Official Victory

I'm not sure what happened that got Mike Carey's crew all Baltimore hating yesterday, but that's sure what it seemed like watching the Lions' game. I'm not going to complain about the bad officiating or the more than questionable call on the replay of Joey Harrington's fumble that was picked up by Kevin Jones and advanced to the Baltimore 2, leading to a TD. But game did seem a little slanted in terms of penalties. Mind you, the Ravens did nothing to help themselves when they were bumping referees, grabbing umpires, throwing the ball in disgust after chewing out a linesman, or making an obscene gesture to the Detroit crowd after a great goal line stand.


For at least part of that I give Kevin Jones credit. After his first TD, on a nice 14 yard run in which he beat Ray Lewis to the corner, he mockingly danced in the end zone like Deion used to. The Ravens D took notice and got a little chippy with the Lions players who did not back down. Then after punching in the score following the reviewed and upheld fumble call, Jones aimed his dance moves at another Ravens defender. This time it was Ray Lewis. Then the Ravens D started to play a little dirty, as a former linebacker I feel horrible for saying that, which I am sure the Lions pointed out to the refs who began flagging the visitors for anything outside the letter of the rulebook.

Any win is a win, but the offense seemed to be bogged down once again. Maybe it's the fact that we have played three of the top 5 defenses in the NFL in our last three games. Maybe it's injuries taking a toll on us again. Maybe our WRs need to learn how to bring in the ball down the field. Maybe our QB needs to make better throws....Maybe I am on to something here. How many games can you possibly expect to win when your QB has a 52.7 passer rating? Well, we are one replay review away from being 3-1 (admittedly Joey's rating would be a smidge higher with that TD in Tampa) having beaten two teams with a combined record of 2-7. One of our defeats came at the hand of the only team with a worse passer, rating-wise, than the Lions.

That's right, only Kyle Orton has a worse passer rating than Joey Harrington. Kyle Orton was not a top 3 pick in the draft. Kyle Orton has not had four years to learn his offense. Kyle Orton doesn't have three WRs taken 2nd, 7th, and 10th overall in their respective drafts, and one of the best pass catching TEs in the league. Kyle Orton is a rookie who was drafted in the 4th round (103 picks later than Joey was taken in 2002) this year and was pressed into action when Rex Grossman broke his ankle for like the 7th time, and the Bears cut Chad Hutchinson because he was ineffective. Welcome to the NFL Kyle. You get to be the starter after only a month of reporting to your first NFL training camp. I'm not sure how much your contract with the Bears is worth, but I do know that your numbers could get you about $5 mil/year in Detroit.