Ravens hitting their stride at the right time

The Ravens are hitting the point of the season where championship-caliber teams differentiate themselves, and they’re only getting better.

The Baltimore Ravens were supposed to beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 10. With Cincinnati winless and having a rookie quarterback getting his first NFL start, it seemed obvious that Baltimore was going to move to 7-2. But the beating the Ravens put on the Bengals proves they’re hitting their stride at the best possible time.

Before kickoff, I noted that this could be a trap game for Baltimore. While they were clearly the superior team on paper, we’ve seen the Ravens embarrass themselves previously under similar circumstances. In fact, it’s a familiar hole they’d fallen into too many times under coach John Harbaugh right as they looked to be on a roll and near the top of the league. But not this week and not this season apparently.

Baltimore’s offense got off to a quick start and never relented, finding room on the ground and through the air against the hapless Bengals. Quarterback Lamar Jackson had another brilliant game, going 15-of-17 for 223 yards, three passing touchdowns and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. He also torched Cincinnati on the ground to the tune of 65 yards and a touchdown, including his highlight-reel 47-yard run. It was a finely tuned game from the starting offense that saw them hang five total touchdowns before putting in backups in the fourth quarter.

The defense got in on the action as well, shutting down the Bengals offense. They pressured quarterback Ryan Finley, largely held running back Joe Mixon down and made two big plays, returning an interception and a fumble for touchdowns. What had been the worst unit on the team earlier this season has quickly turned around into an explosive and dangerous defense.

And that’s really the look of the entire team right now. They’ve gotten better with each and every game. They’re stronger than they were in Week 3 and far more dynamic both on offense and defense. They’ve beaten up on the top teams in the league and are now destroying the teams they should be beating. For as easy as that sounds in theory, look at how the Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs all lost in Week 10 to teams with no better than a .500 record.

This is the point where championship-caliber teams start to differentiate themselves. Injuries have piled up on all 32 teams, and there’s more than enough game film to establish weaknesses and mismatches. Yet Baltimore is the only team actually getting better right now.

With everything coming together on defense and opponents having no answer for Jackson and this unique offense, Baltimore is unquestionably one of the best teams in the league right now. And considering they’re built for cold-weather football, the Ravens are looking really scary. If they can keep this level of play up, there’s no reason to think Baltimore shouldn’t be a front-runner for the Super Bowl.

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Nate Evans commits to Tennessee

Nate Evans commits to Tennessee.

KNOXVILLE — Nate Evans has committed to the University of Tennessee.

Evans, a class of 2021 athlete from Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach, Va., committed to the Vols on Nov. 10. He took to Twitter and announced that he has committed to the Volunteers.

The Vols offered Evans on June 15 when the 2021 prospect attended a camp at Tennessee.

The 6-foot-1, 175-pound athlete who is expected to play cornerback holds Power 5 offers from Baylor, Florida State, Kentucky, Maryland, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Evans also holds four offers from Group of 5 schools: East Carolina, Liberty, Old Dominion and Southern Miss.

Freedom From Religion Foundation targets Missouri high school for pre, postgame prayer

The not for profit Freedom From Religion Foundation has targeted Cameron High School in Missouri for allegedly featuring coach-led pre and postgame prayer sessions on the field.

The not-for-profit Freedom From Religion Foundation has trained its sights on Cameron (Mo.) High School, where, “Coaches have reportedly been holding religious chapel services for players before and after games, where coaches pray with players and read and discuss bible verses.”

If true, such behavior is banned by constitutional separation of church and state, with Cameron head coach Jeff Wallace and assistant coach David Stucky both at risk of potential legal action if they continue leading their team in prayer. The team’s practice of postgame prayer led by coaches at the 50 yard line could be a particularly damaging twist against Wallace and Stucky.

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Missouri CBS affiliate KCTV spoke to the parent of a Cameron player and multiple fans at a recent game to survey whether they thought the Cameron players and coaches should be punished in some way for pre and postgame prayer.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the answer was overwhelmingly that parents feel players should be allowed to pray, even if that runs in the face of separation of church and state.

“If it were a situation where a coach or even another student said, ‘Get over here and pray,’ and that kid didn’t want to be a part of it, I understand,” Jeff Speer, the father of two Cameron players, told KCTV, “but they all want to be a part of it.

“(The Freedom From Religion Foundation complaint is) a very distracting thing that every single coach, football, player, fan — we all have to deal with.”

It is unknown when the Freedom From Religion Foundation will demand Cameron cease its practice of pre and postgame led prayer. Given past precedent, the request may well come sooner rather than later.

Todd Gurley on not getting the ball in 4th quarter: ‘I’m used to it’

Todd Gurley on not getting the ball in the fourth quarter: “I’m used to it.”

Todd Gurley has been a catalyst for the Rams’ offense the last two years. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2017 and 2018, and was named Offensive Player of the Year in Sean McVay’s first season as head coach.

This season has been alarmingly different for Gurley. He’s not getting the ball as much, he’s finding very few running lanes and the Rams are leaning heavily on Jared Goff’s arm. That recipe cooked up by McVay has backfired terribly with the Rams limping to a 5-4 record through nine games.

Gurley seems to have grown frustrated with the offense, specifically with his usage. In Sunday’s loss to the Steelers, Gurley didn’t touch the ball once in the fourth quarter and didn’t even play the first two series to open the final frame.

After the game, he was asked whether he wanted the ball more with the game on the line in the fourth quarter.

“Um, not really. I’m used to it,” he told reporters, via Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic.

So, you mean to tell me the guy who led the NFL in touches, yards and touchdowns the last two years doesn’t want the ball more in the fourth quarter? That’s hard to imagine, but it says a lot about the current state of the Rams.

In two short sentences, Gurley said more than he has all season. It’s troubling enough that he apparently doesn’t want the ball more with the game on the line, but it might be even worse that he’s “used to it.”

This isn’t to say there’s a rift developing between Gurley and McVay, but it’s clear the running back isn’t happy with his role on offense. As for why Gurley didn’t get the ball in the fourth quarter of a one-score game, McVay said it was “kind of just the rotation.”

“I thought Todd really had some tough, hard-earned runs,” McVay said in his press conference. “We got some drives going, but then at the end of the day, we ended up being in some two-minute situations at the end of the game and it was kind of hard to get back into any sort of flow running the football.”

The part about the Rams getting into two-minute situations late in the game isn’t entirely true. They shouldn’t have felt rushed at any point in the fourth quarter besides their final two drives of the game. Entering the last 15 minutes, the Steelers held just a four-point lead.

And after the Rams’ sack with 12:46 left to play, Pittsburgh was only up two points. What about that situation caused the Rams to panic and completely abandon the run after Gurley racked up 73 yards on 12 carries?

McVay and the coaches have a lot of questions to answer, but none are bigger than their usage of Gurley – and the running back has clearly taken notice of his role on offense.

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Players react to Titans’ 35-32 win over Chiefs

Hardly anyone saw it coming.

Hardly anyone saw it coming.

The Tennessee Titans (5-5) aimed to even out their record once more as the Kansas City Chiefs traveled to Nissan Stadium on Sunday, but many doubted their ability to accomplish that ahead of the game given the team’s overall inconsistency and struggles on offense this year.

But the Titans stayed competitive and came up with enough answers to beat the Chiefs, 35-32 at home.

Here’s a look at some player reactions from the thrilling victory.

The Titans face a visiting Jacksonville Jaguars team next on Nov. 24 at 3:05 p.m. CT in Nissan Stadium.

AFC North standings: Ravens sweep Bengals with Week 10 win

The Baltimore Ravens sweep the Cincinnati Bengals to keep their lofty lead in the AFC North standings through Week 10.

The Baltimore Ravens handled their business and beat the still-winless Cincinnati Bengals 49-13. It’s Baltimore’s first sweep of Cincinnati since the 2011 season and it marks another big win within the AFC North standings for the Ravens.

Baltimore will now finish no worse than 3-3 within the division, an important step to winning the AFC North. With a final game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns left on the schedule, the Ravens appear to have an insurmountable lead over the division at this stage.

Behind Baltimore is Pittsburgh, with their Week 10 win over the Los Angeles Rams. While they’re surging themselves, owning a four-game winning streak now, they still sit firmly behind the Ravens.

The Browns picked up a big win of their own, defeating the Buffalo Bills in the final minutes of the game to get their third win of the season. Though they remain well behind the Ravens within the division standings, there’s still plenty of season left to completely count them out.

The Bengals, on the other hand, are done. Having moved to 0-9, they’re now guaranteed to have a losing season. Though the AFC North isn’t exactly the toughest division in the league this year, it seems almost certain that a winning record is going to be needed to sit at the top of it. And with the playoffs firmly out of reach, Cincinnati has clearly moved into figuring out what talent they have on their roster and perhaps if rookie coach Zac Taylor will return in 2020.

Let’s take a look at the AFC North standings after Week 10.

AFC North standings:

Team Record Division Record Conference Record
Baltimore Ravens 7-2 3-1 5-2
Pittsburgh Steelers 5-4 1-1 4-2
Cleveland Browns 3-6 1-0 3-3
Cincinnati Bengals 0-9 0-3 0-5

The Ravens effectively hold a three-game lead over the Steelers in the AFC North standings after Week 10, thanks to their current head-to-head and division-record tiebreakers. Their Week 17 game looms in the horizon if Baltimore were to lose half of their next six games.

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3 big takeaways from Ravens’ 49-13 win over Bengals in Week 10

Here’s what the Ravens’ Week 10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals taught us about Baltimore entering the second half of the 2019 season.

The Baltimore Ravens avoided falling into a trap after their upset win over the New England Patriots, easily taking care of business against the Cincinnati Bengals with a 49-13 win. The team has risen to 7-2 atop the AFC North. With their Week 10 win over the Bengals, we know quite a lot more about where Baltimore sits entering the second half of their season.

Here are the three biggest takeaways from the Ravens’ Week 10 victory:

1. Baltimore is hitting its stride

AP Photo/Frank Victores

The Ravens got off to a hot start, going 2-0 with Lamar Jackson looking unstoppable. But then they lost the next two games with a defense that was frequently picked on and an offense that was struggling at times. Baltimore looked like it had patched up some of its weak spots in weeks 5 and 6 but still didn’t look like a real Super Bowl threat.

Then the Ravens went into Seattle and dominated the Seahawks in Week 7. It continued in Week 9 with an even more dominant over the previously undefeated Patriots. Both the offense and defense have been playing at a high level in recent weeks, and it has the Ravens well on their way to their second straight AFC North title.

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Titans-Chiefs: a look at defensive snap counts

Here’s a complete look at the defensive snap counts.

The Tennessee Titans (5-5) came into Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs (6-4) looking to get back to .500, and did exactly that as they pulled off a 35-32 win on their own turf.

Safeties Kevin Byard and Kenny Vaccaro along with cornerbacks Adoree Jackson and Logan Ryan played every snap of the game (82).

In special teams percentages, safeties Amani Hooker and Dane Cruikshank, in addition to linebacker Daren Bates all had 88%.

Here’s a complete look at the defensive snap counts.

The Titans will face the Jacksonville Jaguars next on Nov. 24 and 3:05 p.m. CT in Nissan Stadium.