Week 6: Colts face Ravens Looking for Home Redemption

Sunday, October 12 at 1:00 PM, the Baltimore Ravens will step into Lucas Oil stadium looking to vanquish the Indianapolis Colts. Both teams are 2-2 looking to move one game over .500 on the season. The Ravens will look to rebound after a very close loss to the undefeated Tennessee Titans and the Colts would like to remedy some early season problems. The most glaring of these problems is the 0-2 record the Colts have in their brand new stadium. It was always a daunting task stepping into the RCA dome and not only face one of the greatest offenses of all time, but also the deafening crowd noise that caused teams to false start and waste timeouts on the field. Now Lucas Oil stadium looks like a welcome mat with both the Jaguars and the Bears stepping in and executing great game plans with little resistance. The Colts will need to win this game and re-establish the home field advantage.

            On offense, the Colts will look to repeat their performance last year against the Ravens where Gonzalez scored two long bomb touchdowns in a 44-20 win by the Colts. In the past few games against the Ravens, the Colts have found success through the air and in the Colts Division Championship win over the Ravens in 2006, safety Ed Reed expressed that he believed Manning was the best quarterback in football and felt Manning knew what defenses they were running on most plays and was able to audible into a suitable play. Since that game the Ravens have fallen off slightly from their 2006 form; however, they have played some solid football defensively this season and have a promising young quarterback in rookie Joe Flacco. The Colts will be hard pressed to run the ball with the Ravens not allowing a 100 yard rusher this season. Look for the Colts to throw the ball over 30 times and attempt to take a lead that the Baltimore Ravens will not be able to keep up with.

            Defensively, the Colts will be a little more hard pressed as they remain 32^nd in the league in rush defense. The Ravens have a great backfield which features Willis McGahee and emerging RB Le’Ron McClain. With Larenzo Neal blocking for these guys on Sunday and Bob Sanders absent once again, you can be assured that at least one of these guys will rush for 100 yards. For the Colts to be successful, Freeney and Mathis will need to repeat their performances from last week where they combined for a sack and a turnover. The Colts have a history of causing problems for Ravens quarterbacks and have caused havoc for McNair and Kyle Boller. Joe Flacco will need tough skin this Sunday for the Ravens to have a chance and stand in his throws with speedy pass rushers in his face.

            This game looks to be another close with a struggling Ravens offense against a struggling Colts defense; the game will also feature a potent Colts offense against an intimidating Ravens defense.

 

Enjoy the game,

 

 

Mike Crupi

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