NFL Playoffs: Will Ray Lewis Dance to NOLA?

(Originally posted at coachsspeak.weebly.com on 1/11/13).

The Baltimore Ravens, riding the emotional wave of the retirement announcement of the face of their franchise since their inception in 1996—Ray Lewis—going into their Wild Card Game matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, look to buck a few trends and continue Ray’s dance to Bourbon Street.

Peyton Manning’s Dominance over Baltimore:
Manning is 9-0 versus the Ravens during his career with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions, including sporting a 2-0 record against the black birds from Baltimore in the playoffs according to ESPN.com. 

The Denver Broncos are also riding an 11-game winning streak after starting off to a sluggish 2-3 start, and many pundits speculating Manning no longer could throw the deep ball post-neck-surgery. 

Now Manning is mentioned in a short list of league MVP candidates with Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson and Green Bay Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers. 

However, the Broncos faced two playoff teams during that streak--two road wins over Cincinnati 31-23 Week 9 and over the Ravens 31-17 Week 15. 

Denver caught the Ravens at the right time during their Week 15 match-up.  The Ravens were without four of their top five tacklers (Lewis--torn triceps, DE Terrell Suggs--torn Biceps, LB Donell Ellerbie and SS Bernard Pollard—concussion), and all will start in Saturday’s divisional Playoff game. 


 
BABY its Cold Outside!
Manning’s steak against the Ravens could very-well come to an end if numbers truly never lie.  Weather forecasts predict game-time temperatures to by 19 degrees with snow flurries. 

In playoff games below 40 degrees, Manning is 0-3.  All three losses were over seven years ago when the Colts were Manning, Swiss cheese for a defense and a psychologically fragile kicker.  Two of those losses were in Foxboro to the New England Patriots (it could have been 70 degrees and sunny and the Colts still weren’t going to win).

Will the Real Joe Flacco Please Stand Up!
Which Joe Flacco will we see in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, the confident Flacco who torched the Indy Colt secondary in last week’s wild-card round or the deer-in-the-headlights Flacco that completed a little under 53% of his passes in six losses this season.

Flacco has performed better since the firing of OC Cam Cameron last month.  The no-huddle offense, emphasized by interim OC Jim Caldwell, is better fitting to Flacco’s game better than the methodical (yet predictable) style of Cameron. 

Since the change at OC Flacco is 57-99 for 845 yards with 6 touchdown to only 1 interception and 3 sacks.

Hey Diddle-Diddle!
Ravens running back Ray Rice’s propensity to fumble in the playoffs reared its ugly head again last week against the Colts when he coughed it up two times.  Rice has lost four fumbles in his playoff career compared to rice not losing any fumbles during the regular season.

Hey diddle-diddle Ray Rice hold on to the ball while you go up the middle!

Predictions:
The Ravens will cover the 10-point spread Las Vegas has spotted the Broncos—these are the spots the Ravens usually relish, the whole “they not giving us any respect” card. 

But the Ravens defense, though as healthy as they have been all season, will finally hit the emotional wall against a rested Denver team.

Andrew Luck and the young Colts (redundant I know) rattled off 89 plays, 152 yards rushing with running backs only Fantasy football-heads could name, and 38-minutes time of possession on this defense riding the emotional wave of “let’s win this one for Ray!”; Peyton Manning virtually invented the volume offense ten years ago and mastered it five years ago.  The only running back the Ravens defense has stopped lately is a hobbled Ahmad Bradshaw Week 16.

Uncle Ray-Ray”s dance to NOLA will end in Denver.

Denver 28 – Baltimore 20