On Sunday night the Ravens buried a few skeletons that have been festering in their closet.  They won on national TV, wearing black jerseys, and beat a regional “rival” – of sorts.  Being a superstitious sort, I had the Redskins covering the spread because I lost my faith in the ability of the Ravens to win on the national stage and their abominable luck wearing black jerseys.  So what happens?

Ravens 24, Redskins 10

What the hell do I know?  I’m happy to be wrong! 

What can you say about the Redskins game?  The Redskins had no answer for Rex Ryan’s blitz packages and the Ravens D played at a much higher speed than the Skins offense.  Terrell Suggs had a field day running rings around their tackles.   The Redskins defense never came close to laying a finger on Joe Flacco.  Natty Joe didn’t have a great game, but he completed the passes he had to.  It doesn’t matter as long as he doesn’t repeat that performance this Sunday.

But enough talk about this pseudo-rivalry.   I’m tired of hearing about the “Battle of the Beltway.”  It’s a poser.  We play the Skins once every 4 years and that’s a rivalry?  OK, we finally embarrassed them in front of a national audience, so now let’s go back to treating them with the benign neglect they deserve.  We have more important things to hate.

As in, it’s PITTSBURGH WEEK!!

It’s the league’s 1st ranked and 2nd ranked defenses.  It’s going to be rock’em, sock’em, brutal.  Take no prisoners.  Bad blood, bounties, grudges, and hate.  It’s is going to be an All-hands Affair.  Flacco versus Harrison, Brown versus Hampton, Ray versus Willie Parker, Hines Ward versus the entire Ravens defense. 

What more could a fan ask for? 

The Ravens hold their destiny in their own hands.  Take it one game at a time and focus on the present .  Two more wins and we’re surely in the playoffs.  It can start on Sunday, and it will.

Prediction:  I’d be surprised if the over-under in this game is more than 35 points.  Defenses will dominate as the Ravens D will stifle the Steelers run game and harass Big Ben into a couple of turnovers.  It won’t be pretty, but the Ravens will prevail.