Arizona Cardinals vs. Baltimore Ravens: NFL Week 8 Review

Columns

Cardinals 27 – Ravens 30

Daniels blames the Cardinals coaching.  Are they sucking for Luck? “When a team concedes a 27 point lead, it’s on the coach more than it’s on the defense.  There’s not a lot else to say.  It took the Ravens an awful long time to do what a good team should have done in the first half.”

Rhett Davis, however, focuses on the Ravens as contenders: “After being down by three scores, the Ravens overcame the odds and winged down the red birds.  The Ravens are a team to watch this year.  They always have a good to great defense, but this year is Ray Lewis’ last.  You have to think he is more determined than any to finally win the big one.  With that kind of determination, I think the Ravens are a team to watch in the AFC.  As for the game, the Cardinals are poor and may even have a difficult time next week with the Rams.  The Cardinals main problem was Ray Rice, who continues to be one of the top (if not THE top) running backs this year, scoring three touchdowns.  The Ravens are a team to watch and the Cardinals are only going to go down from here.”

My Take: The Ravens aren’t, to me, contenders, so long as Joe Flacco is their QB.  Any good team with any kind of pressure will get to him, and they have a long way to go for a bye in the playoffs, so asking their defense to carry them 4 times before Flacco kills them is a tall order.  Ray Rice is great, but with the current rules, you can’t win in the NFL without a top level QB.  That’ll stop the Ravens.  If the Colts end up with Luck, and I’m the Ravens, I trade the moon for Peyton.  Arizona seem to have realized that Kolb is not the answer and are fine with losing for Luck rather than being mediocre.  That or the coaches have totally lost the team, but that hardly explains the huge early lead, then, does it?

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.