By shelz.
Ray Lewis’ retirement was inevitable. I thought it would be last season once that second ring came in the mail. But after The Pats pick-pocketed Baltimore’s ticket to Indianapolis (and Ravens fans’ hearts along with it), just to meekly hand it over to Lil Manning and twinkle toes Cruz (sorry Odeisel) all bets were off. He returned with everyone knowing this HAD to be his final year, chasing that elusive Lombardi with a team good enough to capture it…or so we thought.
This year the Ravens have managed to break many of the golden rules that lit their previous paths into the playoffs. Losing at home. Hell, they lost back-to-back home games while giving up 80 gafillion (yes, I counted them and it was 80 gafillion) yards of offense to teams that didn’t deserve over a buck fifty, all while having wild verbal shoot outs in the locker room during which one fatality was logged.
Bye Cam.
And then there’s Flacco, a man I root for blindly because honestly some days you have to be blind to root for him. People began to question Harbaugh’s leadership, Ozzie’s wizard moniker and the team’s work ethic. By the fourth quarter, plenty of them looked like they were checking for the honeys in the stands. It just didn’t bode well for Ray Lewis’ purposeful last year.
To add insult to injury, or injury to insult as it were, Sizzle tore his Achilles and came back looking like Shirley from What’s Happening!. Ladarius Webb was out for the season due to an acl/lcl/bcl… whatever tear, Jimmy Smith suffered a sports hernia (is there a corner in the house?) and Lewis tore his triceps. Not to be outdone, Shirley tore her bicep and the chocolate milkshakes stopped flowing at Rob’s Place for weeks.
*Sigh.
Yanda, Reed and Ngata nursed injuries and at some point, every single one of the Ravens’ defensive pro bowlers were standing on the sidelines looking like the billionaires boys club filming an episode of “M.A.S.H.” If it could go wrong it did.
But even as all that chaos, nonsense, anger and disappointment swirled around this squad, they still managed to make the playoffs; a back-in courtesy of an even more disappointing Steeler squad. That same ticket Sterling Moore snatched from Baltimore’s greedy little fingers almost a year ago is back in our pockets and 52 is going to suit up Sunday for his last home hurrah (unless the Bengals unleash their inner Tiggers and bounce all over the Texans and Broncos while The Ravens take out Indianapolis and our soon to be favorite enemy, The Patriots)
Adding even more intriguing subplots, Sunday’s game is against the Ravens’ former Defensive Coordinator and the city of Baltimore’s former team (who happen to be lugging the 29th ranked run defense with them into Charm City to say hey to Ray Rice). It’s just one game and possibly the easiest of the next four we would love our team to play, but it’s necessary like roughness and I believe in baby steps. Haven’t you seen What About Bob?
I know screaming Super Bowl right about now is hokey and crazy and damned unlikely, but dammit so are a lot of things that happen in this world. I say go in Baltimore. And hype this ish up til The Ravens come home to roost. Every day above ground is a good day and your team is still above ground. Until plans are made to raise 52 to the rafters Ray Lewis is still a Raven chasing that more-than-ever elusive Lombardi. Your belief isn’t as necessary as some hella awesome schemes and even more awesome field execution, along with a rabbit’s foot, a 4 leaf clover and a Luck doll full of needles right now. But you’ll come around. Right after 52’s 2nd ring comes in the mail.
Go Ravens! And Go Ray!
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