UNLEASHED/ Rising Blackbird

Baltimore Ravens open the season with a 17-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. DOUG KAPUSTIN/BALTIMORE SUN STAFF PHOTO. DIGITAL IMAGE #DSK_9390 MANDATORY CREDIT: Baltimore Examiner and Washington Examiner OUT" width="500" height="393" />

BALTIMORE, MD -- 9/7/08 - Quarterback Joe Flacco scampers 28 yards for a touchdown as the Baltimore Ravens open the season with a 17-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. DOUG KAPUSTIN/BALTIMORE SUN STAFF.

baf·fle - ” to frustrate or confound; thwart by creating confusion or bewilderment.“

Browns Backers,

With the Browns officially stumbling out of the gate at 0-2, and limping for help, things couldn’t be much worse right? with the current state of affairs looking as bad as the current Wall Street scare at least we aren’t Lehman Bros, but with the rash of injuries and the latest ones to OL Eric Steinbach and DE Robaire Smith, this is not the best time to be take a serious hit on the offensive line, and you have to wonder did Crennel have the Browns practicing in tutus or something?

Maybe the Browns could transform in the New York Giants and become road warriors during the next two weeks with both Baltimore and Cincinnati, not to say being 2-2 at the bye is a given, but with the disastrous stumbling out of the gate the Browns have had they may need the road asphalt to help scrap off the egg on their collective face.

With the Browns set to play Baltimore at 4:15 Sunday they will go against former Pitt transfer and Delaware QB, Joe Flacco who currently has the Ravens at 1-1 has played fairly well since being anointed starting QB over Troy Smith and Kyle Boller, even though he has one game under his belt(the other was canceled due to Hurricane Ike), the 6-6 standout has one win already and along with Matt Ryan became the pair of rookie QB’s to win on opening day since Archie Manning, for New Orleans against the Rams, and Jim Plunkett, for New England over Oakland in 1971, and in doing so had a modest performance in going 15-29 for 129 yards against Cincinnati.

If there was one positive from the Pittsburgh game was the much better play of the defense in slowing down the dangerous spread-offense of Big Ben and finally created SOME pressure, so at least its a start, and if the Browns are to win this game they MUST do more of the same and attack Flacco early and often wite pressure, pressure and more pressure!! And can we please have our offense back please!

Talk about a vanishing act that would make David Copperfield proud, I think we may have to put out a Amber Alert on the one-time(?) high flying Cleveland offense because they are gone baby gone(great movie BTW!!) and with the way they are not looking like they will return anytime soon with their play, RIGHT NOW they have the 30th ranked offense in the league and average the next to last fewest at 8.0 per game..yikes!

Bad Derek has officially decided to chill with Anderson because he has really not looked the same since preseason and I’m not sure if teams have finally figured him by watching game film or if he is still in a fog from his concussion but his 57.1 QB rating along with 1 TD and 2 INT’s is a far cry from where he was last year when he has his breakout game against Cincinnati, hopefully going against his former team who decide to drop him might light a fire under his ass!

All around the team stinks and needs a bottle of AXE bodyspray to cover up the stench ASAP because history has not been too kind to teams they have started 0-2 according to Len Pasquarelli of BESPN that since 1990, when the NFL adopted its current 12-team playoff format, 128 franchises began a season 0-2, and only 17 of those clubs, or 13.3 percent, qualified for postseason play.

So the Browns better grab themselves a shovel and start digging their way out and Sunday looks like a good chance against a rookie QB,

Prediction : Browns 24 Ravens 14

Ravens Nevermore!!

Dawgfather