the early going — he looked good — and I really liked seeing Ray Rice not risking an injury in a meaningless preseason game. Rice will surely get some time in the preseason, but in the first game, there’s really no reason to send the stud running back out there. As Rice wrote on his Twitter account, the goal is to be ready to go on Monday, September 13.

-Was that Mark Clayton I saw in the corner of the end zone jumping up, battling a defender, attacking the ball, and coming down with a touchdown? No…it couldn’t have been…could it have?

-The primary beneficiary of Anquan Boldin’s presence may very well be Derrick Mason, who has been double-covered for years with the Ravens. Sure, Mason’s a year older, but he still has plenty of chemistry with Flacco and should see a lot more one-on-one situations than in years past with the addition not just of Boldin, but downfield threat Donte’ Stallworth, as well.

-The Ravens have to trade for a cornerback. They can’t roll into Cincinnati in Week 2 with Fabian Washington (who did not play on Thursday night) and Chris Carr as their starting cornerbacks, and Travis Fisher at the nickel position. Carson Palmer will have a bigger field day than he did during the early weeks of the college season during his time at USC when he was playing the equivalent of Bel Air High School. Unfortunately, Ravens’ general manager Ozzie Newsome is left in a precarious situation when trying to work out a trade because other teams know the Ravens need a starting corner and will ask for a pretty significant return because of it.

-Terrence Cody as the fullback on goal-line situations? As entertaining as that is, does anyone honestly think that boy can stay still for more than two seconds in a three-point stance? Cody got flagged for a false start when the Ravens tried this out on Thursday.

-The starting offensive lines for both teams were a little out of whack. The defensive lines really had their way with each offensive line, and my guess is that it’s because offensive lines rely much more on timing than defensive lines do, and that building up chemistry on the offensive line is key. Timing and chemistry aren’t going to be there for the offensive line during the first preseason game. With that being said, eight-year veteran Tyler Brayton, who beat Micheal Oher a couple times, looked good.

The Baltimore Ravens will finally hit opposing players on Thursday night, rather than their own. Above is a photo from camp on August 3.

Here’s a quick rundown of what I’m personally looking for during the Baltimore Ravens’ first preseason game against the Carolina Panthers:

-I’m just really looking forward to seeing the Ravens back on my television screen. An NFL game is unquestionably the biggest “event” in American sports, and even though it’s the first preseason game, it’ll be great to see it back on my television as the Ravens begin what hopes to be a very fulfilling season. Seeing the Ravens back in game action for the first time since January will be very exciting.

-Please, no injuries. The is the No. 1 key for any preseason game is to get through it without any injuries. Any other positive outcomes from these games are a big bonus.

-The game is being nationally televised on ESPN at 8 p.m., so I assume that Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden are going to be in the broadcast booth. I’m looking forward to the unnecessary exagerration of random words by Jaworski and Gruden — it’s been awhile since I’ve heard it so it’ll be welcomed back. Also look for the dramatic quarterback evaluations from Jaworski and Gruden and the inevitable over-estimation of the loss of Ed Reed.

-The cornerbacks. It’ll be interesting to see who’s healthy enough to start with the first-team defense, and it appears as though undrafted free agent corner Prince Miller could be the starting nickelback (and a huge opportunity to impress would come with it.) I think the Ravens will be forced to make a trade for a quality corner because of the severe lack of them given the injury situation, but a push for a trade could be accelerated if the cornerbacks perform poorly on Thursday night. The Denver Broncos could be a possible trade partner, writes Jamison Hensley of The Baltimore Sun.

-How does Terrell Suggs play? When I went to training camp, one of the things that stood out to me was how ripped Suggs looked. He’s apparently re-dedicated himself to getting in tip-top shape during the offseason after a disappointing 2009, and it’s shown during training camp. The Ravens, considering their problems at cornerback, needs Suggs to step up more than ever. The team needs Suggs to re-discover his speed around the corner in getting to the quarterback to help ease the pressure on the corners this season. I’ll be looking out for Suggs tonight.

-Does Donte’ Stallworth still have his wheels? He’s been reported as to still having his trademark speed in training camp, but Stallworth creating separation down the field in the only quarter that the starters play could alleviate any concerns about Stallworth concerning his speed (his ability to stay healthy is another story.) Given that the Ravens are counting on Stallworth to be the main downfield threat this season, the separation he can or cannot create will be huge.

-The kicking battle. The first time either Shayne Graham or Billy Cundiff misses a field goal in the preseason, we’ll all immediately see the John Harbaugh Staredown that was so often seen last year.

-What undrafted free agents make a big splash in their first game action? As Mike Preston of The Sun writes, look out for running back Curtis Steele, fullback Mike McLaughlin and outside linebacker Albert McClellan.

-And finally, please, please, PLEASE…no injuries.

Tuesday was a grand Baltimore sports day for me, my sister, Caitlin, and her fiance, Zach. We all went to Baltimore Ravens’ training camp in the morning and then we went to Buck Showalter’s big Baltimore Orioles’ debut at Camden Yards that night. It was quite a day, and well worth the time and money.

My first thought upon my training camp visit was that it was a lot more people than my previous visits to camp. My second thought was that the Ravens have to do a much better job at camp of playing to their fans. With the way that Ravens’ camp is set up, there are two fields and one of the fields has bleachers along the sidelines of that field and just past one of the field’s end zone. Obviously, most of the fans set up shop at this field. With the other field, there’s no bleachers anywhere and there’s not a whole lot of room for fans to set up shop along the perimeter of that field.

So where do the Ravens decide to scrimmage? On the latter field towards the end zone where the least amount of fans can get a good view of the action – the farthest end zone away from the sideline bleachers on the other field. I don’t like that. You should always play to the fans. One thing that Brian Billick always did was scrimmage on the field surrounded by bleachers. If you’re going to visit training camp, set up shop where the cameras are pointed. There are a few cranes with cameras mounted on the top of them, and wherever those cameras are pointed, that’s where the scrimmaging is going to take place.

Despite the bad placement of scrimmage, I still got some good photos of the team’s scrimmage. I’ll get to some of my other thoughts on the actual team with the photos. I’ll put up the Orioles’ photos in a separate post.

(EDIT: Don’t click on the photos. It’ll take you to Facebook since that’s where I copy and pasted the photos from. The easiest way to get photos on the site is to upload them onto Facebook and copy and paste them from there.)

This photo below is courtesy of my sister. It’s Fabian Washington in the foreground with Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen and Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo in the background. Both of the coaches were visiting camp yesterday. Maryland and Navy will play on Sept. 6 at M&T Bank Stadium to open the season.

The rest of the photos were taken by me. Below is David Reed in a one-on-one drill with new acquisition Doug Dutch.

Below is Donte’ Stallworth in a one-on-one drill with Prince Miller.

Below is Michael Oher at left tackle. The Ravens have been shuffling Oher and Jared Gaither between right and left tackle for most of camp, but I’d be surprised if Oher isn’t at left tackle for the opener against the New York Jets. Oher was drafted to be the franchise left tackle, and that’s what he’ll be. Gaither, by the way, probably needs to gain about 15-20 pounds. He looks pretty skinny out there (or as skinny as 311 pounds can be.)

Below is Derrick Mason down after a hit by Dawan Landry. Mason needed assistance getting off the field, and it turns out he has a right ankle sprain that isn’t considered to be serious.

Below is Tom Zbikowski, whom the Ravens will rely heavily on as long as Ed Reed is on the Physically Unable to Perform list. With it looking probable that Reed will miss the first six games of the season, Zbikowski will have to step up big, and he trained in the offseason as if he’s ready to step up.

Below is Shayne Graham kicking, with Sam Koch as the holder. Graham and Billy Cundiff are battling to be the kicker for the Ravens.

In the trenches on a field goal attempt:

Below is Ray Rice, who looked ripped. He’s by far the toughest Raven to take a picture of — too damn quick. In my mind, he’s a top-three fantasy selection. Some combination of Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew and Rice are my top three.

Below is Stallworth. With Rice, Mason and Anquan Boldin controlling the moderate routes, Stallworth should be able to get a lot of one-on-one coverages down the field.

Hey! It’s Joe Flacco!

Below is Flacco and Boldin talking amongst themselves. Flacco-to-Boldin will be a huge connection this year if the two are healthy. Book it.

Below is Kelly Gregg rushing the passer alongside blue-chip defensive tackle Haloti Ngata. It was good to see Gregg back out there after struggling with injuries last year. He’ll probably rotate with big Terrence Cody during games to fill the spot next to Ngata.

Below is Marc Bulger. Smart pickup by the Ravens. If Flacco misses a few games, they have a backup plenty capable of winning games and weathering the storm.