Talk About a Bitter Ending….
I’m not going to talk much about it right now, because blogging while angry is like drunk-texting your exes - not a good idea.
I don’t want y’all thinking I’m in my room pouting because we lost, though (more like indulging in a little online retail therapy but hey, whatever works, yeah?) so I’m going to just leave you with a few thoughts about the game as quickly and painlessly as I can before I move on with my life.
- To state the obvious, this sucks (for Ravens fans). We were soooooooo close and the way it ended - again! - might just be harder to take than if we’d played poorly and looked like we didn’t deserve to win.
- The team deserves better, or at least the key components - Joe Flacco, Ray Lewis, Ray Rice, Ed Reed, even John Harbaugh - deserve better. As tough as it is for the fans, man, it has to be a thousand times worse for them.
- Ray Lewis is coming back. There was pressure on the team this year to get back to the Super Bowl while Ray and Ed were still playing, because they’re nearing the end of the careers and they’ve certainly done just about everything they could to get us back there. Lewis has already said he’s not done, though, so maybe the Ravens can finally - FINALLY - get there next year.
- If you want to talk about somebody doing everything he can to get us to the Super Bowl, how about #5? Flacco gets a bad rap, and sometimes he deserves the criticism, but not today. Not this time. I get as frustrated with that dude as anybody, but I was completely impressed with him today. His pocket presence was maybe the best I’ve seen it; for once, I think I was more freaked out by the pressure on the quarterback than Joe was. And he made the big throws when it counted. Too bad his receivers couldn’t catch them.
- One of my keys to the game was the receivers being able to catch the ball. Five drops last week, at least three this week. Ed Dickson had a big drop (although he almost redeemed himself by somehow managing to hold on to the ball when he had six Patriots on him trying to strip it), but no drop was bigger than Lee Evans’ almost-game-winning touchdown catch in the final minute. Maybe there should’ve been pass interference, but c’mon. You’re seconds away from the Super Bowl and you made the game winning catch - that ball shouldn’t leave your hands until you’re exchanging it for an AFC Champions t-shirt.
- Billy Cundiff. Oh, Billy Cundiff. Normally, I’d feel bad for the dude, but since he’s the reason my team’s not going to the Super Bowl, I don’t have a lot of sympathy. On the other hand, the loss can’t be dropped squarely on his stupid wonky foot. If he makes the kick, it doesn’t win the game; it just prolongs it. That’s it. Yes, he absolutely, positively, should have made that kick. It’s 32 yards. That’s not asking a lot. Still, he wouldn’t have been in a position to lose or tie the game if the rest of the team had taken care of business before the final seconds. (See #4 and #5). And for the record, I’m not sure I would’ve retained Cundiff after he was injured earlier in the season. I hate saying that, but he hasn’t been the same and as we just saw, your kicking game has to be ROCK solid just in case the game does come down to a field goal.
- The Ravens’ defense, minus Dannell Ellerbe, played well. I was hoping for three interceptions, and technically, we got four (although two didn’t count). I would’ve liked to see Brady take a few more hard hits, but he wasn’t able to carve up the Ravens’ D like everyone seemed to think he would, and even though I had nothing to do with that, I’m pretty proud of it all the same.
- Fear the Fu. Flacco and TE Dennis Pitta have been engaged in some sort of Fu-growing competition since Thanksgiving, and against NE, a number of the Ravens’ clutch plays were Flacco to Pitta. They can go ahead and shave them off now (or not…they’re sort of growing on me), but I have high hopes for the Fu-to-Fu, Flacco-to-Pitta connection on the field in the future.
- Brandon Spikes is dirty (that was established back in college, though, wasn’t it?). NOT a fan. Wes Welker’s ‘stache is dirty. And he’s as much of a whiny divo as Tom Brady. (Sports in Stilettos is 100% Team Bridget Moynihan.)
- I am so incredibly proud to be a Baltimore Ravens fan. Lord knows it’s frustrating being a Baltimore sports fan, what with the O’s zillion consecutive losing seasons and the Ravens’ consecutive losses in the AFC Championship, but I’d rather suffer through games like today rocking my purple and black than go to the Super Bowl with anyone else.
