THE DENNIS PITTA FACTOR
I could spend an unnecessarily long time examining and analyzing everything that happened on Sunday against the Vikings, but inclement weather made for a sloppy game that fans shouldn't use as an indicator of the current strength and state of the Baltimore Ravens. There was only one major aspect of Sunday's game that proved noteworthy and significant for the Ravens going forward: DENNIS PITTA.
One has but to read back over the Purple Nightmare posts of this season to see just what a factor I believed Dennis Pitta would be upon his return to the field. I caught a fair amount of flack from readers who assured me that Pitta probably wouldn't come back at 100% of what he was prior to his injury. Some insisted that they were quite positive Pitta should just rest up for the remainder of the season to be healthy for next year because he couldn't possibly make enough of a difference to save this mediocre team. I'm quite sure those fans are happy they were dead wrong. Pitta proved absolutely essential to the Ravens success last weekend with spectacular catches including his first touchdown of the season and a catch that set up the Ravens for a final successful touchdown attempt.
Dennis Pitta promptly proved that he remains a dominant receiving weapon to whom opposing teams much commit serious defensive effort and resources. With the addition of Dennis Pitta, the Ravens receiving corps is now complete with two world class burners on the outside (Smith and Jones), a huge young receiver in the slot (Marlon Brown), and now Joe Flacco's favorite tight end target who happens to possess some of the best hands in the league. With those four receivers on the field together, opposing defenses will unquestionably have their hands full. It, thus, bodes well for the Ravens that they travel to Detroit next week to face one of the worst pass defenses in the league and then a Patriots team the following week without two integral defensive cogs, Wilfork and Mayo, and their biggest offensive weapon, Rob Gronkowski.
POSSIBLE RAVENS PLAYOFF CLINCHING SCENARIOS
The Ravens are in control of their own destiny going forward, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have some help from other teams to ensure a 6th straight playoff appearance for Joe Flacco and company. The Ravens are currently tied in record with the Miami Dolphins at 7-6, but they own a tiebreaker with their head to head victory over the Fins earlier in this season. The Dolphins face the Patriots in Miami next Sunday, and that will mark one of the few times I will enthusiastically root for the Patriots in my life...maybe the only time. I'm quite confident the Patriots will win, but the Dolphins have looked impressive at times this season and a win at home over the Gronkless Patriots wouldn't be the biggest shock of the sporting world.
Another big game to which Ravens fans, players, and coaches should pay close attention this Sunday is the showdown between the Steelers and Bengals in Pittsburgh. The Bengals beat the Steelers earlier this season in Cincinnati, but the Steelers have performed far better since they last faced the Bengals. The Bengals have also lost two of their best defensive pieces during that time.
So what do we Ravens fans want to transpire on Sunday? Let's examine some possible scenarios. If the Steelers beat the Bengals, then the Bengals will be 9-5 with two more games to play. That means that the Ravens could actually win the AFC North by winning all three of their remaining regular season games. Winning the AFC North with a 10-6 record would likely secure a 4th seed in the playoffs and a home game against a wildcard team in the first round. If, however, the Bengals beat the Steelers and improve to 10-4, the Ravens chances of winning the division become far slimmer as the Bengals play the lowly Vikings at home in Cincy the following week. This means the best the Ravens could do is secure the final wildcard spot and the 6th seed in the playoffs.
The 6th seed in the playoffs wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, and here's why. If the Bengals beat the Steelers and the Patriots beat the Dolphins, the Ravens simply have to beat the slumping Lions on the road (not necessarily an easy task) and then beat the Patriots at home without Rob Gronkowski. If the Ravens can win both of those games, they can afford to sit their starters in the final week of the season against the Bengals the way they did last season in order to have a virtual bye week to allow their most important players to get fully healthy before going on the road in the postseason.
With all of that said, it's still possible that the Dolphins lose more than one of their remaining games and the Ravens somehow get into the playoff with an 8-8 record. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. The Ravens have 3 games ahead of them against potential playoff contenders, and getting into the playoffs won't mean much if the Ravens can't show at the end of the regular season that they're capable of beating and possibly even dominating the level of team that they'll face in January. The NFL has scheduled all of this quite nicely for Ravens fans as the Patriots-Dolphins game is at 1:00 on Sunday, and the Bengals-Steelers game is at 8:30 later that night. In other words, we'll have a better idea late Sunday night as to whether or not the Ravens will have a shot at the AFC North title, whether or not they will have an opportunity to sit their starters in Week 17, or whether or not they'll be forced to win out to simply secure a wildcard spot. It'll be downright blasphemous to root for the Steelers and Patriots on the same day, but I'll feel no shame in doing so if the Ravens make the playoffs. I asked repeatedly that Baltimore fans maintain their faith in the Ravens and wait until Dennis Pitta returned to truly evaluate the strength of this team. I'm glad they did. It ain't over yet, guys.
AS ALWAYS
GO RAVENS!!!
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