Ravens Roasted, Time To Sing ADirge

  Watching the Ravens lose for the second time to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday was mindful of an 18th century British nursery rhyme:
  “Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye.
    Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie…..’
  Taking a few liberties, it was 38 Ravens who were baked, basted and battered by the Bengals.  In their first encounter three weeks ago the Ravens fully utilized their crying towels after committing three costly penalties to give Carson Palmer enough chances to find wide receiver Andre Caldwell open in the end zone for the winning touchdown.
  But this second encounter was devoid of any real drama. It was decided in the first 23 minutes when Cincinnati scored on its first three possessions to take a 17-0 lead. Baltimore played a futile game of catch-up the rest of the balmy afternoon, including a blown fourth-quarter 34-yard field goal attempt by Steve (“Wide Left’’) Hauschka that killed the Ravens’ momentum.
  At one point late in the tell-tale first half, the Ravens had almost as many penalty yards (73) as offensive production (85).  Clearly, Bengals’ boss Marvin Lewis, who played a major role in the Ravens’ Super Bowl victory in directing the unyielding, opportunistic defense, has now created a similar one in Cincinnati.
  Joe Flacco was under constant pressure from linebacker Brandon Johnson and safety Chinedum Ndukwe while cornerback Johnathan Joseph did an excellent job of limiting prime target Derrick Mason to three receptions.  And in the desperate closing minutes, the Bengals sacked Flacco three straight times. Praised in recent weeks for his ability to avoid the rush, he appeared as mobile against the fast-charging Bengals as Johnny Unites’ statue outside M&T Stadium.
  Offensively, in the words of sagacious Yogi Berra, it was déjà vu all over again.  Palmer and gifted Chad Ochochinco played their familiar game of catch in tormenting the Ravens’ undersized and under-achieving secondary, with the trash-talking Ochocinco, save for a late fumble, making a number of eye-popping receptions on the sidelines. Until the second half, a Ravens’ pass rush was conspicuously absent, only making it that much tougher for Fabian Washington and Domonique Foxworth to cover Ochohinco and sidekick Laveranues Coles, who had a team-high six receptions.
  And halfback Cedric Benson, who torched the Ravens in the first encounter, staged a repeat performance in gaining 117 yards on 34 carries.
  Again, mighty-mite Ray Rice did his best in trying to create something out of nothing for the Ravens, accounting for 135 total yards running and receiving, although a large hunk of this came on the meaningless final play of the game.
  But for three quarters, the Ravens exhibited no sense of urgency in what was considered a “must-win’ situation against the division-leading Bengals. Usually, we respect the wisdom of the Las Vegas odds-makers, who made the Ravens surprising 3-point favorites playing on the road.
  In retrospect, we believe they were misguided by Baltimore’s overpowering performance in thumping the previously-unbeaten Denver Broncos, 30-7, a week earlier.
But the bookies forgot that the Broncos’ Chris Orton, seemingly incapable of throwing the ball more than 10 yards, is no Carson Palmer.
    And so the.perplexing Ravens followed up their best performance of the season with clearly their worst. Their previous three losses to New England, Cincinnati and Minnesota were all winnable games. But this one was just plain embarrassing.
  Only the most optimistic, or near-sighted booster can now believe that the 4-4 Ravens have a legitimate chance of making the playoffs. Yes, there are three very winnable games left with Cleveland, Detroit and Oakland, and an upset on the road against Green Bay is not inconceivable.  Previously-winless Tampa Bay stunned the Packers, 38-28. The Bears, who visit here Dec. 20, are also vulnerable, crushed 41-21 by Arizona and Curt Warner.
    But an unlikely sweep of these rivals would only give the Ravens nine wins. It appears that the Ravens would need to at least gain a split with Pittsburgh or upset still-unbeaten Indianapolis to repeat last year’s successful playoff run. The Colts looked shaky in outlasting Houston, 20-17.
    Presently, there seems to be too many holes on both sides of the line to raise our hopes too high.  Perhaps the most significant Raven did not play a down on Sunday.  That’s massive defensive tackle Haloti Ngata who was nursing a sprained ankle. Ngata’s presence is needed to provide a pass rush or occupy enough territory to allow Terrell Suggs, Jarrett Johnson and/or Trevor Pryce access to the rival quarterback.
    It is also too late to shore up the secondary, although Lardarius Webb showed promise after replacing an injured Washington in the second half.
    The Ravens’ coaching staff also has to find a way to fast-start the offense.  All too often, Flacco has been asked to provide late comebacks.  He has been far from consistent in hooking up on deep patterns to Mark Clayton, Mason and Kelley Washington.  Too much of the offense depends on Rice and tight end Todd Heap turning short passes into first-down yardage.
  It may just be time to follow the late Charley Eckman’s familiar advice to “Call a cab.  No, call two cabs and back up the bus.’
  Or as Brooklyn Dodgers’ manager Charley Dressen uttered after watching Bobby Thompson’s homer give the Giants’ an improbable pennant, Wait ‘til next year!’