Where we stand...

[BmoreBrawla]

Right now I project the Ravens as a wild card team,so take that for what its worth(prob. not much :) Denver is a huge game for tiebreaking purposes as well as overall record.

Steelers 12-4

Ravens WC, 10-6(Beat denver, pitt, Chicago, Oakland, Cincy, Detroit, Cleveland; Lose to Indy, Pitt, GB)

Cincy 10-6 but out of the playoffs due to common opponents matchup with Ravens( Ravens beat Denver and SD, Bungles beat Denver but not SD)

Indy- Didnt bother calculating, theyre in

SD 11-5

Denver WC, 11-5

NE 11-5

NYJ 9-7 and out of the playoffs

[Dade]

Cincy 10-6 but out of the playoffs due to common opponents matchup with Ravens( Ravens beat Denver and SD, Bungles beat Denver but not SD)

Didn't the Bungles to Denver, remember the tipped pass. That only makes their record against common opponents even weaker.

[Boulderraven]

For sure pulling for Denver, if Denver wins it will look like
Divisions
AFE NE- Easy winner
AFCS Colts Easy winner
AFCN Steelers, they are better than we are at this point, but could change
AFCW Broncos easy winner if they win

So WC possibilities are

Jets- Rookie QB
Bengles- lost Odom and Peko( huge losses)
Houston-
Jax
San Diego
Ravens
So Ravens are in the hunt with for 2 spots with 6 other teams/ possible. Be great if Minnie beats Steelers next week, tied in loss column.

[Gabrosin]

I swear, I've never seen so many people absolutely panic.

Yes, the pass defense is an issue. A big issue. All teams have issues, and this is our biggest one, though not nearly our only one.

Yes, at 3-3 we're not feeling very secure in our playoff chances, knowing that we'll probably need to make 10-6 to get in, with a very tough schedule the rest of the way.

But it's not about trying to point to this game or that game and saying "that's a win, that's a loss". We can't know that yet. We can be pretty confident about Detroit and Oakland and Cleveland. The rest? We just have to keep plugging away.

We lost to New England in New England by six points. We were a fourth down drop away from having a few good shots at the end zone and a very real chance of winning. New England, we can all agree, is a pretty damn good team.

We lost to Minnesota in Minnesota by two points. We were a missed field goal attempt in the final seconds from winning outright. Minnesota is 6-0, and again, we can all agree they're a damn good team.

We lost to Cincinnati at home by three points in a game we absolutely threw away with stupid penalties in the final drive. Period. We didn't look great; it was the one game of the season where the offense has looked anything less than stellar (when you consider all 60 minutes of play). We caught them when their defense was completely amped up because of their coach's loss, and we let it get away. Cincinnati is an average team who's caught some good breaks so far. But they're not chumps.

And in three straight games, when we've been down late, we've seen Joe Flacco and the offense drive in the fourth quarter. We've done exactly what we needed to do: put our team in position to win. We just haven't sealed the deal.

So yeah, we're 3-3. Yeah, we have our flaws. But do you really think this team isn't going to win some of these close ones? Do you really think we're not going to take one or two of those remaining games and absolutely pulverize a team that's expected to beat us? I don't know who it's going to be. Denver would be a good start. Cincinnati in Cincy would be even better. Pittsburgh ANYWHERE would be best of all. But we will start pulling these games out. We're going to get Gaither back on our line. We're going to have fresh running backs throughout the season. We're going to continue to have success through the air. And our defense will get it together because there are leaders on this team who won't let us continue getting embarrassed.

I hope Greg Mattison goes back to the drawing board and figures out how to handle the spread offense, how to put our safeties in a place to make plays, how to run a goddamn zone blitz without it looking like a train wreck. I hope Ed Reed sits Dawan Landry down in the film room and teaches him how to play his responsibility without looking like a tool. I hope the team realizes that Frank Walker needs safety help on a go route, and Washington and Foxworth need LB coverage underneath to help with bigger, stronger receivers, and Chris Carr needs... well, something to make him more like last year's version of Chris Carr. These are not interchangeable pieces at corner. These are not Champ Bailey and Nnamdi Asomugha. You have to give these guys help and not put so much on them on every play, unless you can magically start up the pass rush again. And if it means playing more two-deep safeties and more back to basics pass rushes and less trying to be like last year's innovative Rex Ryan defense, I'm fine with that. We're not that team any more. But we're still a team that can make it work. We're still a team that can make the playoffs. We're still a team that no one really wants to face. Our margin of error is much thinner... but panic? No. It's not time to panic.

Of course, if we lose to Denver... then we can all panic :D

[Boulderraven]

problem is an NFL season is only 16 games, you cant be giving away games like the Ravens are doing, the margin for error is too thin, I dont think this is the Ravens year, breaks not going there way. Defense is average at best. If they do get one of the WC spots they will be bounced on the road pretty easy, it's about winning your division, getting home playoff games, dont see it happening, not satified with squeeking into playoffs to lose on the road.

[psuasskicker]

Stinger, I agree with you overall, but I do think the defense has a pretty easy fix. Gap integrity. If we can maintain our gap integrity, the defense can turn itself around in a hurry. The biggest problem this defense has is that it's giving up big plays because the LBs and DBs aren't being disciplined in maintaining their assignments. It's like they're all gambling to hit the big play, and it's burning them pretty badly.

The secondary will continue to be a weaker link, but overall it's still good enough to win most games. Let's face facts here...we've lost three very close games to three very good teams. Take away one or two big plays from each of those teams and we win those games. Those plays make the difference...we have to stop allowing them.

- C -

[Jeremiah W]

We can still win the division.

As much as it hurts right now, there have been a lot of positives in th last 3 games. One of which is the negatives and problems seem pretty obvious even though the solutions are not.

The DB play pretty much could not get worse, so almost by default it has to get better. There are a lot of good young players on the bench that need to get some snaps. I would like to see what one of the back ups can do at the SS spot, CB spots, DL rotation and OLB/ 3rd down pass rush specialist spots.

Maybe it was just because they drove right down the feild on the 1st team, but to me it looked like everything changed when they took 97 out and put 91 in. Buddy Lee has been getting blocked badly the last 2 weeks, mostly 1 on 1, but be clearly can not hold the point anymore vs a combo block. At all.

They did also reduce the 3-4 look down with the bear look and cover both Gs after a while, but before that, they were flat out blowing our DL off the ball, and so were the Bengals last week at times. I think we need to see Buddy Lee coming in off the bench with a much more rapid rotation up front starting out with the size of McKinney and Nagta, and then bringing in the skills of Gregg once the O line is a little tired. The same thing with Pryce, even though he is playing very well, I would rather have him in there on long yardage or 3rd down only and let Edwards and the other bigs get those run down reps.

The young LBs also need to be turned loose on those 3rd and longs and not asked to cover. Barnes blew a tackle like everyone else was doing, but he was getting pressure on Palmer.

[StingerNLG]

Stinger, I agree with you overall, but I do think the defense has a pretty easy fix. Gap integrity. If we can maintain our gap integrity, the defense can turn itself around in a hurry. The biggest problem this defense has is that it's giving up big plays because the LBs and DBs aren't being disciplined in maintaining their assignments. It's like they're all gambling to hit the big play, and it's burning them pretty badly.

The secondary will continue to be a weaker link, but overall it's still good enough to win most games. Let's face facts here...we've lost three very close games to three very good teams. Take away one or two big plays from each of those teams and we win those games. Those plays make the difference...we have to stop allowing them.

- C -

I think that could be a key to stopping the bleeding too, but part of that is getting the safeties to play right. Ed Reed, G-d love him, has got to learn that he cannot try to break himself on every play, and sometimes he needs to run back down the middle of the field to help Frank Walker with Sydney Rice. Maybe Reed gets back there in time to help make a play on that ball. And if it wasn't supposed to be Reed and it was supposed to be Landry, he needs to get his ass back there.

But I am wondering if we have the overall talent to make this happen. That's what's really bothering me right now.