Renewing acquaintances with the franchise that was formerly the bane of their existence, the Ravens travel to Jacksonville to take on the 1-5 Jaguars and to try to retain their hold of the AFC North through the first seven weeks of the 2011 season.
Jacksonville dominated the Ravens in the infancy of the Baltimore franchise, winning the first eight meetings before a 39-36 victory in Sept. 2000 ended the Jaguars’ run of supremacy and propelled the Ravens toward their first Super Bowl championship. The last-second victory sparked the Ravens’ current run of seven victories in eight tries with the games between the two more sporadic after divisional realignment in 2002.
With tonight’s game appearing to be a mismatch due to Jacksonville having, statistically-speaking, the worst offense in the NFL and the 32nd-ranked passing attack, the Ravens will be hell-bent on slowing down Maurice Jones-Drew and the Jaguars’ rushing attack. Possessing the league’s third-ranked run defense, Baltimore appears equipped to handle it.
The Ravens are 7-8 all-time on Monday Night Football and will look to improve to 4-2 in Monday night games played in the John Harbaugh era. All six of those Monday affairs, however, have been played on the road.
Tonight will mark the return of rookie cornerback Jimmy Smith, who has been sidelined since sustaining a high ankle sprain in the season opener against Pittsburgh on Sept. 11. The first-round pick will not start, but he is expected to receive playing time against the Jaguars after practice fully on Friday and Saturday.
Here are tonight’s inactives:
Baltimore
WR Lee Evans
G Ben Grubbs
LB Dannell Ellerbe
RB Anthony Allen
S Tom Zbikowski
CB Chris Carr
LB Sergio Kindle
Jacksonville
WR Chastin West
S Courtney Greene
G Jason Spitz
G Eben Britton
TE Martin Rucker
WR Jarett Dillard
DT Nate Collins
Luke Jones
Luke Jones is the Ravens and Orioles beat reporter for WNST BaltimorePositive.com and is a PFWA member. His mind is consumed with useless sports knowledge, pro wrestling promos, and movie quotes, but he often forgets where he put his phone. Luke's favorite sports memories include being one of the thousands of kids who waited for Cal Ripken's autograph after Orioles games in the summer of 1995, attending the Super Bowl XXXV victory parade with his dad in the pouring rain, and watching the Terps advance to the Final Four at the Carrier Dome in 2002. Follow him on social media @BaltimoreLuke or email him at Luke@wnst.net.
8
Paid Advertisement
Podcast Audio Vault
88Paid Advertisement
Share the Post:
8Paid Advertisement
Right Now in Baltimore
Podcasts, Pearl Jam passion and the present tense with The Mayne Event
They met on the backstretch at Pimlico three decades ago and The Mayne Event always returns and never disappoints for sports, comedy, charity and why Eddie Vedder shouldn't trust Nestor. Longtime ESPNer Kenny Mayne checks in for another round of tales of wiffle ball with Ken Griffey, podcasts with the other Manning and still being pissed off about the Sonics (and Pilots) departure from Seattle.
Running back Tampa 25 years later with Ravens RB coach Matt Simon
These milestones continue to add up as the 25th anniversary of the Baltimore Ravens' Super Bowl XXXV win is coming later this month and Nestor is catching up with many of the Purple Reign legacies about life – on and off the field – as we celebrate the night we all felt the civic pride of that first miracle in Tampa. Reflections here with the man who coached Jamal Lewis, Priest Holmes, Sam Gash and Femi Ayanbadejo a quarter of a century ago.
The Ravens weren't good enough on the field
Firing the head coach and changing leadership will certainly create an interesting offseason in Owings Mills. No one covers the Xs and Os of the NFL like Mike Tanier of Too Deep Zone. The one-time geometry teacher of Joe Flacco joins Nestor to discuss the depth and salary cap numbers of the Baltimore Ravens roster and the structural changes Eric DeCosta will need even after Steve Bisciotti finds a new captain to lead Lamar Jackson.
888Paid Advertisement
