In a totally dominating effort the Baltimore Ravens have swept their biggest rivals in their two meetings this year. And with a little help from the Colts they have taken the #2 seed and it looks like they will keep it and get the bye during the playoffs.

This whole game was controlled by the Ravens, beginning with a perfect 35-yard TD pass to Clayton by McNair and ending with Jamal Lewis’ 9th touchdown of the year. The Steelers had won five out of six and needed this victory, but the Ravens just destroyed their playoff hopes. In the two games against the Ravens this year, the Steelers have scored 7 points and Roethlisberger has been sacked 14 times. Pittsburgh just couldn’t get anything started and if not for some dumb errors on the Ravens’ part, this game wouldn’t have been as close as the 31-7 score indicates.

Clayton, Williams and Wilcox each got a touchdown in one of Steve McNair’s most productive game as a Raven. Now, with the offense playing very well together and the defense better than ever, the Ravens are prepared to finish off their schedule against Buffalo and make a run to the Super Bowl.

As a die-hard Ravens fan, even before their existence in Baltimore, I now publicly submit the following e-mail written by me to the Ravens ticket office upon hearing that the recent lottery for post season tickets eliminated me and my corporation completely as live participants at any of those games. I sent this e-mail early on the morning on 12/22/06 and received a call later that day from a Ravens ticket vendor who was kind and gently offered his sympathetic understanding for this gross injustice to me, after which, quickly changed his solemn tone, and in a celebratory manner, proudly offered the ”Gridiron Grill!” special seating package for me, my employees, and my family.  

Please read this e-mail to determine if the Ravens, after benefiting from collective loyalties for so many years, are giving any consideration to a segment of the root level fan base while in the act of distributing (or not) their rare and ONLY tangible offering back to them. It is rumored, however, that Ticket Masters is currently selling an abundance post-season seats at a premium (of course). Were they more fortunate than PSL owners, like myself, in this equitable lottery? Is any of this fair, and most importantly, legal?  

Hello,  

My name is Adam and I have been a PSL owner since the team first arrived in Baltimore from Cleveland. I have paid my accounts in full and on time during that entire period. In the past, I had requested the maximum allowable post season tickets on both of my accounts every year the Ravens were eligible for post-season. I accepted all terms and delivered all payments for those tickets, as well. In some cases, these payments exceeded my balance due for the following season’s tickets. Most importantly, I financially supported a team in 1993, which at that time did not exist, by depositing funds in an escrow account with 3,500 others in an effort to help entice an owner or even the NFL in their consideration of expanding the league into Baltimore. After a disappointing result of the expansion drive, I continued to support our governor and the stadium authority’s efforts in bringing a team to Baltimore by leaving the escrowed funds in place along with only 446 others.  

I did these things because I strongly desired a professional team to represent Baltimore and also hoped that if we were successful, I would be given at least SOME consideration from the ticket office in the event this imaginary team became successful.  

This brings me to the purpose of this e-mail and may explain why I am so confused about recent events. My two PSL accounts each received e-mails yesterday from the Baltimore Ravens ticket office indicating that “…unfortunately we are unable to fulfill your request for post-season tickets”. I was struck by the realization that my select employees and family members can no longer count on attending ANY playoff games with the Baltimore Ravens at the end of this regular season. I find it hard to believe that the combination of the extra order forms, which offered the potential of purchasing up to 20 additional Club level (preference) down to end zone (last option) tickets for each game, yielded no extra tickets. To put this in perspective, a fair lottery would provide my two accounts 10x or 1000% greater chance of winning over an applicant that requests just 2 tickets. Since one of my accounts are located on the Club level, which are *weighted heavier during a ticket lottery (*specifically stated in Ravens ticket literature), there stands almost no chance that a fair lottery would produce zero (0) tickets for the applicant. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened! One must wonder what rules truly govern this supposedly fair and equal process. I am now forced call up and question my history and support for this team since it is becoming painfully obvious that my heart is being pried away from my beloved team by a shiny money clip that is attached to the clammy hands of an unseen force. Should I choose to dry swallow and continue supporting this team throughout the playoffs, a dark cloud begins to form if the Ravens continue to win because a similar event, also touted as “equitable”, will arrive in the form of a Superbowl lottery. As a once proud fan, how am I really expected to act about all of this nonsense when cheering them on means that I also applaud borderline immoral practices?  

I can only hope that a big mistake has happened and that it may be rectified before it is too late for me as a fan. As the Ravens began locking up the playoffs, I began making, what appeared to be, realistic commitments to my friends, my family, and my employees because even if my first option was unavailable, a downgrade to the end zone would still be a nice gift on Christmas to the people that I love.  

It is important to know where I stand as a fan of the Ravens, so can you please help me and make some sense of all of this? God bless you and Happy Holidays to you and yours. I look forward to hearing from you soon!  

Adam Preller  

Since 1999-2000, the Ravens have been a running team that tried to just not make any mistakes and let the defense win the games. But now is the time to change all of that. Jamal Lewis has been averaging below four yards per carry which is not good at all. The strength of this team is in their passing game. The o-line is doing a great job protecting the QB and have given up almost half the sacks that they have the last two years and they have plenty of good receiving options in Heap, Mason, Clayton, Williams, Wilcox and even Lewis out of the backfield. Since the firing of Fassell as the OC of the team, the offense has been running much more smoothly and McNair has been almost perfect. The Ravens have some speedy receivers like Williams and Clayton who can stretch the field and they have some guys with good hands who can do well with shorter routes. The Ravens are passing some more than before, they almost have three receivers with 60+ catches, but I think they need to take more chances, throw more and throw longer passes. It would make the offense work better and I don’t see a guy like McNair making too many mistakes, and even if he does, the Ravens have arguably the best defense is the league and they will get the ball back. If they pass more it will boost the offense and give them a better chance at winning a Super Bowl this year.

Well hopefully anyway.  Heading to Pittsburgh for the only time this season, the Ravens are gonna need Mcnair if they want to put a beating on the Steelers like they did earlier in the season.  The Steelers have won 3 straight since then though and are fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive, so this week might be a tad closer then you’d normally expect.

They are going to need another big performance out of Jamal Lewis, who rushed for 100 yard plus, and added a touchdown.   This should be one of the better and more physical games of the season however.