over Detroit, Ray Rice didn’t see any more action, and that’s why Willis McGahee went off for 76 yards on 12 carries and two TD’s. That said, Chicago is not Detroit and while I do expect a Ravens win, it will be nowhere near that easy even though I’d love to see it happen.

With Chicago’s run defense being rated low, I fully expect a lot of running and therefore if I had Rice on my team, I’d definitely play him. I have the Ravens defense and while they haven’t had anywhere near the turnovers they got last year, I’m hoping for some stray Cutler throws to hit us in the chest.

and a steal at #23 of the 1st round. He was picked 18 selections after the Bengals’ Andre Reed and has been a huge reason that Rice has those open holes to run through. He started off at RT but has played LT a couple of times due to injuries on that side. Most recently, he was the LT for last week’s win over the Lions, where the Ravens rushed for 308 yards as a team and averaged over 7 yards/carry!

I expect Rice to be a feature back from now on. However, even though he put on about 15 pounds on his upper body this off season (210 pounds), he is still relatively small to take the rigors of a 16 game season. I would protect him with a limit of around 20 carries a game, and with both Willis McGahee and LeRon McClain on his team, I’d spread the carries around to them to keep Rice fresh. On Baltimore Beatdown, I did a story this week about our offense being too predictable and relying on giving the ball to Rice way too often, especially after he goes off and breaks a long one, they almost always go right back to him, which I can’t stand.

I’m tellin you, that Iowa coach will be a great NFL coach. He’s a run, ball control freak.

So you could make a run at him, but I think Ozzie will want to keep him. Not sure about Ed Reed this week. I think he will play, just to get warmed up when we go to Pittsburgh the game after. After he intercepts Cutler 2 times in the first half, he will most likely be pulled since we will be winning 24-3 at that point. No disrespect, but Cutler is just bad man.

I know it’s been rough, but you guys are some of the biggest fans out there. How can you just give up on the team? Sure, they are out of the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still fight and knock us out.

But thanks for supporting the Ravens!

Hard to say. I know he’s getting up in age, and I know he said that he felt as healthy as he ever has. But… No one covers the middle of this Bears defense like he does, especially dropping into coverage. This year is really showing how much he means to that defense.

Cutler and WRs… Depends on if you believe that a bigger/better WR helps more than a better O-Line does. We do need a veteran wide receiver, and we had a huge debate about that here last week, which we would rather get first – a WR or a solidified O-Line. My position was the O-Line is more needed than a better WR, but maybe you can answer that better, lol – what do you think helps Flacco more, Mason’s (veteran) presence or the good offensive line?

For Jay’s style, we will need a bigger WR (maybe Aromashodu grows into that role?), but we still need to figure out what we’re doing on the line before we worry about WR adjustments, IMO.

Put Joe Montana in his prime behind the line we have, OC, we have, and WRs we have and he would suck…maybe not as sucky as Jay

I also think Cutler is to blame on some levels too…a little too cocky-but that’s what you get with a gunslinger-type QB. Feast or famine…

We have no 1st or 2nd round picks this year traded them away our 1st round for Cutler and our 2nd for Gaines Adams. Excuse me, I have to go vomit now

Lol, just messing. In all seriousness, we don’t know how we’d be with Orton instead of Cutler… We don’t really try to figure out if we’d’ve been better off with Orton instead anyway, too many other variables. They’re different types of QB in different offensive schemes with different defenses behind them.

The draft picks hurt, and not only do we not have our 1st rounder from the trade, we also lost our second rounder in the Gaines Adams trade – meaning we don’t start until the (early) third round. Last mock that I saw gave us an OT in round 3.

Cutler has won us some games and lost us some games. KO would have the benefit of familiarity with the scheme, but otherwise the outcome would be similar. Cutler was put in a bad situation.

The killer has been line play. The DLine generates zero pass rush most of the time. I think that has a lot to do with opponents scoring on the first drive more often than not, and a sorry 3rd and long %. QB would not have made a difference in games like Cinci, Arizona, and Minnesota (who put up 31, 31, and 24 points in the first HALF).

Our OLine is “probably the worst in pro football” according to Greg Cosell (link). Sack numbers and hits aren’t terrible on paper, but JC is mobile and doesn’t hold on to the ball the way AR did earlier this year in GB. When you’re getting hit releasing on your back foot on a 3 step drop, there’s a problem. As bad as the pass blocking is, the run blocking is just atrocious (we’re ranked #32), so the offense is extremely limited.

Add our OC’s predictable play calling (he’s averaging a #26 ranked offense in 2 stints with the Bears, I believe) and 3 new WRs playing this year + Hester who is learning on the job (not having played at WR until last year) and it’s a recipe for disaster. The receivers don’t fight for balls or rack up YAC too often either, and sometimes have trouble getting open. Also, QB and receivers are often not on the same page.

Add some odds and ends like Kruetz’s tendency to fire shotgun snaps at the knees and awful penalties (WR false starts, personal fouls) and ill timed penalties (4 quarter game on line, negating big plays, leads to 3rd or 4th and a mile) and things look quite grim regardless of who is under center.

…has struggled in the red zone. He has killed us with INT’s at the worst possible times.

…red zone INTs, QB leadership & decision making, D players making $ not plays (yes Tommie Harris, I am talking about you), key defensive injuries….