Here’s a look at my positional power rankings for the players and teams that are left in the playoffs. This year’s stats accounted for a lot but at the end of the day it’s my opinion on who I’d suit up today for the best chance at winning.

Quarterbacks

1 – Aaron Rodgers (GB)

2 – Drew Brees (NO)

3 – Tom Brady (NE)

4 – Eli Manning (NYG)

5 – Matthew Stafford (DET)

6 – Matt Ryan (ATL)

* I gave 6 here since the first 3 were fairly obvious (if not their respective places in that top 3)

Running Backs

1 – Ray Rice (BAL)

2 – Arian Foster (HOU)

3 – Michael Turner (ATL)

4 – Frank Gore (SF)

5 – Darren Sproles (NO)

Wide Receivers

1 – Calvin Johnson (DET)

2 – Andre Johnson (HOU)

3 – AJ Green (CIN)

4 – Victor Cruz (NYG)

5 – Wes Welker (NE)

6 – Roddy White (ATL)

7 – Greg Jennings (GB)

8 – Jordy Nelson (GB)

9 – Mike Wallace (PIT)

10 – Hakeem Nicks (NYG)

Of all of the changes that the NFL has brought forth in the last couple of seasons, one that went without a great deal of notice has certainly had a profound impact so far. The line that teams have walked all too often in recent seasons after wrapping up playoff fortunes with games still remaining on their schedule has been too much of a story lately, but this year not so much. Whether a direct result of the decision to put divisional match-ups in the season’s final weeks or not it made for one of the most exciting final weeks of any NFL season in recent memory. Add “Goodell’s Grand Finale” to the once celebrated “Pete’s Parity” and you have the excitement that was week 17 of this NFL season.

The Ravens run through their own division unblemished is cause for celebration, and with 3 teams qualified for this year’s playoffs the AFC North is being hailed as the league’s best division. The Bengals are young and dangerous, and now stocked with picks courtesy of the Carson Palmer trade, the Browns are tough and physical and also stocked with picks courtesy of the Julio Jones trade and perhaps in better position than any team to trade into the first overall pick if the Colts should choose to shop it. And the Ravens and Steelers are simply the Ravens and Steelers. But before we proclaim the AFC North the class of the NFL, we should at least acknowledge that parity is more relative from division to division than league wide, and that the AFC North may simply be the most accomplished division in football because they had the easiest trek though the 2011 season.

You never can quite tell how teams will be from season to season in the NFL, but sometimes you can. While every year brings a fresh example of a team with no expectations suddenly becoming a force on the back of a few “minor” tweaks to the coaching staff, roster or approach, we should also acknowledge that those examples aren’t as plentiful as the attention that they get would suggest, and that more often than not we have a pretty good idea going into the season who’ll be good and who’ll struggle.

If you were picking a schedule for the Ravens or any AFC North team to have success in 2011, and charged with using the NFL formula of matching up against 1 whole division in the AFC and 1 in the NFC you probably would have picked the AFC South and the NFC West. Surely you would have picked the NFC West as maybe one or two teams in that less than mediocre division could have been expected to be competitive (as the 49ers became this year’s surprise team) but expecting the entire division to have a resurgence would have been unfathomable, as the division has been floundering for years now without improvement.

The AFC South would have looked almost equally ripe for the picking even before Peyton Manning was announced to be out for the season, and despite the Texans best attempts at representing the division respectably, injuries ultimately took their toll on them too.

Add the bottom dwelling Cleveland Brown to the mix and the formula was just right for the successes of the Ravens, Steelers and Bengals. The Browns are scrappy and can’t be totally dismissed, but they did play their divisional schedule to the tune of 0-6 this season, serving up 2 wins each of cushion for the division’s other 3 teams.

In 2010 the NFC South had 3 double digit win teams. The Falcons won 13 games, the Saints won 11 and both made the playoffs and the Buccaneers picked up 10 wins and narrowly missed the playoffs while looking promising. They did so while matching up against the terrible NFC West, and an AFC North with 2 bottom dwellers in Cincinnati and Cleveland that offered up “easy” chances at racking up wins. The NFC South also had the floundering Panthers in 2010 who served up 6 wins to the rest of the division in struggling through a miserable campaign themselves.

This year the NFC South still looks relatively strong although slightly less promising beyond the top two as they were charged with matching up with an NFC North that was better than last year’s NFC West draw but also took advantage of this year’s weaker AFC South.

In 2008 the AFC East and NFC East both looked equally promising as both took advantage of similar scheduling “opportunities”.

Next year the AFC North will be afforded the opportunity to feast of the AFC West if they’re able to take advantage, and if the NFC is in the disarray that it appears to be in all of a sudden there too may lie an opportunity. While I won’t yet acknowledge the AFC North as football’s best division, the likelihood of them getting 3 teams into the playoffs again next season (especially if the Browns serve up another 6 wins) might look pretty good again. What they do once they’re there will determine which division is best.

Here’s what’s on the agenda for Thursday’s edition of the MobTown Sports Beat. Check us out streaming here from 10am-2pm and chime in by phone (410-481-1570), by email (thyrl@wnst.net) or on Twitter ( @Thyrl or @WNST )  

Great Guests

Terps Color Analyst Chris Knoche will join me at 10:30 to talk about the arrival of Alex Len, the Terps win over Albany on Wednesday and what we might expect of them from here.

Luke Jones will join me at 12:30 to update this week in playoff preparation with a Ravens report.

Nick Minnix from KFFL.com will join me at 1:00 to put a wrap on another fantasy football season and maybe to look ahead at fantasy baseball season too.

…and you never know who else might drop in.

The Big Three Questions

It’s the Miami Heat of radio segments as not only will it be tough to expect it to live up to the hype but also because you’ll never get a 4^th out of me (I might be running out of time to tell that joke).

Question #1: Is Baltimore a Wizards town…or an NBA town at all?

Question #2: Can Turgeon’s Terps make the tourney…or finish in the top half of the ACC?

Question #3: Is it fair to name Alabama the National Champion if they narrowly beat LSU? Does anyone care?

Nickel and a Nail

Five timely topics of conversation for the day and a jab for someone who deserves it.

Ravens Playoff Push Begins

Week 17 and home field and a bye in the playoffs are on the line against an up and coming Cincinnati team that may be knocking on the playoff door a year ahead of schedule. Of course we’re talking Ravens football today.

Here’s a quick look ahead at the agenda for Monday on the MobTown Sports Beat:

Ravens Reaction

The Ravens are always on the table, especially on MSB Mondays. We’ll look back on the Ravens impressive and needed win over divisional rival Cleveland and have plenty of reaction.

A Nickel and a Nail

Five penny for your thought type topics of conversation and a nail for someone who deserves it.

#1 – BC-Mess or Oklahoma Statement

Despite an impressive thumping of the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, the Cowboys of Oklahoma State will be home watching the BCS title game like the rest of us. There’s little doubt that Alabama and LSU are the two best teams in the country, but do we really want to relive 9-6 snoozer that was the “game of the century” from just over a month ago? And how now can LSU lose a national title to Alabama after beating them on their own field in November and playing a much tougher out of conference schedule and the SEC title game? How much of this is due to the media’s inability to let go of their stated notion that Alabama was the best team in the country in the first place? Would LSU be getting this same opportunity if they had lost at home to Bama?

#2 – Tarheels are Baby Soft

They’re talented, there’s no doubt about that. The Tarheels are inordinately talented for a team in this the “one and done” era, the problem is that they seem to know it too. The juggernaut that Carolina looked to bring to the table after returning Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zellar and John Henson to fuse with the typical insurgence of Tarheel freshman talent so far has been anything but. After stumbling out of the gates last year only to turn it up for the stretch, Barnes looks to be making that his habit. Their talent will be enough to get them by on most nights, but when the real heat turns up, look for these Tarheels to wilt under the pressure like they did against Kentucky on Saturday. They appear poorly coached and at times altogether indifferent. Don’t believe the hype surrounding this Carolina team, as it appears that they themselves have already bought in too much.

#3 – NBA Free Agency to Begin on Monday?

Sort of at least…beginning on Monday it looks like teams will be free to at least make known their intentions and overtures to prospective free agents ahead of Friday’s projected final resolution in the lockout. Big men abound in free agency and no NBA team ever has enough of those. Greg Oden could be headed to the Heat, making him and them even more hated then each is already individually. Additionally, as “Big 3’s” are seemingly becoming en vogue, teams will be looking to fish or cut bait with a few marquee names that could quickly become trade fodder. Derron Williams, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard could all begin or end this season with new teams. And let’s not forget about Danny Ainge’s latest attempt to sabotage the Celtics. Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of the Rajon Rondo trade rumors or their impact.

#4 – A.F.Seeding

The top end of the AFC all managed to hold serve on Sunday. Along with the Ravens win, the Steelers beat the Bengals 35-7, the Patriots beat the hapless Colts 31-24 and the Texans rallied behind TJ Yates for a 17-10 win over the fading Falcons, so the logjam continues at 9-3 atop the AFC.

Houston survived a tough opponent behind TJ Yates first start after losing Andre Johnson again mid-game in a scene eerily similar to the one that preceded his last hamstring injury and kept him out of action for several weeks, and Brian Cushing left early too. If it weren’t for bad luck, these Texans wouldn’t have any yet they still refuse to lose in this their ordained playoff season given the absence of Peyton Manning in the division.

The Raiders were blasted by the suddenly resurgent Dolphins 34-14 and coupled with another heroic Tim Tebow comeback effort, surrendered the top spot in the AFC West (by virtue of a tiebreaker) to Denver.

The Titans and Jets both picked up wins to pull even with Cincinnati in the race for the final wild card spot with the Bengalis still enjoying the benefit of the tiebreaker…for now.

#5 – Packers on a Roll

Green Bay survived its first real test of the season on Sunday when the Giants punched in a 2-point conversion to tie them with less than a minute remaining and one timeout for the Packers. We should have known on the kickoff that the Pack was about to do something special. Randall Cobb, who’s having a fine year, took a knee on the kickoff just a yard or so deep in the end zone, essentially conceding that taking time away from Aaron Rodgers and the offense, even a few seconds, would be unacceptable even for a return man adept at taking them to the house. Two plays later the Packers were in field goal range and the rest as they say was history.

If you’re giving me the Packers or the field today, I’ll still take the field but it’s getting tougher to do each week. You could argue that now isn’t the time to be playing your best football, but the Packers have been doing it since week 1 and still look to be improving. They’re much deeper than last year’s injury riddled bunch and now can count themselves battle tested too.

You’d almost like to get an L out of the way before the playoffs start, but if it’s going to happen for these Packers it looks like it’ll happen naturally, as they don’t seem to be slowing at all. Maybe the cursed Colts season has taught a lesson to anyone willing to take note, “embrace the 0, or the 0 will come get you”.

And the nail goes to the Ravens and Steve Bisciotti for their announcement to take their ball and go home, or more specifically to cancel indefinitely the Westminster training camp that had become engrained in the traditions of many a Ravens’ fan who can’t get to the stadium for actual games.

The move has money written all over it, in this immediate aftermath of the NFL lockout where we as a public were forced to endure the tug of war over an unfathomably fat cache of cash that we were all made too well aware of, that seems to be bad form.  The team will surely try to make it up to the fans somehow, but attempts will be feeble at best compared to the rite of passage that was Ravens training camp.

(While not a regular attendee at Ravens training camp myself, I certainly understand the loss that some are feeling. As a 38-year old Baltimore native, my only “real” memories of the Baltimore Colts began and ended with training camps at Goucher college)

It’s not lost on us, Mr. Bisciotti, that you’re the same guy who encouraged us to offset the season ticket price increase of a few years ago by selling our Patriots, Steelers and/or Colts tickets as they were doing very well on the secondary market. Clearly the real plight and point of view of the average fan is lost on the occupants of the owner’s box.

What’s not lost on Mr. Bisciotti is the ability to pass the buck, or more aptly to allow crap to roll downhill, as he did by calling it a football decision. By stating that the Ravens were a better football team when they practice at their Owings Mills facility the owner laid blame right at the coach’s feet even without saying quite that much.

The truth is, it’s hard to say whether the Ravens are better or worse when they don’t have a camp, as this is the first year without one and also a year anomalous in the annals of NFL history due to the lockout. Using this season, as a barometer to measure anything is pointless at best and more likely irresponsible.

I’ll agree that life is easier for the Ravens when they don’t have to pack up and move operations from Owings Mills to Westminster and back, but easy isn’t the road to NFL glory. Eight times per season the Ravens will have to pack up and prepare, at least in part, away from the castle, usually in makeshift conditions not ideally suited or built for the purpose of readying a team for a football game. That the Ravens have struggled in doing it this season may speak to the “preparation” they’d have gotten in camp, under similar conditions.

 The road to a Super Bowl is a tough one, and one that the Ravens took once already while holding camp in Westminster, and the team enjoys lots of cushy handouts and civic backrubs from fans who’ll never have the chance to set foot in the stadium for a game, to lock them out using the fortress that they in part financed is just wrong.

@ Me Back

3 random questions. Hit me with your answers on Twitter @Thyrl or @WNST, by email thyrl@wnst.net, or at 410-481-1570. Whatever you do, get back @ me.

@-1: Who are the top 5 on your #NFL rookie of the year ballot?

I’ll go Andy Dalton, Cam Newton, AJ Green, Torrey Smith & DeMarco Murray

@-2: Who would you seed 1-8 in a college football playoff?

Give me- #1 LSU, #2 Bama, #3 OK St., #4 Boise, #5 Stanford, #6 Arkansas, #7 Wisconsin, #8 Clemson/WVU play-in or Oregon if I have to pick 1.

@-3: Who looks the like the best college hoops team so far?

For me – Kentucky, Ohio State, UConn, Syracuse, Missouri…but there’s a lot of teams I haven’t seen yet and a bunch more I can’t wait to see again.

One of the more-hyped games of the 2011 schedule once it came out in April is tonight’s Thanksgiving game in Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium when the broithers Harbaugh meet as the San Francisco 49ers take on the Baltimore Ravens (8 pm ET; NFL Network).

The 9-1 49ers have a stranglehold on the NFC West and can clinch the division with a victory and either a loss or tie by Seattle on Sunday or a tie and a Seattle loss.

The 7-3 Ravens lead the AFC North, and are tied for the AFC’s best record.

The combined 16-4 record (.800) of the two teams is tied for fourth-best between Thanksgiving Day combatants since 1970.

It will be Baltimore’s John vs. San Francisco’s Jim, and Jim, and according to NFL Network’s Mike Mayock, who will help call the game with Brad Nessler, this matchup is one to watch:

When you combine the surprising success of San Francisco, along with Baltimore being pretty much where you expect them to be, we’ve got one of the best games of the season on Thursday night.

In a national teleconference to promote the game earlier this week, Jim mentioned how brotherly love goes out the window once competition is involved:

Leading up to this, John has talked freely and openly about football with me. Now, it’s more talking in code. I’m being serious. I can see there are limitations to what he’s telling me. I thought love had no boundaries, but now I see that it does.

— Jim Harbaugh, on football communication with John since the 2011 NFL schedule was announced

For John’s part, it is a continuation of competition that has gone on since they were kids:

We were in the same room for 16 years, and we had to draw a tape line. If you stepped across, there was a fight. The last time we fought, I was 27. He was the quarterback for the Bears. He got up to 6-4, 230 pounds. I was 195, something like that. He takes us on vacation to Florida, we’re on the beach, and we get into this wrestling match. It’s getting a little aggressive and works its way over to the water. He gets a shot in; I get a shot in. I’m starting to think maybe I can hang with the big little brother. Next, he grabs me in a headlock, picks me up, and slams me into three feet of water. My head is on the sand underneath the water. Of course, he’s not going to drown me, but I’m thinking maybe he’s snapped. My dad’s trying to pull him off, but he’s too strong. I’m going to drown. Before I died, he pulled me up. He didn’t do mouth-to-mouth; that would have been against the rules. I then realized I’m never going to fight my brother again. He’s too big.

— John Harbaugh on his brother

The first-ever coaching matchup between two brothers in NFL history is a testament to their father, Jack, himself a former college head coach:

Their father gave them a gift; by making them and teaching them how to compete. If we can instill competition in our kids, that’s all we want. We want them to go out in the world and compete.

— NFL Network’s Marshall Faulk on the relationship between Jack Harbaugh and his sons, Jim and John

Baltimore is coming off a 31-24 victory over AFC North rival Cincinnati at home last Sunday:

NOTE OF THE WEEK: SMITH SOARS

• Ravens rookie WR Torrey Smith leads the NFL with a 20.3 yardsper-catch average (29 receptions for 590 yards).
• Impressively, 4 of Smith’s 5 TD receptions have covered at least 25 yards (74, 41, 38, 26 and 18 yards), and he’s averaging a sensational 39.4 yards per TD catch.
• Smith now owns the Ravens’ single-season (590) and single-game (165 vs. Cin. last week) records for receiving yards by a rookie.
• Never before has a Ravens’ wideout posted dual 150-yard receiving games in a season (165 vs. Cin. and 152 at STL).
• Smith also owns the top two receiving yards performances by a rookie in the NFL this season.
• Smith’s 590 receiving yards this season rank second in the NFL among all rookies (635, Cincy’sA.J. Green).
• Last week, Smith joined Ken Burrow (2 in 1971) and Randy Moss (3 in 1998) as the only rookies in NFL history to have multiple games with at least 150 receiving yards and a touchdown catch.

WEEK 12 QUICK HITS:

• The Ravens have won 15 of their last 16 games at M&T Bank Stadium. Baltimore is 24-5 at home under head coach John Harbaugh, tied (New England) for the NFL’s most home wins since 2008 (as of games played by 11/20).
• The Ravens aim for their eighth consecutive win at home and sixth this season (5-0 in 2011).
• Baltimore’s seven-game winning streak at home currently ranks as the NFL’s second longest (Green Bay is first at 10 games).
• Baltimore aims to reach 8-3 for just the second time in team history (2010 season).

STOUT VS. NFC: Dating back to the 2008 campaign, when head coach John Harbaugh took over in Baltimore, the Ravens have posted a 10-5 record (.667) vs. the NFC, good for the fourth-best mark among AFC teams against the “other conference” during that span.

AFC’s BEST RECORDS VS. THE NFC
(since 2008)
1t. New England Patriots 12-2 .857
1t. Tennessee Titans 12-2 .857
3. Pittsburgh Steelers 10-4 .714
4. Baltimore Ravens 10-5 .667

San Francisco is working on an eight-game win streak, and beat NFC West rival Arizona 23-7 last Sunday at home:

WINNING WAYS: With the win last week vs. Arz. (11/20), head coach Jim Harbaugh became just the 3rd rookie head coach in franchise history to start his career with a 9-1 record.

• The 49ers have won eight consecutive games, making Coach Harbaugh’s eight-game winning streak the fourth longest by a rookie head coach since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Jim Caldwell’s Colts won 14 in a row in 2009. Steve Mariucci’s 49ers won 11 in a row in 1997. Ted Marchibroda’s Colts won nine in a row in 1975. Bobby Ross’Chargers won seven straight in 1992.
• With a 9-1 record to start 2011, the 49ers are tied for the 4th-best start since the team joined the NFL in 1950, behind 1984 (15-1); 1990 (13-1); 1997 (11-1); 1989 (9-1).
• Harbaugh became the first rookie head coach in franchise history to inherit a team with a losing record and lead them to a 9-1 start in his first season.

GOLDEN NUGGETS:
A HOT START

• With a 9-1 record to start 2011, the 49ers are tied for the 4th-best start since the team joined the NFL in 1950, behind 1984 (15-1); 1990 (13-1); 1997 (11-1); 1989 (9-1).

ROAD WARRIORS

• With a 4-0 record on the road, the Niners join the Green Bay Packers as the only two teams in the NFL to remain undefeated away from home.

THAT’S THE DIFFERENCE

• The 49ers have outscored their opponents 256-145. The +111 scoring differential ranks 2nd in the NFL.

A SHORT FIELD

• The 49ers have started 25 drives in their opponents territory, ranking 1st in the NFL, and have scored 81 points on those drives, ranking 3rd in the NFL.

YOU WANNA START SOMETHING?

• The 49ers average starting field position is at their own 33.1-yard line, ranking 1st in the NFL.

LONG WAY TO GO

• The 49ers rank 1st in the NFL with an opponents average starting field position of the 24.3.

BRINGING IT BACK

• The 49ers rank t-1st in the NFL with 7 PRs of 20+ yds, while ranking 2nd in the NFL with a KOR avg. of 28.0 yds.

POINTS HARD TO COME BY

• The 49ers have allowed just 145 points on the season, ranking 1st in the NFL for the fewest points allowed.

SHORT AND TOUGH

• The 49ers have allowed just 16 first downs on 3rd and less than 4 yds. (15 of 33 – 48.5 pct.), ranking 2nd in the NFL.

EFFICIENCY ON D

• The 49ers defense has allowed opponents to score on just 24.0 pct. of their possessions, ranking 1st in the NFL.

STICKY FINGERS

• The 49ers have only committed 9 turnovers on the year, ranking t-1st in the NFL for fewest turnovers (Houston – 9).

PRODUCTIVE ON FIRST

• The 49ers offense has gained 4+ yds. on 52.2 pct. (142 of 272) of their first down plays, ranking 4th in the NFL.

THE COMEBACK TRAIL: Four, 4th quarter come-from-behind-win epitomizes the never quit attitude the 49ers embody this season. One player in particular can parallel his career to the theme, QBAlex Smith. Smith is now tied with NYG QB Eli Manning for the most comeback wins by an NFL QB this season.

Smith became just the second quarterback in franchise history to record 3, 4th qtr. comebacks on the road (QB Joe Montanta - 4 in 1989 and 3 in 1990).

For up-to-date Tweets on the NFL and the Ravens, please follow me on Twitter (@BlogAndTackle). For more national NFL stories, please visit my personal site at BlogAndTackle.net.

Someday — sooner than later, unfortunately — what you saw last Sunday vs. the Bengals will be more the norm than the exception.

And then maybe we’ll all completely appreciate the greatness of Ray Lewis.

Until then, though, we’ll just take moments like Sunday’s affair with the Bengals and appreciate the fact that we haven’t had to deal with many of those over the last 15 years.

But when it happens, when Ray is gone, things are going to be a lot different.

We saw that first-hand on Sunday in the 4th quarter when a rookie quarterback and a handful of not-so-common-names disguised as wide receivers gave the Ravens defense fits before finally falling short on the final series.

Would that have happened with Ray Lewis out on the field?

I doubt it.

Ray’s human — and throughout his career, there have been a few fourth quarter rallies at the expense of his defense, but they sure don’t come around much.  And I can’t imagine the Bengals would have buzzed around like “Air Coryell” in the 4th quarter if #52 would have been able to play on Sunday.

I’ve said this before, and even though it’s a simple statement, it rings true every Sunday when I watch Ray Lewis play football. We’ll never see anyone like him again.  At least not in my lifetime.  And the Ravens – as a team – will go through an eye-opening changing of the guard when Lewis isn’t around anymore.

You’ll see a lot more 31-24 Ravens games and a lot less 17-13 results.

Every player on the defense is better when Ray Lewis plays.  Even now, 15 years in, Lewis is still the man.  Every Wednesday when he meets with the media, Lewis always get in at least one or two “when I look at my defense” quotes…to remind everyone that it is, in fact, still HIS defense.  But something odd happens when Lewis says “my defense”.  He never emphasizes the word “my”, the way you might expect someone who is trying to remind everyone of his established role as the leader of the group.  The words “my defense” roll off his tongue with the same simplicity that you would say “where are my car keys?”

It’s still Ray’s defense.

And as we saw on Sunday afternoon, the longer it remains his defense, the better chance the Ravens have of winning.

Once he’s gone, those chances will diminish greatly.

So enjoy this while you can.

You could say that Torrey Smith had his coming out party in St. Louis in week 3, and if he were simply the field stretching, one-trick pony that many thought him to be, that would be the case. Likewise, you could say that Sunday’s win by the Ravens over the surprising Cincinnati Bengals was born out of a commitment to Ray Rice and the running game (and to some degree it was), but as the Ravens slugged out a hard fought victory against those Bengals no one was more impactful than the Ravens’ rookie wide receiver.

It wasn’t all positive, the impact of Smith, but mostly it was, and save a 2-yard TD drive that was set up by fellow rookie Jimmy Smith’s interception and subsequent fumble to the 2-yard line, Torrey Smith was integral in each of the Ravens scoring drives on Sunday, and had a far greater impact than even his gaudy stat line (165 yards and a TD) would suggest.

Either the Bengals did a good job of stifling Smith for the Ravens first 3 series, or the Ravens simply failed to involve him, but coincidentally or not, the Ravens came up empty on their first three possessions against the Bengals and Smith had no impact on any of those drives despite being on the field for 10 of the Ravens 12 plays in those series.

By the time the Ravens got the ball for their 4^th possession of the game, they were trailing the Bengals 7-0 and feeling the ire of the capacity crowd at M&T Bank stadium. After picking up a first down to keep the drive alive through Ed Dickson, Joe Flacco found Anquan Boldin heading up the right seam for the Ravens first TD and a 7-7 tie.

On the TD play, Boldin started on the left side of the offensive formation with Smith on the right. As Smith went deep to the back right corner of the end zone, taking a defender with him, Boldin dragged across the zone and found a soft spot on the right hash mark. As Flacco broke the pocket to his right and appeared to look for Smith in the end zone, the safety in the middle of the field bolted toward the corner, even the 2 defenders nearest to Boldin appeared to lean toward Smith (as if they could do anything about a potential throw from Flacco at that point) giving Boldin all of the space he’d need to dart straight toward the end zone, veering ever so slightly to the left and away from the crowd headed toward Smith in the back right corner.

On the next Ravens offensive series, their 5^th of the game, the Ravens began their drive with Smith dragging right to left and catching a 13-yard 1^st down on their first play. It was a nice throw by Flacco to put it where only Smith could get it, and a nice pick up by Smith on a ball low and away. On the next play, Flacco found Smith on their “bread and butter”, a deep shot down the right sideline with Smith catching and going out of bounds at the 4-yard line and setting up a Ray Rice dive for the Ravens second TD and a 14-7 lead.

For one week anyway, the armchair quarterbacks will be silenced.

Make that four days.

The Ravens hung on to beat the Bengals on Sunday, 31-24, setting up a huge Thanksgiving Day showdown with the San Francisco 49′ers and temporarily silencing the masses in Baltimore who spent most of last week hammering the Ravens offense after a lackluster performance in Seattle seven days ago.

A 31-point offensive output and a decent day for Joe Flacco (17/27, 2 TD’s) should be enough to shut everyone up until Thursday.

But maybe not.

The Bengals certainly made it interesting, and if not for a horrifyingly bad video review from referee Ron Winter in the 4th quarter, Baltimore could have found itself on the wrong end of a huge late-game meltdown.  Instead, the visitors faced a situation on their final drive that mandated a touchdown.  Cincinnati used a long throw to Jerome Simpson with one minute left to get the ball down to the Baltimore seven yard line, but the Ravens defense stiffened and held off Andy Dalton in the game’s final seconds.

Make no mistake about it, this was a huge win for the Ravens, as it moves them to 7-3 and in first place in the AFC North, owning the tiebreaker over idle Pittsburgh (7-3).

But it took everything the Ravens had on both sides of the ball to hold off the pesky Bengals, as Baltimore built a 31-14 lead in the final period before Cincinnati started to rally.

The outcome was even more critical for the Ravens because it came without Ray Lewis on the field.  The future Hall-of-Famer missed his first game since December 30, 2007 with a toe injury and is expected to miss Thursday’s home outing with the 49′ers as well.

The game featured a healthy dose of running back Ray Rice, who was able to make an impact both on the ground and in the air, running for 104 yards on 20 carries with two TD’s and adding 43 receiving yards.  A week ago, of course, Rice only touched the ball 13 times in the stunning loss at Seattle, causing an uproar with the fanbase throughout the week as everyone demanded more Ray Rice and less Cam Cameron.

Torrey Smith also had a huge day for the Ravens, outracing a beleaguered Bengals secondary and hauling in 6 catches for 165 yards and a 4th quarter touchdown.

Without Leon Hall, the Cincinnati secondary was vulnerable from the start, and the Ravens used an effective mix of run and throw to keep the Bengals guessing just enough to open up the passing lanes for Flacco and Company.

The Bengals are a pretty good team.  In year’s past, they’ve come into Baltimore as a shell of what they showed today and got blown out of the gym.  Sunday, the Ravens got their first glimpse of rookie QB Andy Dalton and he was decent enough to raise a few eyebrows, despite throwing three interceptions, including one late in the first half that halted what might have been an important scoring drive as the second quarter came to a close.  Playing without much-heralded rookie wide receiver A.J. Green, the Bengals offense still looked dangerous enough to cause some concern in the 4th quarter as Dalton scrambled for first downs and hooked up with Jerome Simpson on a huge pass play in the final minute that had the purple faithful chewing their nails.

It might have gone down to the wire, but it still counts as a win for the Ravens, who are now a perfect 3-0 in the AFC North and hold the edge over Pittsburgh by virtue of the season-series tiebreaker.

The Ravens won’t have much time to enjoy this one, but at least the next three days or so won’t include the routine bashing of Cameron and Flacco by the local barstool coaches.

It’s hard to argue with a victory.

Especially one against a division rival that gave you all you could handle.